Tourists Who Support Elephant Abuse
The thousands of tourists and backpackers who pay for elephant trekking tours year after year in Thailand, Laos, etc. financially support widespread animal abuse, specifically the beating and torture of young elephants which is part of doing business in the Southeast Asia elephant trekking tour industry.
IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS, FAMILY OR COWORKERS WHO ARE PLANNING TO VISIT SOUTHEAST ASIA YOU MUST TELL THEM NOT TO FINANCIALLY SUPPORT ANIMAL ABUSE!!!
I took the above photo of a promotional poster in Luang Prabang, Laos (video of starving elephant in LP).
The picture is inviting and elephant trekking tours are one of the most sought after ultimate exotic adventures of anyone’s lifetime.
The scenery is stunning, a nice family is enjoying riding a healthy, well fed, happy elephant; the animal actually seems to be smiling. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
The picture doesn’t show the systematic beating and torture of young elephants after they are separated from their mothers.
To break the will of majestic wild animals, to teach elephants do stupid tricks (like the demeaning task of massaging people) takes more than a few sugar cubes as circuses may have been suggesting to kids.
Watch majestic elephant being used and abused as roadside entertainment:
Supply and demand drives the Southeast Asia elephant trekking industry just like any other business venture. Tourists pay substantial amount of cash for elephant trekking adventures of varying lengths.
Unfortunately when it comes to elephant abuse claiming ignorance will not leave these tourists off the hook.
Common sense should dictate that wild animals do not “volunteerly and happily” work for the logging or the tourist industry but not everyone possesses common sense.
When in doubt ask Google. Research takes only a few seconds: just do a quick web search for elephant abuse or a video search for the same.
It is unimaginable to me that some tourists may actually be aware of the elephant abuse epidemic but decide to ignore it and pay to enjoy elephant trekking tours regardless. I hope it is not true or at least not wide spread.
Vacation photos and travel blogs also glamorize elephant trekking tours enticing friends / family members / future tourists to make elephant riding a must do activity on their to do list.
Many tourists and backpackers have a sheep mentality, they visit the same, few, most popular places and engage in the same, few, most popular activities.
A quote from a blogger:
“As with most backpackers who visit Thailand, part of my trip entailed a 3-4 day trek in Chiang Mai through the Doi Inthanon National Park & entailed an elephant trek.”
Some of the most popular destinations like Chiang Mai in Thailand or Luang Prabang in Laos receive a constant influx of tourists and revenue therefore one might think elephants are treated like kings there. Reality is far from the it. Continue reading the above backpacker’s story:
“All of a sudden I heard banging and turned around the witness the mohout of one of the other elephants violently hitting the apprehensive mother with his pointy hammer like instrument directly on the area where the hole and purple iodine markings were on her skull. I immediately yelled at the top of my lungs for the mohout to stop hitting her, and my co-travellers quickly supported me. The mohout stopped hitting her, but it was a little too late, as we saw puss & blood being dispelled from the already pre-existing wound on the elephants skull.”
Read the whole article: Elephant Abuse
Excerpt from another blog:
“In Thailand I was keen to do some more stuff with animals and after a long search came across the wonderful Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand. This sanctuary rescues elephants who have been abused or abandoned…..the scary thing is that they are being mostly rescued from the tourist industry. Some elephants were dragged around the streets forced to do tricks and ‘beg’ for food from tourists, others were kept in trekking camps lugging tourists around on their backs in uncomfortable harnesses, others had been beaten, blinded or starved by their owners.”
Read the whole article: Sad times in the animal world
A “training crush (vid)” is a place where the will and free spirit of young elephants are broken right after being separated from their mothers.
Some of the torture techniques used to achieve obedience:
- beating
- stabbing elephants by sticks with nails attached at the ends, often targeting the most sensitive and most tender body parts
- tight chains
- starvation
- dehydration
Intro for national Geographic’s Vanishing Giants video:
Please do not stick your head into the sand and do not say you cannot watch animal abuse video clips.
You will be a lot more passionate and enthusiastic about spreading the word and warning / educating others after watching these videos!
The past 100 hundred years 95% of Thailand’s the 100,000 disappeared!!!
View more clips from Vanishing Giants (vid), an award-winning film documented by journalist Jennifer Hile. (definitely click on “Training Crush” – link #5)
There are many other ways to support locals, the local economy and many other places to spend those 50-80 + elephant trekking dollars:
- visit a poor neighborhood and buy a nice meal at a roadside eatery for some kids or families ($1 per person)
- buy sandwiches / pastries / muffins and hand them out to hungry kids (I spent $15 for 60 muffins in Cambodia)
- visit an orphanage and give a cash donation or bring some toys (i.e. dolls, soccer balls or badminton)
- stop by a local school repeat above, etc.
I met a tourist in Laos who asked me about things to do in Cambodia so I suggested her that besides doing to usual stops, she should try doing some of the rewarding activities listed above to get a sense of how people live and to give back.
She said: oh no, I cannot look at those kids, I am just going to see Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. The answer was saddening especially coming from a woman.
One might say this type of humanitarian tourism does not sounds as much fun as an exotic elephant trekking adventure but I respectfully disagree.
Spending a few dollars on (grateful smiling) hungry children is a lot more fulfilling than the thrill of riding on the backs of savagely beaten and tortured orphaned elephants!
There are other places where elephants are tortured and abused: circuses and zoos.
“The groundbreaking lawsuit, brought by The Fund for Animals, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Animal Protection Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute and Tom Rider, a former employee of Ringling Bros., alleges that the circus violates the Endangered Species Act by abusively training and disciplining elephants with sharp implements such as bullhooks, by intensively confining and chaining the multi-ton animals for prolonged periods, and by forcibly separating baby elephants from their mothers.”
“Today’s strongly worded decision shows that the Court has run out of patience for Ringling Brothers’ stalling ploys,” said Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals. “This trial will come not a moment too soon, as Ringling’s elephants continue to suffer every day from abusive discipline and prolonged chaining.”
Ringling Brothers Will Stand Trial for Elephant Abuse
“The suit filed Thursday also alleges mistreatment of elephants going back decades, saying that it has caused both direct and indirect damage to the animals.
Over the past 33 years, 13 of the zoo’s 31 elephants have died prematurely, according to the lawsuit by Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider.
Among the alleged instances of abuse: a 1984 incident in which an elephant was hit with a bull hook and one in 1986 in which an elephant was electrically shocked by handlers.”
“We want them to close the existing exhibits, acquire no more elephants and spend the money more wisely,” said attorney David Casselman.
Animal welfare activists have long argued that elephants in zoos don’t have enough space or soft ground.
Los Angeles Zoo Faces Lawsuit for Elephant Abuse, Neglect
I find zoos, sea worlds, aquariums and circuses the saddest and most sadistic places to visit and I personally have not done it for decades.
Until there is more information reaching more people ignorance will be passed down by parents to their unsuspecting kids.
By taking children to zoos, sea worlds, aquariums and circuses kids believe it is OK to view and treat animals this way, after all their teacher / school, mom or dad brought them there.
The moral of this post: do not pay for elephant trekking tours when you travel to Southeast Asia, do not visit and support zoos, sea worlds, aquariums, circuses and if you have a blog write a quick article to inform others.
Doing this will come naturally to anyone with a heart and will not seem like a sacrifice.
