In Thailand, the elephants are paying the price

The city of Chiang Mai is recognized as a premier destination in Southeast Asia for those who want to do jungle trekking and elephant riding. The immediate region around Chiang Mai has dozens of elephant camps where tourists can ride elephants and see elephant shows featuring impressive performances.

Likewise, the Tiger Kingdom just north of Chiang Mai is touted as another must-see in the region. Visitors have the chance to cuddle and play with baby tigers and an adult male tiger. For animal lovers, this is really paradise.

Or is it?

Let me be clear: I absolutely love tigers. I think that tigers are one of the most gracious animals to ever walk planet earth. But reality hurts.

The reality is that the tourism industry that features animals in Thailand is rotten to the core. Well almost. I’ll get to that later.

Let’s start with the tigers in Tiger Kingdom. From the many accounts I heard from those who visited Tiger Kingdom, the adult male is heavily sedated. In fact, the animal is so sedated that it is basically unresponsive and has some serious problems walking. I guess heavy drugs are needed for a wild animal to tolerate the relentless patting.

Let’s move on the stars of Northern Thailand, the elephants. Activities involving elephants are plentiful and creative: ride an elephant; bathe an elephant; watch an elephant paint; watch elephant acrobatics. Aren’t those elephants intelligent! They can even paint!

A National Geographic article highlighted the brutal elephant training program required to perform such feats. I quote the National Geographic: “in addition to beatings, handlers use sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephants' spirit and make them submissive to their owners.”

Dozens of videos on the Web prove this ruthless training program. Mahouts – the elephant handlers – do not hesitate to inflict heavy punishment on reluctant elephants. Tourists have told us how shocked they were when they saw one mahout start beating an elephant with a big rod. They’ve told us (unsurprisingly!) that they’ll never ride elephants again. I guess tour operators won’t feature such impressions in the comment section of their brochures.

So you still want to see elephants? Then go to the Elephant Nature Park close to Chiang Mai or visit the Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary in Sukhothai. The Elephant Nature Park makes it clear in it’s mission statement that it does not feature any elephant riding or tricks like painting and other performances because it means encouraging elephant beating. The Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary is another option. I encourage you to have a look at their Web site. You’ll learn a lot about the way elephants are treated in Thailand.

As for us, we made a bad choice by visiting to the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang. We visited the centre because it was supposed to be about an elephant hospital, but the major attraction was the elephant show. We did visit the elephant hospital, but there was no information available about the injured elephants. Ania really wanted to do elephant riding, so I had to concede and spend 10 minutes on top of one elephant. My principles were no match for her will to do elephant riding. I had much fun at the Centre, I won't deny it. But the thoughts of elephants going through the gruesome training program to provide me with this entertainment really put a lid on my pleasure. If I ever ride an elephant again, it will be on an elephant that has gone through training without corporal punishment. Read the National Geographic article to understand what I am talking about.

All in all I would not recommend the Elephant Conservation Centre. The Elephant Nature Park has a huge reserve and is thus a better choice. Plus if enough tourists visit the park, this will encourage more elephant reserves to be created. This is ultimately the goal as there are almost no wild elephants in Thailand; most of them are prisoners of the tourism industry.

If you love elephants, then you want to see them do what they do best; relax, play in water and eat tons of leaves. Everything else is man’s egoistical pleasure at the expense of the animals.

The same goes for tigers. I totally understand the urge to pat and cuddle wild animals. I love tigers and want to believe that tigers love to be touched just as much as I love to touch them. Unfortunately this is not the case. Tigers are wild animals that are not touched in their natural environment.

As tourists we have a real say in how animals are treated in Thailand. Give your hard-earned dollars to businesses that encourage responsible animal care. This is really the only way to change things around.