PLEASE DON'T TOUCH ELEPHANTS
If you have direct interaction with elephants (including bathing, feeding, riding, stroking) you are supporting a cruel industry that is driving Asian elephants towards extinction. Let me explain you why: Elephants are wild animals, they have never been domesticated like dogs or cats because it is extremely hard to breed them (This is also the reason, why people still illegally catch animals from the wild). Elephants can be very dangerous for humans, to be honest, they are not our biggest fans. Nobody would ever approach an elephant in the wild, people would name you weary of life! The reason why people can get close to elephants in camps is because they are brutally forced to accept you. They are controlled with violence from their very early days on. Young elephants go through a process called “the crush” where they are tied up with ropes for days and weeks in a small cage. The baby elephants are tortured: They get no food or water and the keepers beat them up till the spirit of the animal is broken. At one point the animals give up, they do not defend themselves anymore. Two out of three babies do not survive this torture. But the pain isn’t over yet. The elephants have to be controlled and suppressed their whole life. The elephant keeper/Mahouts use a “elephant hook” to permanently hurt the elephant to show them who the boss is. Beside the violence the animals experience every day, they are kept isolated from other elephants and chained at two or more legs most of the time.
If this does not convince you to boycott these places, think about your own health! There are so many accidents in these elephant camps: Tourists and Mahouts are injured or killed by elephants regularly. Elephants do attack and kill humans on purpose. Don’t risk your own life just for a selfie or alleged beautiful moment.
These problems connected to elephant riding became public in the recent years and led to a boycott of elephant riding by many tourists. The traditional elephant riding camps noticed this and reacted accordingly. Many of them now call themselves “elephant sanctuaries” and do not offer rides anymore. Instead tourists can bath or feed the animals. But this is actually no improvement for the elephants. They still have to be controlled in the same way.
If this does not convince you to boycott these places, think about your own health! There are so many accidents in these elephant camps: Tourists and Mahouts are injured or killed by elephants regularly. Elephants do attack and kill humans on purpose. Don’t risk your own life just for a selfie or alleged beautiful moment.
These problems connected to elephant riding became public in the recent years and led to a boycott of elephant riding by many tourists. The traditional elephant riding camps noticed this and reacted accordingly. Many of them now call themselves “elephant sanctuaries” and do not offer rides anymore. Instead tourists can bath or feed the animals. But this is actually no improvement for the elephants. They still have to be controlled in the same way.
GOOD PLACES
So far, there are only two real elephant sanctuaries, that I would recommend visiting: