Disturbing Video Of Abuse In Name Of Training Elephants For Tourists In Thailand Surfaces

Over the years, taking an elephant safari has become one of the most common practices for tourists visiting Thailand. It has become so common, to the point where anyone who doesn't take the elephant safari is made to feel like they have missed out on an integral 'Thailand Experience'.

While the tourists enjoy their ride and have the time of their lives, the jumbos that carry them do not share the same experience. That is because, the captive elephants, that are used as ride animals go through a painful and harrowing training process sometimes known as 'the crush', where young elephants endure to make them submissive enough to interact with tourists.

World Animal Protection

UK-based animal rights group World Animal Protection (WAP) has released videos showing how captive elephants including babies are treated and trained. The harrowing footage was captured to document the most common techniques used to break the elephant's spirits, which is often done using a range of techniques.

There are approximately 2,800 captive elephants exploited in camps across Thailand, who have undergone this cruel training. It includes the use of a bull-hook ¨C a metal tool used to jab sensitive areas, chains to restrain them, and frequent exposure to stressful situations.

World Animal Protection

This horrific treatment of elephants is to make them submissive enough to be used for performing, riding, bathing, and other tourist interactions. The demand from tourism drives the demand for elephant experiences, and trainers are forced to deploy these methods.

The video shows eight young elephants being forcibly taken from their mothers, being tied to wooden structures while beaten repeatedly, and walking hobbled in chains, sometimes along busy highways where the thundering noises from traffic races past. The footage shows the young elephants put through both physical and psychological trauma, as they take violent blows and are clearly terrified, especially without the comfort of their mothers.

World Animal Protection

"This footage is a crude reminder of the brutality, the physical and emotional trauma and the suffering that is endured by elephants. In India, elephants are revered and even worshipped. But the reality is much different. The reality is the crush process, where elephants are beaten and trained for the purpose of entertainment of humans. This must stop now. Wild animals belong in the wild," Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection India said.

With the global tourism industry coming to a complete standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, elephant owners and facilities are struggling to make ends meet. Many elephants have had to trek miles across the country by foot back to where their legal owners live. Some have been allowed to roam freely to forage under supervision as their keepers have struggled to feed them.

World Animal Protection

For most elephants, being released back into the wild is not possible, so an elephant friendly camp is their best option. These camps work on an observation-only model, still providing jobs and a valuable income to local people such as elephant keepers, known as mahouts. Elephants are given the freedom to roam, graze and bathe while socialising, rather than being used for strenuous rides, kept in chains during the day and exposed to the sun all day.

World Animal Protection

"We are at a turning point when it comes to our relationship with wild animals. For too long, these intelligent, sociable, creatures have been the victims of a cruel trade that rips baby elephants from their mothers and family groups. In the wild - mother, daughter and granddaughter elephants spend their entire lives together. "Instead they are destined for a life of suffering and brutality behind the scenes, cruelly exploited as entertainers under the guise of innocent fun for visitors. Tourists are duped in to believing they are helping these elephants and the conservation of the species, while in reality, they are creating the demand for such activities," Audrey Mealia, Global Head of Wildlife at World Animal Protection said.