From the sizeable list of ‘Things I’ve Done That I’m Not Proud Of’, I once sat on top of an elephant as she waded through the River Kwai. I have long since realised that day, twenty-five years ago, was far more enjoyable for me than it was for the elephant being shunted about in the heat with a grinning muppet strapped on its back.
We have been fascinated by these magnificent beasts for centuries, which is largely unfortunate for them. Back in 1255, King Louis IX of France gifted an elephant to England’s King Henry III, which he kept in the Tower of London as a novelty for visitors. The cold climate, unsuitable living conditions and ‘too much red wine’, killed off the King’s gift after two years.
A delighted Pope Leo X also received a pachyderm present from the King of Portugal in 1514, prompting the thank you note: “The sight of this quadruped provides us with the greatest amusement and has become for our people an object of extraordinary wonder”. The blessed pet is buried under the Vatican, having died three years later when apparently given a gold-laced elixir for a bout of constipation.
The first elephant on American shores arrived in the early 1800s. ‘Old Bet’ would perform and uncork bottles for cheering audiences until a random dude shot her. Her owner, Hachaliah Bailey, got himself another elephant shortly afterwards, who was also shot, by a different random dude.
Old Bet saw in the era of the animal circus, a tradition that, although not entirely outlawed, has become unpopular with audiences in recent years. Elephant tourism however, particularly in Southeast Asia, is still going strong. Many venues list themselves as ‘conservation care centres’ or ‘rescue sanctuaries’, which gives well-meaning tourists the idea that they are supporting an ethical initiative, but if they can ride, bathe, hand-feed, or touch the elephants, that’s not necessarily the case.
Last year, I found myself standing in a Thai jungle clearing with a small group of fellow tourists watching Songkran, a 50-year-old female elephant, enjoying a leisurely stroll. She picks a bunch of pineapple leaves off the ground, swings them about and throws them in the air. They land on her head, and she rests her face up against a tree for a snooze, wearing her new fancy hat. We are at ‘Following Giants’ in Koh Lanta, an ethical sanctuary with a no-touch policy, where elephants rescued from years of torment and servitude are able to live out the rest of their years unchained and unbothered.
Our informative tour guide walks us around the forest. We stop at the watering hole, well-placed shelters and places where the elephants like to hang out, watching the animals just being themselves. They are amazing, majestic, charismatic, and even cheeky.
Some bear physical scars; Kamsung’s skin lesions are the result of years of wearing saddles and rope harnesses, while others are psychological, like Khai Dam turning in circles when seeing people, a programmed response from his show days. New arrivals are sensitively introduced to their new home, at first shy, defeated and broken, and not knowing ‘how to elephant’. It takes time for them to realise that they are free to move, bathe, eat and socialise as they please.
Elephants are wild animals. For them to be submissive enough for human contact, they have to be isolated and trained while they are young, with their natural responses reprogrammed so that they are not a danger to people. Basically, they have to have their spirit broken. They will be chained up, and when not compliant, punished with food deprivation and beatings in a process traditionally called ‘phajaan’, or ‘the crush’.
Many venues now insist that their training is made with positive reinforcement, by rewarding good behaviour instead of threatening with the bull-hook. They argue that if their elephants were born in captivity they have had human contact since birth, so don’t need to be broken so brutally. However, that also means that they being bred for tourist entertainment and commercial gain.
There are varying viewpoints as to whether riding is detrimental to the animal’s health. An article on the website of the US-based charity, Asian Elephant Support, quoting a 2021 study by Kongsawasdi et al., points out that the animal’s backs can easily take the weight of seats and riders, although “further investigation into the impact of longer duration riding is needed in order to make effective working guidelines”.
They follow with another article written by a qualified anthropologist which states that “elephants benefit in many ways from giving rides”, although a quick search shows the author is also the Assistant Communications Director/Social Media Manager for the riding venue she references in the piece. For a less biased opinion, a report released earlier this year, by Selvaraj/Wild, shows from radiographic studies, the damaging physical effects of long term load-bearing and saddle-wearing in Asian elephants.
Bath-time for pachyderms in the wild is a chill-out session. They socialise, play, and enjoy a good poop in the water. As an elephant’s skin has no sweat glands, they regulate their body temperature by bathing and covering themselves with mud, which acts as a coolant, sunscreen, and insect repellent. Being routinely hosed down, scrubbed, and fondled by humans upsets this regimen and makes them anxious.
Tragically, in January this year, a tourist at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in Southern Thailand was pushed over by the nervous elephant she was bathing and later died from the head injury she sustained in the fall. Police said the animal had panicked, and arrested the elephant’s handler for negligence.
Back at Following Giants, we’re met by the founder, Charae (Ray), who decided to change his ‘Eco-Tourism Koh Lanta’ elephant trekking business into an ethical sanctuary in 2019. He explained he was concerned that a no-touch venue wouldn’t appeal to visitors while his local rivals were still offering rides, but felt strongly that it was time to change. Working with the support of the World Animal Protection Organisation, which helped him adapt the business, he was happy to find out that the ethical way was proving far more popular than he could have imagined.
Rescue elephants have to be bought, or if too expensive, rented from their owners, which runs into tens of thousands of dollars for each animal. Just as I am writing this, the Following Giants team has successfully raised enough money to rescue a mother and baby, Forest and Sunshine, who were due to be separately sold off by their current owner. For further information on their story, please take a look at the Following Giants website, or follow their heart-warming updates on social media (and those aren’t affiliate links by the way, I just love elephants).
Times, attitudes, and intelligence levels have changed since the days when sharing a bottle of Merlot with your pachyderm pet seemed like a good idea. I’m certainly older and wiser than the fool who sat on the poor beast at the River Kwai twenty-five years ago. Regardless of their weight bearing capabilities, tourists riding elephants causes them harm, physically and mentally, from the act itself to the training required to make them passive enough to do it.
Equally, elephant bathing is not the ethical treat it is advertised to be. These are captive wild animals who should be free and happy in their family herds, not kidnapped, chained, and reprogrammed for the enjoyment of Instagrammers. As animal lovers and responsible tourists, we can send a message to the unethical ‘conservation centres’ by spending our tourist dollars at no-touch sanctuaries. Traditional venues can adapt, and still make a living, without further exploiting these beautiful behemoths. And surely we are respectful enough to keep our hands to ourselves.
“More and more tourists are becoming educated and demanding elephant friendly experiences – safaris to see them in the wild or sanctuaries where rescued elephants are rehabilitated. More and more people are understanding that we humans are not the only ones with personalities, minds capable of solving problems and, above all, emotions.
What was acceptable in the past is no longer acceptable as our understanding increases. Of course, those whose livelihoods depended on the exploitation of these amazing beings, the mahouts and the owners, must be helped to find other ways of making a living that are both profitable and ethically acceptable.
Future generations of elephants must not experience captivity – they should thrive in their natural habitat. I pray we all do our part to ensure this vision comes true”. – Jane Goodall PhD, DBE
(Jane Goodall is quoted from the foreword to a ten-year study “Elephants. Not commodities” which you can read here).
