We receive many questions and comments from people who share our passion for elephant welfare and felt it would be best if we helped collect information, research and articles from elephant experts, vets, conservationists and officials involved in supporting elephant futures.
Contents
- Why Elephant Tourism Exists in Thailand
- Why Not Release Elephants Back Into The Wild?
- The distinction between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare
- Why Are Elephants Chained?
- Is it ever OK to ride an elephant?
- Do Mahouts Mistreat Elephants? + Animal Cruelty
- The Use of Bull-Hooks and Elephant Training
- A sustainable future with mahouts
Why Elephant Tourism Exists in Thailand
Like the horse in Europe, elephants were used historically in Thailand as a working animal. In a world without machines, elephants were employed in logging, farming, as a mode of transport in daily life and even as a vehicle in warfare. Elephants were also used in festivals, ceremonies and rituals and were an important part of Thai culture dating back centuries.
The 1989 Logging Ban
Following a series of flash floods in the South of Thailand in 1988 which was directly caused by logging and deforestation, the Thai Government decided to ban logging in an emergency decree in January 1989. At this time, over 4,000 elephants were working in the logging industry and all of sudden, the elephants (and their owners, known as ‘mahouts’) found themselves out of work.
Post-1989 Problems
Just after the logging ban, it was not uncommon to see mahouts, with their elephants, roaming the streets of towns and cities begging for food to support themselves, their elephants and their families. As an elephant eats approximately 10% of its body weight per day, feeding an elephant is not cheap. With this sudden change to Thai society, the mahouts did whatever they could to survive, some of which would be looked upon very negatively today. In 1997 a ban on bringing elephants into Bangkok to beg was implemented. However, this did not stop some mahouts from heading into the capital city and sucking up the fines as part of their ‘business expenses’. (In 2016, I personally saw a very sorry-looking elephant in Bangkok along Sukhumvit Road with a mahout selling sweetcorn to tourists to feed to it.)
Enter Elephant Tourism
During the early 1990s, tourist numbers to Thailand rose rapidly, and Thai people started to realise that elephants were a big tourist attraction. People from Western countries wanted to ride elephants, touch them and bathe with them. They were prepared to pay a lot of money to do this. Many mahouts turned to elephant tourism, in its myriad forms, as a way to provide an income for themselves and their families.
John Roberts, co-chair of Asian Captive Elephants Working Group, offered these further thoughts having read the previous paragraph…
“Actually I think part of the problem is most people are not prepared to pay “a lot” of money to interact with an elephant, leading to overwork of elephants as an elephant needs to ’service’ a lot of people to break even, if people paid more the elephant could, theoretically, have more time off (though if time off is short-chained on concrete, that is not necessarily better!)”
Source: SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com
Why Not Release Elephants Back Into The Wild?
At this point, many people ask why these ex-working elephants could not just be released into the wild. The answer is complicated. First of all, these elephants were captive, not wild (having already gone through the process of ‘phajaan’, or having been born in captivity). They were used to being around and relying on humans for food and basic needs and therefore needed their support to survive. Secondly, the natural habitat of the elephants had greatly decreased during the 20th century. There was not enough jungle left to release these huge creatures safely. Finally, the danger of animal poachers meant that they would not be safe in the jungles of Thailand and Southeast Asia. The elephants now needed protection.art of the problem is most people are not prepared to pay “a lot” of money to interact with an elephant, leading to overwork of elephants as an elephant needs to ’service’ a lot of people to break even, if people paid more the elephant could, theoretically, have more time off (though if time off is short-chained on concrete, that is not necessarily better!)”
Source: SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com
In an ideal world, all elephants would be free in nature. However, due to human population increases and habitat destruction, the reality is there is not enough appropriate habitat to support current wild populations of Asian elephants, let alone reintroduce the existing population (upwards of 15,000 in Asia) of captive elephants.
Furthermore, it is a complex process to reintroduce captive elephants back into the wild. In addition to lack of habitat, released captive born elephants can increase human elephant conflict as they are used to interacting with and are not afraid of humans. Additionally, captive elephants may carry diseases that, if contact is allowed, can potentially spread to wild populations.
Captive elephants can serve as a means of maintaining important populations as “insurance” against environmental or human-caused changes. Up close and personal contact with captive elephants, especially when accompanied by educational materials, also can help inspire the public to care for elephants and their habitats.
Source: Asian Captive Elephant Working Group
The distinction between animal rights and animal welfare?
As Dr Ingrid Suter, captive elephant researcher from Asian Captive Elephant Standards, with a doctorate in captive elephant conservation, told SoutEastAsiaBackpacker: “Travellers should appreciate the distinction between animal rights and animal welfare. I think many are not clear that there is a huge difference between the two. Animal welfare is an issue all people should care about, and captive elephant welfare standards is certainly an industry under continual improvement. Whereas animal rights activists believe any interaction with any animal is morally wrong, regardless of the cultural, environmental, economic or political context. Animal rights activists will not be happy until all elephants are set free from captivity; something that entirely ignores the complex issues of elephant management. This is an entitled opinion and one that comes with more than just a touch of ‘white saviour complex’. Of course, travellers should care about elephant welfare, but there are more ways to care than just bans or boycotts.”
Source: SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com
Why Are Elephants Chained?
Chaining is an important part of managing elephants in a traditional hands-on system in Southeast Asia where there are no enclosures to contain the animals. Chains are the simplest and safest tool to confine these large and potentially dangerous animals to a specific area. Because they can be more difficult to control, male elephants often have permanent chains around their ankles to provide a safe and quick means to control them if necessary. Chains are also important for safely restraining an elephant during husbandry (e.g., foot care) and veterinary procedures.
Many forms of restraint, if done properly and with appropriate tools, are not harmful to the animal. For example, we put halters on horses and leashes and neck collars on dogs to lead and manage them in a safe, humane manner. A chain of sufficient length is important because it not only allows elephants to interact with one another but also allows them to find space alone should they so choose. Unrelated elephants do not always get along and aggressive individuals can be dangerous to other elephants, sometimes fatally so. From a management perspective, using long chains to tether the elephant at night rather than fencing allows the elephant to be moved from one part of a forest to another, changing the elephant’s environment and allowing them access to fresh browse. Fences are often unreliable and, if not constructed properly, can be dangerous to the elephants themselves..
Chains must be used appropriately to avoid injury. Ideally, elephants should not be kept on chains for prolonged periods of time during the day and allowed free movement. If camps keep elephants on short chains during the majority of the day, and elephants are seen to exhibit stereotypic behaviors, these camps should be questioned and improvements should be suggested.
Satisfactory alternatives to chaining, like cement or steel structures, are very expensive and are therefore financially not possible and are impractical for most elephant tourism operations in Asia.
Source: Asian Captive Elephant Working Group
Is it ever OK to ride an elephant?
What People Assume…
Elephant riding is no longer considered acceptable, although you will still find many elephant camps all over Southeast Asia which still offer it to tourists and many tourists who still add it to their holiday bucket list. It must be acknowledged that the stance on animal ethics, elephant tourism included, varies from country to country. Whilst the majority of travellers from the USA or Europe will reject elephant riding, tendencies can be different among other nationalities. One point that will cause some controversy would be the distinction between visitors to a sanctuary riding an elephant, and a mahout doing so. Some people will say that the former is never OK, while the latter will be, depending upon circumstances.
What The Experts Say…
Jack Highwood (Managing Director of the Elephant Valley Project in Cambodia and the Elephant Valley Project in Chiang Rai, Thailand) – “It is not acceptable for tourists to ride elephants. The riding of elephants should only be done for a specific purpose and carried out by qualified and (more importantly with animals) experienced people.
I will give you an example. I have a 23-year-old bull elephant, a tusker who weighs around 4000kg. He is most of the time calm but can get nervous and his ‘go-to response’ when this happens is to become aggressive. All our male elephants have two or three mahouts who are responsible for the elephants care around the clock and they are responsible for the elephant, and in turn, I am responsible for their safety. Now if I unchain this bull and don’t ride him he will be fine for about 2 days before he wants to attack another elephant or kill someone. If I chain him at night then this could be 3 days. If I have one of his mahouts ride him then he won’t attack anyone but the mahout unless the mahout has a bullhook. Then he is fine. We keep trying different methods to condition him to not be ridden but it always ends in 4 tonnes of tears.
And at the end of the day I am not prepared to have visitors or staff members injured or killed in our quest to give this elephant a better life. So this bull elephant has someone sit on top of him 8 to 9 hours a day. We don’t hit him, beat him or control him with fear or pain, we can just talk to him and nudge him with our toes but that mahout does need a bullhook at hand in case something goes wrong. In exchange he lives with other elephants, eats a natural diet, grazes in forest and grassland and is not chained up in a barn standing in his own excrement stereotyping his ears off.”
Sébastien Duffillot (Founder of Elephant Conservation Center, Laos) – “At the ECC we do not offer people elephant rides. We do not encourage riding either. I believe that sanctuaries should not propose/promote riding as the purpose of a sanctuary is to provide conditions as close to the animal’s natural environment as possible.
However, I think that if performed under certain conditions (permanent access to food, water, shade (along rivers for example), one person per elephant maximum, elephant riding can provide both an income to mahouts and physical exercise to elephants. The current aggressive campaign against riding from several ‘animal welfare groups’ doesn’t provide any answers or solutions but instead merely demonises elephant riding and local mahouts, which is detrimental to the animal in the long run.
ndeed, if tourism (the major employer of mahouts and elephants currently), is boycotted, what will happen to the elephants? Without an income, mahouts will not be able to keep their elephants and will be tempted to sell them to zoos or circuses, or go back to working with illegal logging companies. Returning elephants to the wild is not always possible… So, what’s next?”
Taken from the paper “Management factors affecting adrenal glucocorticoid activity of tourist camp elephants in Thailand and implications for elephant welfare”, recommended to us as the most up to date scientific research on the stress levels suffered by captive elephants (link to printable version at the bottom of the page), published Oct 2019 –
“In our study, work activities like riding with a saddle or shows were actually associated with lower FGM concentrations {less stress}, and neither chaining nor use of ankus had significant effects on stress levels of elephants in this population. In a related study of tourist elephants in Thailand, exercise in the form of riding was associated with better BCSs {body condition score – were fitter}, lower FGM concentrations [again less stress] and healthier lipid and metabolic profiles [31 – see below]. Thus, it may be too simplistic to assume that all tourist activities are universally bad for elephants. And in fact, elephants in the one observation only camp had the highest FGM concentrations. {highest stress}”
And the conclusion of the same paper…
“In conclusion, measures of FGMs {stress} can inform on the well-being of tourist elephants, although it is best done in combination with other physiological, health, and behavioral measures. Our aim was to base conclusions on evaluations of accepted welfare indicators rather than to rely on subjective assumptions of what is good or bad for elephants. To minimize stress, this study suggests that elephants benefit from participating in walking or work activities (i.e., exercise), resting in natural environments, and socializing with conspecifics. It also was evident that a ‘no hook, no ride’ policy may not always be best for welfare, especially if the alternative activities rely on over feeding of non-nutritious foods, and restricted activity that creates boredom and does not encourage natural social interactions. There was considerable variation across camps in FGM and welfare measures, so more work is needed to determine how specific husbandry and management strategies affect welfare of elephants at the individual level. Ultimately, the goal is to develop science-based guidelines to aid in the management of elephants under human care in Thailand for long-term sustainability of captive elephants throughout southeast Asia.”
Source: SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com
Do Mahouts Mistreat Elephants?
In short, there are cases, but these should be taken as they are: Individual cases of animal cruelty
The stereotype of all captive elephants being mistreated is continually propped up by animal rights groups, citing old reports and images that are never critically analyzed by journalists, despite often being factually incorrect. Of course, there are sadly mahouts that harm elephants. There are over 10,000 captive Asian elephants; there will be awful individuals that inflict damage. These mahouts should be fired immediately as they bring the entire elephant community into disrepute. Individual cases of animal cruelty should be viewed as just that, as they are in other countries. But logic and reasoning are not afforded to the bulk of staff that caringly manage captive elephants on a daily basis. Western perceptions of Asian elephants compartmentalize elephants into two positions: No elephant belongs in tourism and all elephants should go back to the wild.
Again, the desire to release elephants into the wild comes from a compassionate position. But it is clear that the vast majority of captive elephants cannot currently just be set free from tourism, nor can they be returned to the wild. In reality, Asian elephant numbers in the wild are in decline. Poaching is rampant; agricultural and plantation concessions continue to encroach on the boundaries of protected areas. Human-elephant conflict is an ongoing threat to wild elephants and local communities. So why are Westerners calling for elephants to be released? Where they will all go and how their safety will be guaranteed? No one has answers for those questions. Returning the majority of captive elephants to the wild would be a death sentence.
Source: The Diplomat
The Use of Bull-Hooks and Elephant Training
What is a bull-hook? A bull-hook, also known as an elephant goad or ankus, is a tool used by elephant handlers or mahouts. It is basically a stick with a spike on the end that mahouts jab into the elephant’s skin at sensitive areas (such as behind the ears) to control the animal.
Dr Ingrid Suter, Elephant Conservation PhD – “There have been MAJOR issues at ‘no hooks/no chains’ camps. Earlier this year, at an elephant sactuary, the owner’s husband, was killed by his very own elephant. He was a very experienced mahout, but was forced to work within the confines of the ‘no hook’ policy that Western tourists seem to approve of so much. Similar deaths have occurred at other ‘no ankus’ camps. If used correctly, the ankus is not a cruel instrument. The ankus can save a life if an elephant is spooked and it is critical that mahouts have access to an emergency instrument. Do travellers care about mahout deaths, or are locals viewed as expendable? Western media ignores the human casualties of the ‘no ankus’ camps, and continues to say that these camps are the most ethical! The Western hysteria surrounding hooks and rides needs to stop. Yes, elephant camps need to improve their practices (and they are!), but this should not occur at a human expense.”
Sébastien Duffillot, Founder of Elephant Conservation Center, Laos – “The use of a bull-hook must be strictly reserved to life-threatening situations where the elephant is out of control and the life of mahouts, staff, visitors or other elephants is at risk. The bull-hook has always been part of the normal kit of mahouts for generations. The important question is how/when to resort to using it. Overzealous mahouts exist, and visiting camps where elephants have permanent bloody markings on the forehead should be avoided and the problem reported. An elephant weighs between 2.5 to 5 tons. If it goes into a rampage the situation can become out of control and deadly. It is the duty of the mahout to keep control over their elephant when the latter is “under human care”.
Stating otherwise is ignoring the reality of elephant handling and being very loose on safety. Those claiming to employ mahouts that do not carry a hook are either playing with the lives of their staff and visitors and/or using this argument for marketing purposes. Don’t get me wrong here. I am not promoting the use of chains and bullhooks. But when working with elephants, safety must be the top priority. Elephants can be extremely dangerous and it is the responsibility of the sanctuary’s management to ensure a maximum level of safety to whoever gets close to the elephants.”
Source: SouthEastAsiaBackpacker.com
Breaking the Elephants Spirit or “Phajaan”
You may or may not have heard of the concept of ‘breaking an elephant’s spirit’, also known as ‘The Crush’ (or ‘Phajaan’ in Thai). This unsavoury practice was bestowed upon baby elephants, after they were caught in the wild, with the aim of making the elephant submissive to humans.
Ancient stories suggest that the captors believed that they were separating the “evil wild spirit” of an elephant from its body so that it could be controlled by the mahouts. To most eyes, however, it was a simple case of torturing the animal so that it would be afraid to ever disobey its master and would become a reliable worker.
Do elephants born in captivity have their ‘spirit broken’?
What People Assume…
When people first learn about the ‘Pajaan’ they are shocked. They wonder if all of the elephants that now live in elephant sanctuaries have undergone this treatment and if it is necessary to break the spirit of baby elephants that are born in captivity. As we discovered, it is not the case that all elephants in sanctuaries across Southeast Asia have been through ‘Pajaan’.
What The Experts Say…
Dr Ingrid Suter, Elephant Conservation PhD – “Not all elephants in tourism have experienced the ‘Pajaan’. Thirty years of captive elephant tourism has seen an entire generation of calves born into captivity. Positive training and verbal commands are taught from a very young age. Indeed many calves at elephants camps are spoiled rotten! The outdated stereotype of all elephants going through a “spirit-breaking” trauma needs to stop. There is simply no need for the ‘Pajaan’ to occur and heeds back to the lazy stereotype of all mahouts being cruel tormentors, needing saving from themselves.”
The History and true origins of Pajaan / Phajaan?
The term ‘phajaan’ comes from the language of our northern region. The term is associated with great blessings that are bestowed upon the elephant calf. The phajaan rituals can be performed for both animals and humans. For animals, whether they be elephants or any other species, a standard set of incantations are used across the varieties of species. The rituals are intended to separate or to make independent from one another, in much the same way that when puppies and kittens grow to a certain age, their mothers would then leave their children to fend for themselves. Elephants, however, are considered very special. In order for separation between mother and calf to occur, rituals are performed to bless both the elephants involved and their mahouts.
Phajaan rituals are not only performed for mothers and calves. They may also be performed for couples, and even for people who may have come to dislike each other. However, it must be noted that shamans conducting such rituals should have sound moral character and ethical principles, and not set themselves up to harm others.
You can find a translation on the history of this culture here: Translation of text concerning elephant ‘phajaan’
A sustainable future with mahouts
At the moment, we can see tourism is the only way to sustain captive elephants welfare. The mahouts are working hard for their elephants, to protect and continue working on their elephants health and welfare. It is an ideal to let all over 3500 captive elephants back to the wild but it simply not possible.
To say mahouts can walk away and find a new living is totally dismissing what they see as not a job, but a calling – their vocation. The mahout in the picture is a qualified mechanical engineer, if he thought solely in terms of money and security for himself and his family he could easily leave elephant care and find a much more lucrative and secure profession. The history of mahouts in Thailand goes back thousands of years, the mahout’s family here has cared for elephants for 8 generations, it is evidently not then so easy to suggest to a mahout.