This time of year, social media absolutely overflows with pictures of people fleeing the cold and coming to visit the land of smiles - Thailand. I love to see the amazing picture of people jumping off dive boats into the blue ocean, coconut bingeing, palm tree climbing and jungle trekking. It makes me proud to see that so many people still enjoy visiting this beautiful country I get to call home.
There is however a picture that frequently pops up on my screen that brings anger to my heart and a tear to my eye. It’s the picture of the typical ignorant tourist on the back of an elephant. The tourist that looks away when the mahout/elephant trainer cuts his discipline tool, a bullhook, deeper into the elephants flesh to get him/her to obey you as a costumer. You look away to the cruel reality so you can get a cool Instagram picture and get as many “likes” as possible to feed your ego. To meet your needs, the elephant have given up its freedom to a lifetime not only in captivity but to daily gruesome torture. The tool being used to keep an elephant under strict discipline and fear of disobeying you as a costumer is a boat hook or a fire place poker looking subject.
Like many of you know, I celebrated the beginning of the New Year in a hospital bed for six whole days. I had plenty of time (too much time) to surf around on social media and curse over the typical Thailand tourist picture – on the back on an elephant. A few months back I saw a video on Facebook of a person I know being lift up and thrown in the water by an elephant. A lot of laughter and beautiful scenery in the middle of the Thai jungle. In the end of the video, the person filming is zooming in to the friend and in the background you can clearly see the mahout/elephant trainer using its bull hook to move the elephant. I read the comments to the video and not a single person write anything else then “awesome” and “I’m so jealous” or “where is this I want to go!” Social media is so insanely powerful today that anyone who keeps their Facebook or Instagram updated on their travels automatically turns into a travel desk and travel expert. I wish we would all take more responsibility.
I have seen the abuse up close because believe it or not, I was once that stupid and naïve tourist. I visited snake shows and fed chained up elephants. Somewhere along the way I met a little baby monkey and she made me make a choice. I met her on a snake shows and she ran freely on the farm simply because her parents were chained up by the entrance with heavy chains around their neck, and since the parents would/could not go anywhere, neither would the baby. It was low season at the time and my friends and I were the only visitors on the farm and we got a really good look at the animal conditions. Actually the conditions can be seen very well even in the most packed farms but when the person next to us doesn’t mind, then usually, neither do we. Monkey see, monkey do.
Anyway, the little baby monkey was curious and during the show, she sat on our shoulders, played with our hands and was just acting like you would imagine a baby monkey would do. When it was time to leave she got very upset and came running after us, jumped on our bike like she wanted to come with us and when the owner came running out shouting and waving she started to scream as well. It was like she was afraid of him. We just sat on our bikes and watched as the man caught the monkey, smacked it and grabbed it like a rag doll and walked back into the farm with the baby screaming at the top of her lungs. Never have I felt so ashamed of myself for not doing or even saying anything. Because of people like me that farm is probably still there today and I doubt with the same monkeys… Animals don’t survive very long in conditions like that. Still today when I see a monkey it’s hard to not start thinking about that dirty farm and that sweet baby monkey. Even though her parents were there she would rather come with us… I do not blame her. A few months back as I was driving over a hill full of traffic on the island, I passed a monkey accident. A dead monkey layed in the middle of the road, whatever hit him was long gone but several monkeys were standing around screaming and jumping and poking their friend. Just like humans. When I drove back the same way later, the dead monkey was gone and by the act of his/hers friend I strongly believe they moved him/her themselves. Just like humans.
I could go on forever on this topic and not only because of my passion for the animals, but because I will probably forever feel guilty for once being a part of the animal abuse. Because that is exactly what we are when we visit these places and ride elephants and feed monkeys or tigers in exchange for our money.
And you know what, there are other ways to see and experience these wild exotic animals with a clear conscience and no guilt. In Chiang Mai there is a woman called Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. She is the founder of “Animal Nature Park” www.elephantnaturepark.org where she buys and adopts elephants from previous abusive owners.
I first went to Chiang Mai after seeing the documentary “Vanishing Giants” which tells the story about Lek and her passion to help and save mistreated elephants around Thailand. I had a very hard time finding the place. Every travel desk didn’t know of the park and would instead try to sell me treks on an elephant back with other parks. I understood pretty quickly that Lek’s passion to bring awareness to the tourist about elephant abuse leaves other “bad” elephant camps with lesser and lesser business.
Lek educates the parks visitors about why you should not ride elephants. She teaches you about the cruel training the elephants need to undergo to be part of the tourist industry. The ritual is called Phajaan or crush, which is putting the elephant in a paddock looking thing no bigger than the elephant’s own size then ritualistically abused with bullhooks and bamboo sticks spiked with nails, as well as starved, deprived of sleep and worse, to crush their spirits and become submissive to humans.
The park is a bit more expensive to visit and to get inside the park you need to book in advance. But I have met people who say it’s an experience of a lifetime.
With the understanding that a visit to the nature park took a bit more time to prepare then I first thought left me without a visit to the elephants but with my new found education about the elephant business, I promised myself to never visit a “bad” elephant park again but to try and see them in a place like Lek’s or even better, the wild. Last year, I spotted my first wild elephant ever. I was driving a rented car through an area of jungle in Sri Lanka and the more lost we seemed to get the more warning signs of crossing elephants we would see. Soon we spotted not only one but two elephants crossing the road we were driving on. It is something very amazing and a bit scary to see a big animal like that all alone with you in the middle of nowhere.
Until just a few weeks ago there have been no laws to protect animals from abuse here in Thailand and over my years here in Asia, I have seen a lot of horrible abuse against animals of all different kinds. It is year by year slowly making me questioning how mankind treats all animals, even in the west. I am questioning the entire dog breeding and horse riding industry. I am questioning my relationship with my own dog who was separated from his mother at a way too early age to be sold off the back of a motorbike in the street. I am questioning my reasons to make him wear a collar and be walked on a lead. Sometimes I wish I would still be a naive ignorant tourist so my mind would not run wild with all these questions and guilt late at night. Where do we draw the line of animal abuse?
“Don't believe everything you hear ...
A good rule to remember is that if a tourist outfit offers anything other than getting to spend time with elephants, it is not friendly to them. Any outfit that offers riding, circuses or paintings means they have undergone horrific abuse in order to get them to where they are. Remember, all of these elephants have suffered through the abusive and torturous crush. And while some are more friendly than others, and don’t employ the use of bullhooks, the sheer fact that the elephants are trekking means they are being harmed.”
Before you go on your next Asian tropical adventure ask yourself: Do I want to be a part of animal abuse? If you feel the slightest bit confused just press on these links and watch then decide….
A link to a few clips from the documentary about Lek and her work in “vanishing giants”
 |
To Grow Up In Thailand – Intro |
Keep updated with phanganist.com by following our Facebook page.
