Elephants used in the tourism industry
Each year, millions of tourists flock to Thailand in the hopes of interacting with Asian elephants. With popular elephant encounter options ranging from taking selfies with calves to riding on a pachyderm through the jungle, travelers are lead to believe that these excursions are normal and – worst of all –acceptable. Simply put, the facade covering up the cruelties of Thailand’s elephant trade is one that must be destroyed in order to protect the endangered Asian elephant.
Mud, dust, and dirt act as makeshift sunscreens for elephant skin. Without this protective layer of sunscreen, elephants are prone to sunburns and blisters – especially when they spend long days out in the sun with little rest or time in the shade.
When serving for the elephant trekking industry, Asian elephants are not offered the chance to bathe themselves in their mud sunscreen. Elephants are also expected to go long periods of time without eating so that they can carry larger quantities of customers during the day. It must be excruciating to carry around multiple people with a hot sunburn and an empty tummy…
Elephants form close relationships with other family members – especially the bond between an elephant mother and her calf. Calves will stay with their mothers for around 16 years, but the elephant tourism business shatters this bond at the ripe age of six months.
Mahouts are responsible for training elephants for the sake of profit. In their eyes, the easiest way to train the pachyderms is to beat them into submission. The bull hook (a sharp metal hook attached to a long pole used to poke into animal flesh) is the popular weapon of choice in this industry as painful strikes can deter any elephant from “misbehaving.” These sharp tools are inserted into the delicate ear tissue and allow the mahout to force elephantsto “play” in the ocean, and perform other unnatural, painful feats.
Caption: Madison Montgomery (edited by me)
Mud, dust, and dirt act as makeshift sunscreens for elephant skin. Without this protective layer of sunscreen, elephants are prone to sunburns and blisters – especially when they spend long days out in the sun with little rest or time in the shade.
When serving for the elephant trekking industry, Asian elephants are not offered the chance to bathe themselves in their mud sunscreen. Elephants are also expected to go long periods of time without eating so that they can carry larger quantities of customers during the day. It must be excruciating to carry around multiple people with a hot sunburn and an empty tummy…
Elephants form close relationships with other family members – especially the bond between an elephant mother and her calf. Calves will stay with their mothers for around 16 years, but the elephant tourism business shatters this bond at the ripe age of six months.
Mahouts are responsible for training elephants for the sake of profit. In their eyes, the easiest way to train the pachyderms is to beat them into submission. The bull hook (a sharp metal hook attached to a long pole used to poke into animal flesh) is the popular weapon of choice in this industry as painful strikes can deter any elephant from “misbehaving.” These sharp tools are inserted into the delicate ear tissue and allow the mahout to force elephantsto “play” in the ocean, and perform other unnatural, painful feats.
Caption: Madison Montgomery (edited by me)
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