Since the release of Tiger King on Netflix the welfare of captive endangered species has really come into the limelight. As well as some other morally questionable things highlighted in the docu-series! I wanted to make a post to show that if you do want to see and learn about these animals, there are places out there that do things right if you look thoroughly enough. It can just sometimes be hard to know to look out for when trying to find them. So here is mine and Chars experience with the animal tourism industry at Elephant Nature Park (ENP)!
There are many options when looking for days out with elephants around Chiang Mai and the rest of Thailand. As vets, both me and Char are incredibly passionate about animal welfare. We spent an incredibly long time researching every company to find one that we were sure would have animal welfare at its heart. This, combined with recommendations from fellow vets who have already visited Chiang Mai, is what led us to booking our trip with Elephant Nature Park.
Elephant Nature Park
Situated 35 miles North of Chiang Mai, the park is a safe haven of over 200 acres for 30 elephants, 500 dogs, 80 water buffalo and 300 cats. The park was opened by Lek Chailert in 1995 and requires a team of over 70 volunteers to run every day. This is just some of the information we learned during our journey to the park. We were picked up from our hostel and taken directly to the park. Our guides showed us some educational videos about safety and the work of the park during the journey.
Logging Camps
We already knew that elephants in the tourist trade suffer (hence our negative reaction to a particular situation in Ayutthaya, that you can read about in here if you haven’t already!). I didn’t realise how much those used in illegal logging camps are also exploited at the hands of humans. Logging was banned in Thailand in 1989 due to the loss of over 2/3 of the country’s forests. Elephants used in logging camps were effectively out of a job. As such, many then became trekking and street begging elephants. Unfortunately, logging is still legal in Myanmar (previously known as Burma), and so there are hundreds of elephants out there that still suffer. The decline of the Asian elephant in Thailand is a sad reality now, with only 1500 wild elephants and 3000 domesticated ones remaining in the country.
One of the parks residents had a particularly harrowing time as a logging elephant. The story of Jokia is extremely sad. She gave birth whilst pulling logs up a hill but was not allowed to stop. Her baby rolled back down the hill, still in its sac, and suffocated to death. This would have been distressing enough for Jokia as elephants will actually mourn their dead. Still grieving, Jokia refused to continue to work. Her punishment was to be stabbed in both eyes. As a result, she is now blind. After being rescued by ENP she is now free to roam in the park and has slowly rebuilt her trust in humans.
Unethical Tourism
We all hear about how these animals suffer at the hands of the tourist trade but why exactly is that? Street begging elephants often suffer from extreme mental health issues. Elephants use their large feet to absorb and decipher vibrations through the ground. Imagine how many vibrations they would be feeling whilst standing in the middle of the road in a busy city. The elephants unsurprisingly become confused, disorientated and distressed. They “cope” by rocking back and forth, a sign of anxiety, otherwise known as a stereotypy. Many elephants that come to the sanctuary with these mental scars take around 2-4 years to recover. They often continue to show stereotypies such as rocking, for extended periods of time.
Riding Camps
Those elephants used in riding camps suffer similar mental health problems, further exacerbated by being continually chained up. In order to train them to be ridden, calves are basically ripped away from their mothers, confined to small spaces and beaten into submission. If all of this isn’t compelling enough to make you never want to ride an elephant then you should also be considering the physical toll that riding takes. Elephants spines are not designed to carry humans in large wooden boxes. Continued riding results in severe pain and deformation to the spine.
Saza came to Elephant Nature Park in 2015, overexploited, overworked and emaciated. Her diet lacked in nutritional supplementation to compensate for how much work she was doing. Following her arrival in the park she was put onto a special diet. Positive reinforcement techniques were used to allow her to regain confidence as well as physical condition from a more appropriate diet.
We learnt about the stories of these elephants whilst our guide showed us around the park. I feel like it says a lot about how much the staff care when they know pretty much every detail about every elephant there. The majority of these stories were terribly sad. You honestly despair at the human race when you think about what some of these poor creatures have been through. Luckily there are people like Lek, and places like ENP which provide relief and sanctuary to those in need.
The Park
So, what did we do at the park? Our morning was spent feeding fruit to the elephants that came up to the main hut. This was quite amusing as all their different personalities shone through immediately. Elephants are apparently very fussy with their fruit! Char offered one of them a banana. Almost like a temper tantrum, Chars banana was thrown on the floor. This elephant clearly preferred watermelon!
When all of the fruit had been either consumed or thrown away by fussy elephants, we headed out in a small group with our guide to wander around the park. It was pretty surreal to be able to walk amongst these gentle giants. All the time the elephants were free to wander wherever they pleased. If they wanted to interact with us, then it was all on their own terms. It was incredible how friendly a lot of them were considering all they have been through (a credit to the way the staff at ENP have helped them).
At night, the elephants are bought into large stables filled with sand to help them get up and down comfortably. This is both for protection and to keep them warm during the winter months. This is also aided by setting up bonfires nearby. There were no chains in sight either. Thumbs up from us!
The Future
The elephants that come to ENP stay there until they pass on, when they are buried in the parks very own elephant cemetery. They spend their days bathing, playing, socialising and roaming free. Unfortunately, there is just not enough safe land or protection available in Thailand to be able to release these elephants into the wild, however it is Leks dream that one day there may be. In the meantime, the elephants in the park are encouraged to live as natural a life as possible. This does mean that as of April 2018 the public can no longer bathe with the elephants, and although Char and I were a little disappointed at first, we do feel that this is totally understandable.
As part of our day we were fed a gorgeous buffet lunch and were able to sit and watch the elephants roam around from our table. There is a gift shop and a coffee shop on site where all the money earned is ploughed back into the sanctuary.
Positive Change
It’s comforting to know that through all of ENPs work, the lives of many elephants in Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai, are changing for the better. Most places now advertise themselves as not supporting elephant riding and having no chains. Continuing to educate tourists will only make things even better and enable elephants in Thailand to have the life they deserve.
I would strongly recommend visiting this wonderful park and supporting such a fantastic cause. You may even follow in Chars footsteps and find a dog you’d want to adopt! (Typically, she chose the naughty one that nearly caused us to get mown down by a calf!) I can’t wait to return as a volunteer vet in the future so that I can do my part in the conservation of such a majestic species. Every little helps; especially making sure you practice sustainable tourism by visiting parks like these that have the animals interests at heart.
Have you visited Elephant Nature Park or somewhere similar? Let me know below!
