Yes, elephants are definitely amazing. They are beautiful and strong creatures created by God and it was fantastic to see, feed, and touch elephants while in Thailand - however, there's more to most elephant camps than meet the eye.
First, I will tell you about what I did like. I enjoyed feeding the elephants, because that made them happy. I enjoyed watching their bath time, because they were happy.
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| Where we fed the elephants |
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| Elephant bath time! |
I did not sign up to ride the elephants. I did not like the elephant show, especially when they were painting. Why, you ask? Well, because elephants are strong, yes, but they were not made to carry heavy things (like a cart to hold people) on their backs, they were made to pull things behind them. Also, painting with their trunks? It is completely unnatural for an elephant to do that, and they go through major trauma when they're forced to learn to do it. The elephant painting closest to where we were sitting was clearly distressed by having to paint. In between each paint brush, he would turn away and was holding his leg funny. While video does show it better (I will be posting a video after some of these posts), I also have stills. Oh yes, and also pictures of their hooks....when other elephant sanctuaries have found that positive reinforcement has the same training effects, why are hooks necessary?
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| The elephant painting... |
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| ...and turning away... |
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| ...and turning away again... |
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| Hooks |
So if you ever are thinking of seeing elephants while in Thailand (or elsewhere that has elephants, I'm sure), make sure you check it out first!
Here's a good one for Thailand visitors.
For more information on this topic:
Article #1
Article #2
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