February 7: Elephants

There’s a real ethical dilemma when it comes to visiting elephants parks, and participating in the activities there. But first, the history of the Asian elephant, once highly revered and domesticated for work and warfare. Far from the estimated population of hundreds of thousands of elephants centuries ago, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, it’s estimated that between only 25,000 and 32,000 Asian elephants are now left in the wild. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). In Thailand now, there are about 4,000. In 1989, the tradition of using elephants in industry ended, mainly due to irresponsible over-logging. The collapse of the industry created huge problems for the mahouts who had to find a way to pay for the care and upkeep of their elephants.

So, some trainers took to the streets with illegal begging and for tourist entertainment. It costs a lot to feed and water an elephant and with few options, the manhouts treated their charges badly. The tourism industry may be a viable alternative but it can be a trick one, because there is always a risk of exploitation when animals and commercialization meet. The Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation says it ‘believes responsible elephant tourism can help to save the elephants throughout Asia but only if camps maintain the highest level of elephant care, food requirements, hygiene and environmental enrichment’.

So the goal was to find a day trip to one of the parks that meet the goals of treating the elephants well. I chose Baan Chang Elephant Park, which had good reviews, and while it included elephant rides, they were done without a basket/chair, and apparently riding up near their ears, on the neck is better for the animal. Also, this park does not remove the babies from their mothers and “torture” them in the training. So, a van picked me up, and along with two families from Chile and a young man from Brazil and some brothers from Montana we drove about an hour outside of Chiang Mai.

Baan Chang cares for about 45 elephants, all of whom have been rescued from other activities. We were given some lovely manhout clothes to wear as we fed a group of elephants bananas and sugarcane, and taught about their care. We visited a mom and her 2 month old baby elephant, kept in a separate spot, along with her manhout, who has been sleeping in her enclosure since before the baby was born. After lunch we were shown how to mount and dismount and given some basic commands. And I simply did not feel good about getting up on an elephant and walking around. We were told to ride on the neck, and the elephants seemed well cared for, and we didn’t see any use of hooks, but something just didn’t sit right with me. So, I didn’t ride, and neither did the young man from Brazil.

After the rest of our group took their walk, we joined them in the bathing pond and got in with the elephants to brush them and douse them with water. Watching one of the larger ones take a huge dump into the water just before we walked in the pond, barefoot, almost left me standing on the side. But, since I used to swim in cow ponds in Missouri as an adolescent, I figured what’s a little (big) elephant dung between the toes? And then they let us take “showers” — water dribbling out of PVC pipes — and change back into our own clothes before heading back to Chaing Mai. Where I immediately took another shower.

It turns out that this Baan Chang also offers a version of the tour called “day care” which doesn’t involve riding, but a walk in the jungle with them instead. I didn’t know about that. And there’s a more responsible organization called Elephant Nature Park that would’ve been a better choice. I wish I had done more research before booking. And my decision not to ride won’t make a bit of difference, but the money I paid for the experience will go to help this non-profit continue to feed and care for these majestic creatures.