I haven't been blogging in the longest while but I just wanted to talk about the issue on elephant trekking after my experience in Krabi, Thailand.
Before I went on the trip, I chanced upon this video that showed how elephants were abused so as to train them to be docile and tame for the pleasure of tourists. So I told the group that I was travelling with that I refuse to go for elephant trekking. But when we were there, we only had 2 days of activities planned and we had to look for one more package for our last day. The group was super accommodating and they eliminated any packages that had elephant trekking. But after a long while, we could only find packages that were super expensive and did not include much activities.
And then we came across this super value-for-money package that our other friend went for and it included the activities we wanted like ATV, Go-kart, etc. The only thing about the package is that it included Elephant trekking and I was like :O. But it was getting late and that was the significantly cheaper package, so I agreed to go ahead with it.
Fast forward to our last day of the activities..
The very first activity on our itinerary was Elephant trekking. When we arrived, I didn't really feel too good. Then our tour guide handed us this indemnity form for us to sign and one of our friends confirmed if we(S and I) were going for the ride. I could have said no, but since we were already there and I didn't want to be a spoilsport, we agreed to take the ride. One of the worst decisions of my life.
As we approached the elephants, I saw this elephant chained to the fence and a small part of his trunk had a fresh wound. I felt something was wrong but I just kept quiet. I did not want to assume anything yet.
When it was our turn to ride on the elephant, I was slightly nervous and reluctant, but it was still tolerable. The moment I got on our elephant, I saw the guy who rode the elephant (lets just call him Max) holding this sharp metal hook that looked really threatening. Max had conveniently rested the sharp metal hook on the elephant's ear and I was really annoyed by it.
I was losing my patience but I tried to keep cool.
5 minutes into the ride, Max was apparently irritated by how slowly the elephant was walking and he grabbed his sharp metal hook and hit our elephant's head with it. That was the last straw. And I started tearing and questioning myself for going for the ride. S was reassuring me but it was of no use. I couldn't stop crying and blaming myself.
This happened a few times and I could not finish the rest of the ride in peace. I knew I was doing something wrong and I terribly regret it. After the ride, I felt so guilty and upset at myself for going against my own beliefs. I felt so angry that despite knowing the torture that they went through, I still chose to go ahead with the ride. I felt like a hypocrite for doing something that I did not approve of. And I kept quiet for the entire journey to our next destination.
One of our friends bought bananas for the elephant that was chained to the fence out of pity, hoping to make it happier. Perhaps she genuinely thinks that it makes things better. But I think that the simple act of people buying bananas is already sending a signal to the locals that we condone their behaviour and that there is a demand for elephant trekking. With that, they will continue to capture and abuse more elephants to feed the selfish desires and wants of tourists.
I know I am in no position to tell people not to go for elephant rides, because I went for it knowing how badly they were treated. And although no one reads this space anymore, I sincerely wish to appeal to anyone who chance upon this post. Please do not go for elephant trekking. If you want to find out how they treat the elephants, it can be done easily with a click on your mouse. I am sure that there will be many articles that tell the horror story.
You might think that you won't make a difference because you're only one person and that you not going for elephant trekking would not deter the locals from capturing elephants and providing this service. No, it is definitely not true. I believe if one person stops going for this activity and he/she encourages his/her friends not to go for it and his/her friends encourage their friends not to go for it, the demand for elephant trekking will drop. Eventually, they will reduce the capturing and all. I know it is not as simple as this, but every bit of effort counts.
Some people also argue that the locals need to make a living and that they are forced to do this. So does that mean that we can condone their behaviour of abusing the elephants just for their own needs? I think that's selfish. Elephants are not meant to be chained to a small area and be restricted of their movement. They are not meant to go through the same routes over and over again just for our own selfish desires. Why should they suffer because of us humans?
So please, do not go for elephant trekking :(
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