Visiting Elephants in Phuket – Ethically

Today was the day! The day I had been most looking forward to. The day we visited the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.

Be very critical of any paid activity involving animals. Activities that may seem harmless, like swimming with or “bathing” elephants, can be extremely stressful and uncomfortable for the animals. Use your best judgement and take assurances of ethicality with a grain of salt. If an elephant is swaying back and forth, a tour operator may say she’s “dancing”. In reality, this is something they do to sooth themselves when they are distressed. If there are any signs that an animal is uncomfortable or being forced into interaction, don’t participate.

I love all animals. My boyfriend often wonders aloud how I got to be like this as I pick up spiders and carry them outside instead of killing them. So obviously visiting an animal sanctuary was at the top of my list of things to do. The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary lived up to all of my expectations and provided a truly memorable experience.

Thailand has a complicated relationship with the elephant. Elephants are depicted everywhere. Many restaurants and businesses have the elephant as their namesake. Elephants are the first thing many people think of at the mention of Thailand. Although these beautiful creatures are so central to its identity, they are often treated cruelly here.

Many captive elephants began their working lives as beasts of burden in illegal logging camps. As the government began cracking down on illegal logging, mahouts without work for their animals turned to the tourism industry. These elephants are now forced to give rides to tourists, for hours on end, day after day, with the threat of pain and abuse keeping them in line.

In order for a mahout to be sure that an elephant will allow people on her back and follow orders, that elephant must be broken. This process was explained in an informational video we watched at the sanctuary. I cried when I watched it there and I choke up just thinking about it now. The scars of being broken are visible on all of the elephants at the sanctuary. Most have chunks of their ears missing from rings that were pulled on until they ripped. One elephant has giant scars around her neck from when she was forced to wear a spike collar because she tried to shake off a rider. Some have scars on their sides and legs from a hook. One even has scarring from an old bullet wound. It is heartbreaking to see but it makes the work that the sanctuary is doing so important.

On the drive back to our hotel that day, we passed a group of elephants being led from a riding camp and I immediately started crying. Each elephant was ridden by a mahout carrying a large bull hook used to keep the elephants obedient. PES buys old and injured elephants from these riding camps and gives them a peaceful place to live out their days, where they never have to answer to a bull hook again.

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the only true sanctuary in the area. Other establishments mimic the sanctuary, often with “sanctuary” or “rescue” in the name, but offer unethical activities such as riding or bathing. They do a good job of selling these activities as harmless, or even beneficial, to the elephants. The riding isn’t bad because it’s bare back and the elephant isn’t wearing a heavy chair. Bathing is fine because you are learning to take care of the elephant. But here’s the thing, elephants are wild animals. They don’t need humans to bathe them, they are very capable of covering themselves with mud on their own (see photos below). Forced interactions with humans are uncomfortable for them and capitalize on the decades of abuse these animals have suffered.

In order for an elephant to allow a rider on her back, she was taken from her mother at too young an age. She was denied the family interaction that elephants need as intelligent, social creatures. Her legs and head were tied in place for days on end until she just gave up and her spirit was broken. In order for an elephant to interact with humans without being a risk to them, she was beaten with a hook every time she made a sharp move toward a human. She was carefully watched by her handler who dug a nail into her ear every time she made a move he didn’t like.

You won’t see these abuses at any of the faux sanctuaries and that allows tourists a false sense of ease. I talked to people who participated in these activities and were convinced that they were perfectly ethical. Some people so badly want that photo on an elephant for Instagram that they will readily believe that the absence of physical abuse equals ethical treatment. But just because you don’t see the abuse doesn’t mean it isn’t there. That abuse is very real and present in the mind of an elephant every time a rider is put on her back.

So, if you ever encounter wild animal tourism, think about what the animals had to endure to make that forced interaction possible. That elephant doesn’t want to be ridden, just like that tiger doesn’t want to be pet and that lemur doesn’t want to be held.

Enough with the heavy stuff. The morning I spent at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary was amazing. The elephants are so beautiful, I could have sat and just watched them graze all day. The sanctuary is also home to a few dogs and a pig and her piglets!

The morning started with a video on the plight of Thai elephants and the mission of the sanctuary. Bring your tissues for this one. After that we had the opportunity to feed the elephants bananas and cucumbers. The rest of the morning we walked around the sanctuary, with a guide, just watching the elephants be elephants. They spend most of their time eating, but we did get to see them go for a swim. At the end of the tour a delicious vegetarian lunch is provided. The tour is a little pricey (for Thailand) but it was worth every penny, especially knowing that the money goes to improving the lives of the elephants.