The Elephant In The Park

Elephants never forget … But can they forgive? We take an in-depth look at how a new wave of ethical tourism is building in response to elephant abuse and cruelty.

- Jocelyn Pride

For centuries, Asia’s largest land mammal has been trained to work for humans. Revered for their sheer size, strength and intelligence, elephants are a cornerstone of Asian history. From the “tanks” of ancient battlefields to the “trucks” of logging companies, symbols of cultural and religious ceremonies and centrepieces of circuses, they’ve given their all.

However, the species is now at crisis point. Statistics from a study carried out in 2017 by World Animal Protection (WAP) estimate that in Thailand alone, numbers of wild elephants have dwindled from 100,000 to between 2500 and 3000 in the last 100 years. There are now more elephants living in captivity in Thailand than wandering free. And with that comes myriad problems.

When logging was banned in Thailand in 1989, a period of limbo began where owners and mahouts (elephant trainers) had to look for new ways to keep themselves and the elephants employed. Sadly, it wasn’t a matter of setting the elephants free. Ironically, through hauling logs, the elephants had contributed to destroying their habitat, so there simply wasn’t enough natural forest left to support elephants that eat up to 10 per cent of their body weight every day.