Pls Don't Ride an Elephant. Here's Why.

Did you know that today is Worldwide Elephant Day? (August 12)

Elephants cry, play, have memories, and laugh. Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world, can live to be 70 years old, and are highly sensitive and caring animals. Elephants express grief, compassion, self-awareness, altruism and play.

On Worldwide Elephant Day, a lot of people are talking about the issues facing elephants, including trafficking and poaching. But I wanted to remind everyone that there is one super simple way to help lessen the plight of the elephants. (1) Choose NOT to ride an elephant or go to an elephant attraction for profit and (2) make sure that all of your traveling friends and family members know about how bad it is so they don't go ride or pay for elephant attractions.

Here's my original post about Thailand's dishonorable elephant attraction industry (http://imgur.com/gallery/NdROs) but thought it was worthwhile to bring this back for Worldwide Elephant Day. So here it is.

People love to ride elephants, but elephants aren't on this planet to entertain us.

Most people go to Thailand wanting to ride elephants -- I totally did. I was there in November 2014, but being the crazy reviews-driven person I am, I started a search to find the best elephant attraction on Tripadvisor and other sites. The more I read, the more I learned just how flawed the entire Thailand elephant attraction industry is.

So, why is it so bad to ride on elephants?

#1 reason not to ride: wild baby elephants are tortured "tame" before entering into the Thai tourism industry.

Sorry for the graphic gif (pulled from YouTube), but I think people need to know.

While some are born into captivity, many wild elephants are captured by tour companies. But before they are ridable, captured wild baby elephants quite literally have their spirit broken to become tame. They are made "tame" through a brutal ritual called "Phajaan" -- or “the crush”. It can last many days and some baby elephants don't survive.

This experience ends up damaging the emotional spirit of the elephant for its entire life, and it's done just so tourists can ride them. Elephants never forget, and they fear being stabbed their whole life after the Phajaan.

# 2 reason not to ride: it breaks down their bodies.

Even though they are massive, their spines are not made to support the weight of humans and those metal cages. And they are overworked, carrying tourists every day of the week.

It has been pointed out to me that the Elephant Nature Park elephant featured here sustained a different kind of injury -- not specific to human riding. Leaving it because it shows the damage humans have caused for these animals.

Why are Thailand's most majestic and godly creatures so cruelly treated?

Go to any temple or gift shop in Thailand, and all you will see are elephants. It's hypocrisy on the grandest scale I've ever seen.

In short, Thailand is a developing country, elephant attractions are a huge money maker, and the laws aren't helping anything. Domesticated elephants are considered to be "commercial animals" under the Beast of Burden Act (1939). The "owner" has the right to trade and use the animal at will. Commercial animals basically means livestock. More on the outdated laws around Thai's elephants: http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ad031e/ad031e0r.htm

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by how its animals are treated" - Gandhi

Okay -- there's some hope.

There is a woman in Thailand named Lek Chailert -- Lek has dedicated her life to rescuing and caring for elephants that have been abused by the tourism and logging industries. When Lek was young, her family cared for an elephant which became a close companion to her. This affection led to working with elephants in the forests.

In 2003 Lek founded Elephant Nature Park. Elephant Nature Park is an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, and it's open to visitors and volunteers. For about $60 USD, you can visit Elephant Nature Park and spend a day playing, bathing and feeding the elephants. It's an amazing experience -- you don't need to ride an elephant to have an amazing encounter, and the money you spend visiting the park goes directly to feeding, housing and rescuing other elephants. Something everyone can feel good about!

When we visited in November, it sounded like Elephant Nature Park might be nearing capacity, and Lek and her team are working to open other sanctuaries. Feeding an elephant is incredibly expensive -- I don't have the exact figure, but I believe it costs about the same amount to feed an elephant for one day as the average Thai worker makes in one week.

More about Lek and Elephant Nature Park:
Lek on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lek.chailert
Elephant Nature Park website: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/
How to donate: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/how-you-can-help/

And that's Lek, surrounded by her elephants. They know she's their savior.

A few of my pictures from Elephant Nature Park.

Elephants just being elephants.

Long post -- thanks for caring enough to read it.

Many Imgurians donated to Elephant Nature Park as a result of the original post, so let's keep it going and see if Imgur can save an elephant on Worldwide Elephant Day.

Donations to http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/how-you-can-help/