The Cruel Reality Behind Elephant Rides in Thailand That Most People Don’t Know

Thailand is a beautiful country. From its fantastic landscape to its excellent food, the state will always be able to satisfy your touristy needs. But sadly, there is an attraction that has a cruel and inhumane secret behind it.

Source: bali river rafting

Honestly, some of us might be guilty of taking elephant rides in Thailand, but most of us were unaware of the cruel “training” that the elephants have to go through. So after this, no more elephant rides ok? 

A Twitter user by the name of Fuzir shared how these elephants are tortured so they would follow the instructions by their owner.

Proses ini dipanggal "Phajaan". Proses yg kejam yg mana baby gajah dipisah cara paksa & didera. Last2 bagi pelancong naik seronok2. So, bile pegi Siam, jgn gatal2 nak naik gajah. RT utk pengetahuan bersama! #StopAnimalCruelty #elephant pic.twitter.com/YqPv8TwJem

— Uncle Barry (@fuzirbarry) May 2, 2018

Wild baby elephants are often kidnapped from their mothers and then chained up. Then they will go through a lot of abuse which will mentally break them to make them submissive towards their trainer.

Daily torture and abuse

Animal trainers engage in the form of elephant crushing called Phajaan in Thailand which means “breaking the elephant’s spirit”.

Adult elephants will be placed in a cage where they tied with strong ropes to keep them from moving. They will also be subject to daily beatings using various weapons designed to cause maximum pain and suffering.

Eventually, the elephant will give up and lose their spirit, no longer fighting back. Hence, the term “breaking”.

Source: twitter

Trainers would also use bullhooks to hit the elephants on the head, to remind the elephants to stay submissive. Faizal shares some of the photos of this act on Twitter. Note the various scars and wounds on the elephant’s head.

You can stop inhumanity tortured on elephants by stop riding an elephant! pic.twitter.com/oYtPd0wXzI

— abang baik (@faizalghazaly) April 12, 2019

This is just plain animal cruelty! 

Spread awareness

So please help spread awareness of the animal cruelty surrounding seemingly fun elephant rides. The only way is to save them is to boycott elephant rides in the hope that the industry will collapse.

As they say, when the demand stops, the cruelty stops too.

Also read: Malaysian Artist: “Are you happy taking pics with animals sedated to death? Just don’t guys, please don’t”