The tradition of elephant domestication in Thailand
Domestication of elephants has a long tradition in Thailand. For centuries, elephants have played an important role in Thai history and economy as war elephants, means of transport, working animals in forestry mostly under very poor conditions in mythology and they have been considered a symbol of power and wealth (Pimmanrojnagool 2002: 37).
Despite various laws, little has been done by the state to protect the animals (Lohanan 2002: 231). In the tourism industry, elephants have become a lucrative source of income, from which, however, not so much the mahouts but a small number of businessmen profit. For domestication, the elephants have to undergo a cruel subjugation procedure that traumatises the animals for the rest of their lives.
Elephant calves, usually only 2 to 3 years old, are snatched from their mothers and dragged into wooden cages or lured with food and tied there by all 4 limbs so that they are unable to move (Ringis 1996: 168).
There they are beaten for several days or even weeks by the elephant hunters or villagers with wooden and metal poles, heavy and pointed objects, shouted at and tortured in various ways, deprived of sleep, water and all food.
The aim is to break the will of the animal and completely subjugate it to man until it is ready to accept a human on its back, the future mahout (Ringis 1996: 168).
The sensitive animals will remember this traumatic experience for the rest of their lives and will submit to the will of the mahout out of fear. The mahout also uses a hammer with a pointed iron spike, the so-called elephant hook or ankus, during the further training of the elephant, with which he hits the animal on the head or behind the ears.
Although the Thai government officially distances itself from this procedure, it still seems to be common practice in the domestication of elephants (Peta o.J.).
Meanwhile, the majority of domesticated elephants in Thailand are used in the tourism industry.
While this is a lucrative source of income for elephant owners and camp operators, the mahouts employed are underpaid and poorly trained, often resulting in the elephants not being adequately treated and cared for. According to a study, there are problems associated with running elephant camps.
In northern Thailand, there are 14 elephant camps with 536 elephants. The feeding grounds and trekking routes are located in protected forest areas under the Ministry of Forestry. The use of the areas has to be approved by the authority, which is a lengthy process, whereas the tourism business is growing very fast. This leads to serious conflicts (Tipprasert 2002: 157).
In Eastern Thailand there are 6 elephant camps with a total of 129 elephants. In order to attract more tourists, the prices for elephant rides were lowered, but this meant that the working hours for the animals and mahouts had to be increased from 5 to 6 hours in order to achieve the desired income of 400 baht per day. This led to many mahouts going to the big cities with their elephants (Tipprasert 2002: 165).
According to estimates, there were about 100 so-called migratory or begging elephants in Thailand in 2002 (Tipprasert 2002: 165) in various cities, and according to a study from 2000, 41 of them were in Bangkok alone (Pimmanrojnagool 2002: 35). The mahouts make their living mainly by begging and selling fruit pacts as elephant food.
The elephants are brought from the provinces to the cities on trucks. The animals’ living conditions are in no way appropriate for the species. The big city with lots of people and dense road traffic means enormous stress for the sensitive animals, so that they sometimes develop behavioural disorders and behave aggressively towards people.
Elephants are often injured or killed in traffic accidents.
The laws already in place to protect elephants are outdated and have not been consistently applied so far (Lohanan 2002: 232).
Especially in rural areas, awareness of the need to protect the species is developing only hesitantly. In addition, it would be necessary to better educate Thailand tourists about traditional elephant domestication.
As long as humans think that animals don’t feel, animals have to feel that humans don’t think.
Eva Stürmer
My thanks go to my friend Dagmar Sawistowsky for her helpful support.
Source:
National Geographic News (2010), “Activists denounce Thailand’s elephant destruction ritual.” Electronic document: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1016_021016_phajaan_2.html (retrieved: 13.01.2016).
Lohanan, Roger (2002): ‘The situation of elephants in Thailand and a plea for cooperation’. In Baker, Ilyas and Masazuko Kashio (eds.): Giants in our hands. Proceedings of the international workshop on the domesticated Asian elephant. Bangkok: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 231-238.
Peta Deutschland e.V. (n.d.): “Thailand. The facts about elephant agony.” Electronic document: http://www.peta.de/thailandelefantenfakten (retrieved: 10.12.2015).
Pimmanrojnagool, Viroj and Sawai Wanghongsa (2002): “A study of roaming street elephants in Bangkok and the socio-economic lives of their mahouts”. In Baker, Iljas and Masazuko Kashio (eds.): Giants in our hands. Proceedings of the international workshop on the domesticated Asian elephant. Bangkok: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 35-42.
Ringis, Rita (1996): Thai elephants in myth, art and reality. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Thai Tourist Board (n.d.): ‘Thailand’s elephants – symbol of a nation’. Electronic document: http://www.thailandtourismus.de/service/tat-presse-news/e-magazin/thailands-elefanten-symbol-einer-nation.html (retrieved: 07.12.2015).
Tipprasert, Prasob (2002): ‘Elephants and ecotourism in Thailand’. In Baker, Iljas and Masazuko Kashio (eds.): Giants in our hands. Proceedings of the international workshop on the domesticated Asian elephant. Bangkok: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 157-171.