CHIANG MAI, Thailand — For 15 years she ferried tourists around Cambodia’s famous landmarks before dropping dead at the side of the road.

As holiday-goers posed for photos and made their wish of riding an elephant come true, the elderly animal who was thought to be aged 40 to 45, dutifully plodded on.

But three weeks ago on Apr. 22, as the sweltering summer heat reached 40 degrees Celsius, Sambo suffered a heart attack and died on her way to famed Siem Reap temple Angkor Wat.

More people are learning that the old practice of riding an elephant while a mahout (keeper) controls it with bullhooks is cruel, and as a result more wild life "sanctuaries" are springing up as a more humane option offering that up-close encounter with the great Asian mammal.

The author with a Chiang Mai elephant. Image: SARAH DEAN/MASHABLE

The so-called sanctuaries purportedly provide a more nurturing and safe environment for the elephants, compared to capturing and controlling a wild animal.

But experts aren't convinced it's all that beneficial for the elephants at these places.

I visited Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, located one and a half hours’ drive out of Chiang Mai in Thailand’s north, where tourists are offered a prolonged four-hour photoshoot with the elephants posing on command.

Standing under a single tree with his foot chained is a bull with large tusks who the guide says could be in musth — a period of behaviour where male elephants become highly aggressive and have a huge surge in reproductive hormones.

The elephant chained to the tree. Image: SARAH DEAN/MASHABLE

Bulls in musth are meant to be given forests to relax in, but as the temperature hit 39 degrees the imposing animal has little shade available.

Dr Jan Schmidt, a senior wildlife advisor in the Asia Pacific region for World Animal Protection, says: "Musth elephants are one of the biggest challenges and this is why elephants are not made to be kept in captivity.

"Musth elephants can turn uncontrollably aggressive, so that the only choice for the handlers is to chain them up (often with front and hind legs chained together) and throw food at them for the duration of their musth time, which could be weeks."

"Elephants are not made to be kept in captivity."

Biologist Helena Telkanranta, the Founder and President of Elephant Experts, explains that in hot weather tying a musth bull up could be a "source of discomfort."

"Especially if the elephant did not have access to ample water that he could suck in his trunk and splash onto himself to cool down," she adds.

During the introduction to the sanctuary, guides warn visitors to be careful of the bull and to watch out for their feet being stamped on by "crazy yaya" — a young elephant who has not been "trained" yet.

Tourists are also told not to show any fear while they're given sugarcane and bananas to feed the elephants with.

Image: SARAH DEAN/MASHABLE

But these treats are not particularly good for them, says Schmidt, who explains that elephants primarily need a fiber-rich diet, including a variety of grasses, bushes and leaves.

"Sugarcane and bananas are not essential parts of that diet and can be compared to sweets for children," she said.

And in many camps with high visitor traffic, these sweet additions to their diet go unmonitored. This is evident in some of the elephants which look like their eyes are welling up — the guide explains they aren't "crying" but have just eaten "too much sugar."

During the feeding session, I noticed the handlers controlling the elephants by tugging on their ears, telling tourists this doesn't hurt them.

"Tugging on their ears is a common way to control elephants. It is used because the ears are easy to reach and the animals are sensitive to pulls on the ears," Schmidt says.

Telkanranta agrees that sensitivity to pain is very similar between humans and elephants.

"There is a common misconception that because elephants have thick skin, they would feel less pain; but in reality, the receptors that pick up signals of pain and send them to the brain are located on the surface of the skin," she adds.

Image: SARAH DEAN/MASHABLE

To control the animals, the mahouts also shout loudly at them. The guides say they have to shout, or the elephants won’t hear them.

"Elephants endure intensive and repeated cruelty throughout their entire lives to be able to perform for tourists."

But both experts argue that elephants in general have very good hearing — often better than humans.

Telkanranta says: "If an elephant does not do what the mahout wants, this is often interpreted as the elephant refusing to listen."

Schmidt adds that shouting acts as a stressor to the elephants, and that for elephants which have previously been subjected to bullhooks, they may associate yelling with that experience.



While bullhooks are not used at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, it's likely that before these creatures arrived at the camp, many were subjected to the "breaking-the-will" approach of training where they were controlled by pain and their movements were restricted.

"Whether caught from the wild or bred in captivity, elephants have not undergone genetic changes to allow them to adapt to captive conditions. Elephants endure intensive and repeated cruelty throughout their entire lives to be able to be forced to perform for tourists," Schmidt reasons.

Unquenchable tourist demand

In high season around 20-30 people a day visit just one elephant camp at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and the company has five camps in total.

Seven years ago, people would walk young elephants 685 km from Chiang Mai all the way to Bangkok so they could make a living from giving rides to tourists.

Although the sanctuaries provide a better environment compared with cities for the elephants, much education needs to be done.

"Owners, managers and staff are usually genuinely well-meaning, but they have not had opportunity to access scientific knowledge on elephant behaviour and biology," Telkanranta notes. "They genuinely do not know that some of their own practices still are problematic."

Image: SARAH DEAN/MASHABLE

But although the elephants may look like they are roaming free, elephants are wild animals and their posing for photos with their trunk wrapped around tourists isn't natural behaviour for them.

"It is stressful and demanding on the animals as they need to be constantly aware of what is being asked of them and follow orders," Schmidt says.

Perhaps the most humane thing tourists can do is to simply stop demanding elephants do the bidding of humans.

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