In a flash I saw him standing there. A sad old elephant on a chain. Limping restlessly from one colossal paw to the other. Angry? Or even worse, perhaps aggressive, because the next trick was already waiting.
When I looked further, I saw a board with the further ingredients of a mini animal show. Besides the elephant you could also meet a real crocodile and there was even a monkey on offer. Full throttle I drove away from this pernicious place on Ko Phangan.
Never, ever, will you see me on an elephant. In my eyes the pinnacle of colonial behaviour, as if time has stood still for three centuries. With a Thai as a supervisor who has to keep the animal in check. The rich westerner in the saddle of a beast, which must live in the open nature and may not be abused as a fairground attraction. I know, I know the counterarguments to using the elephant as a toy. This is how you help the Thai earn an income. And you imagine yourself in the jungle, far from home, and what could be better, to make contact with the local population through the back of the elephant?
© Ton LankreijerI wrote it before, the Thai has nothing to do with stray dogs, but cherishes its own pets. On another drive across Ko Phangan, I was pointed out something curious by the children of the coffee shop manageress during a stop for a double espresso. In an extended drawer of the desk, the cat of the house was sleeping peacefully. No basket with pillow, like in the Netherlands. No scratching post in the room and no plastic toys with a bell to activate the animal. No rattle or other silly instrument, fortunately I did see an example of idiosyncratic animal behavior that was honored by humans. There was nothing to suggest that the cat had been brusquely stuffed into the drawer, in order to give the passing guileless Farrang the idea of pulling out his wallet.
I admit, I have been to the Chiang Mai Zoo. Not because I want to look at animals in exile, but simply because I was curious about the Panda. We don't have that in the Netherlands, so against all my principles I paid extra for the Pandahuis. And as it should be, the Panda had no message for snoopers like me, the animal was fast asleep. The occasional convulsion, but that was it. And I must admit, the Chiang Mai Zoo is spacious, incomparable to an Artis like ours in Amsterdam.
© Ton LankreijerIn my further research into the animal in Thailand, I was asked to join the annual elephant dinner. Elephant dinner? Yes, you read that right. An annual phenomenon in Maesa Elephant Camp. The Mae Sa Vally area is home to eighty elephants, with a 98-year-old specimen as the tribal elder. Originally these animals were used to transport goods, now they are trained and cared for in this reserve. And here too, like the example in Ko Phangan, the animals are painted with their trunks and you can also take a paid ride here. There's even a collective painting of a whole herd of elephants in the small onsite museum, which made the Guinness Book of Records. The devaluation of an imposing and noble animal in my eyes, transformed into a showbiz act.
To be fair, the arrival of the eighty animals on their way to the prepared dinner was and remains impressive. For a while I still lived under the delusion that after dinner they were allowed to go back into nature, until a chain on each animal immediately helped me out of my dream.
© Ton Lankreijer
I agree with you, but at the same time I wonder what should happen to these animals? The only place will then be the zoo, I'm afraid, and is that better?
So what should happen to these animals? Just being in nature, being free. As it should!
You're not tied to a chain and beaten with a stick to entertain others, are you?
@ton I completely agree with you, this is not right.
Very nice piece and I totally agree with you.
We are at http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ and they do a very good job there.
They catch elephants there and walk there in the wild.
They also go to elephant camps to explain that they can also deal with elephants and tourists in a different and better way.
There are also national parks where they can roam freely.
Unfortunately, the Thai make money by letting tourists ride elephants, so you can't just change that.
So it is also up to the tourist, the Dutch tours no longer have it in their program, so that is a good start.
Doesn't this apply to all animals that are ridden? A horse is also put in a "stable" after riding, this also belongs in nature.
Dear Tony
In your neighboring country, Belgium, there are also pandas in a beautiful environment! Or is that too close?
Gerard
Hello Ton,
There are also places in Thailand where people now treat the elephants and other animals better.
For example Elephant World in Kanchanaburi. My daughter has already volunteered there several times.
The daily management is in the hands of a Dutch woman, Agnes, and it is certainly worth a visit.
This is the internet address http://www.elephantsworld.org.
I have made a film for those people who would like to work as a volunteer at Elephantsworld, so that you know what it is like. Here's the movie https://youtu.be/tYznryadeJc.
Regards Rinus
Good idea, release all those hundreds into the Thai forests. Then they will look for food in the fields.
The villagers know what to do with that. The next day everyone eats elephant and they get a nice amount for the tusks.
Also don't eat meat anymore, because those poor pigs, chickens, etc, are also in a pen.
Piet is talking about a horse. A horse has been suitable for years to ride on its back.
An elephant (no matter how strong it may look from the outside) can move loads but cannot actually bear loads on its back.
Dear Ton, You have made your contribution. You're just right. All those good talkers with all kinds of stories
are of course always there. Nevertheless, Thailand is actually also the country of the elephants for tourists. My daughter did not go to an elephant show years ago with elephants playing soccer and elephants making a painting. If more people would follow that, it might solve something.
For now, it is carrying water to the sea.
Cor van Kampen.
“Not because I want to look at animals in exile, but just because I was curious about the Panda. We don't have that in the Netherlands, so against all my principles I paid extra for the Pandahuis.”
In my opinion, this is looking at animals in exile or does curiosity justify the exile…..
The despicable images speak for themselves. Fortunately, after many protests, including calls for a boycott of the resort in question, the 'entertainment' has finally been stopped. Gosh, how we laughed.
http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/03/27/baby-elephant-exploited-drunk-tourist-rager
Well, there will always be people who want to downplay it, because animal abuse happens everywhere, not just in Thailand, because that is the country of our tee-rak, so it's not that bad, what are we talking about. 🙁
The zoo in Chiang Mai we only went there because we wanted to see the panadas.
It is quite well set up but for a number of years we think very neglected. Shops closed paintless and seen few animals compared to a few years ago. Such a shame this must be a top attraction for Chiang Mai.
we plan this next time http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ to visit. In December we went to an elephant village near Surin because I had read that animals were treated in an animal-friendly way there. that fell against the travel booklet was talking about it http://www.surinproject.org/home.html which was next to the village. This organization tries to free elephants by offering their bosses a salary so that the elephant no longer has to do tricks for tourists.
I fully agree with Ton Lankreijer's arguments. Having said this, I do not think it is right that only Thailand is accused of this. Have you ever been to a circus performance in the Netherlands? How do you think the lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys are trained there? I can tell you this does not happen with sugar cubes. I worked for a few weeks in the wintering camp in Soesterberg with Toni Boltini (years ago) and saw first hand how that went. If a lion did something wrong there was a helper who hit the lion with an iron bar until it did right, that's why they are afraid of the lion tamer when he stands with a whip in his hand during the performance, these animals see it no difference. But oh, when he turns around, he's gone. So act against how people treat these animals in the NETHERLANDS.
If we really want to be consistent in our compassion towards other living beings, we should 'treat' animals and people completely differently. Animals as a source of food and as a source of entertainment: a pot of water, totally outdated and in fact superfluous - not to mention factory farming. Our home country, the Netherlands, is a frontrunner in that respect (isn't it???): cruelty to animals on a mass scale, enormous meat, dairy, leather and egg consumption and export, kilo bangers, etc. If you look at it very spiritually - apologies for this 'floating angle – plants are even treated cruelly (including living beings).
It remains of course that the elephant problem in Thailand is difficult to solve. I wonder if it is possible to house elephants all in nature reserves? Is there enough space, food and living space for elephants there? A lot of agricultural land would then have to be converted into forest, but in practice – when I look around me – I see that the opposite is happening. Forests are destroyed and burned for the sake of economic progress, but who are we (me) to prevent Thais from wanting to pursue a Western lifestyle? It is logical that Thais want to become as rich as we do, and I think that is almost always at the expense of nature and natural resources (Western countries have become rich through damage and shame?)
I also once helped plant trees in our neighborhood for the foundation
http://www.bring-the-elephant-home.org/nl/ an initiative of the Dutch. Unfortunately, the trees were planted near a river (Lamplaimat-Buri Ram) which overflows every year. In my opinion, the project was a complete failure.
I know exactly which elephants Ton means on Koh Phangan. I drove by there with Ton a few years ago. I grabbed my camera and wanted to take a picture of it. But then I realized that these elephants looked very sad and bored. Put the camera back in my camera bag. About 25 years ago I was in Kenya and I saw the elephants walking in the wild. Nice groups together and playing and bathing in a pool. That's how they should live.