We went to Phuket Thailand in early 2018, and like most international tourists in Southeast Asia, paid for an “elephant experience.” Since then, some of my friends and family have also asked for recommendations. Admittedly, I did no research prior to going. We were with a group, which is absolutely no excuse, and I debated on writing this blog because of it. If I had done even a thirty second google search, I would have learned enough to have made a more educated decision on impacting wild and endangered animals.
We honestly felt like our experience was some sort of care-taking one, that we helped give them a daily mud bath, and a cool rinse in the morning sun, before some afternoon snacks. Unfortunately, the more I’ve read about it, it was not an elephant focused thing overall.
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Trip Advisor has had a “no touching of wild animals” policy since 2016, two years before we went. In 2018 when we went, they had already started to ban ticket sales on certain kinds of attractions. Although bathing an elephant is not the ‘most’ unethical experience you can have with an elephant, and is better than trekking or watching elephants who are forced to display unnatural behaviors such as dancing, or painting, it is interacting with an elephant in an unnatural way for the benefit of tourists, as opposed to something being elephant focused.
This brings me to the next problem with where we went. The elephant park had the word “sanctuary” in the name but wasn’t really a true sanctuary. Sanctuaries are places where elephants can retire comfortably without having to work for their food. We had gone to a park, with sanctuary in the name, that had recently opened. They do some good things, like educating the public on how inhumane trekking is which is what 90% of the other attractions were at the time. Elephants can be pregnant 18-22 months and in that time they normally are forced to trek because of the financial loss to the owner if they don’t. Many elephants are forced into small shelters and chained up at night. This park did show they do have chain free shelters, and since we’ve been there, they’ve opened an animal clinic. I also watched the owner turn away people when the group was going to be too large, and they do seem passionate about some level of elephant well being.
However, the word “sanctuary” in the name is misleading for what should be called a park, and the truth is, would tourists trying to be ethical book a park experience or trip to a sanctuary? Also, upon checking back at the park’s website, they have quite a few baby elephants (babies tend to attract tourists) and sanctuaries that rescue elephants in order to help them retire, tend to have older and disabled elephants, and they take care of long term health problems the elephants have from decade long careers in the tourist industry. I’ve read that as the industry shifts, the reality is there is going to be a transition. I think supporting what we paid for is part of that transitional space.
However, an elephant sanctuary like Phuket Elephant Sanctuary exists for the well being of the animals, and you would be supporting a 30 acre sanctuary with some 25 retired elephants, many of them older. The sanctuary provides them with a closer to a natural environment for the elephant in captivity, as opposed to an environment for a tourist experience. Their website also has lots of information on the ethical treatment of elephants, and advise tourists that other parks in Phuket, are putting “sanctuary” in their name to take the traffic of tourists looking to be more ethical.
Bathing with a bunch of tourists is not natural for an elephant, and they are required to be in positions for the benefit of the tourist, like sitting, in comparison to free bathing with other elephants in expansive lagoons. Also, these are very large animals. Last year a caretaker in India, had his skull crushed by an elephant, when the animal slipped while bathing. We felt pretty safe during the experience and I didn’t think anything of it, as there were families with small children, but the truth is they are large animals and it is mud and water.
Even though we weren’t at one of the worst places you could go, it does support a model that is more tourist experience focused, than elephant focused. I’m expecting bathing to be on it’s way out eventually, the way many of these other worse practices like trekking and performances are closing. The more tourists are educated on the ethical treatment of these beautiful creatures at sanctuaries, there will eventually be more demand for that kind of experience, and less demand for the unnatural interactive one we participated in like elephant bathing. We honestly felt like our experience was some sort of care-taking one, that we helped give them a daily mud bath, and a cool rinse in the morning sun, before some afternoon snacks. Unfortunately, the more I’ve read about it, it was not an elephant focused thing overall.
I’m hoping that one day, the “sanctuary” park we visited, can survive on a model more similar to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary as tourists opt for more ethical alternatives. So there it is, I had wonderful interactions with these beautiful creatures and unfortunately my memories are slightly tainted by the darkness of the industry, and my mistake. I asked myself if I really wanted to share this blog with the world about touching and interacting with the elephants in non-ethical ways, but maybe you can learn from my mistake and this helps you plan your trip. I’m a huge animal lover at heart, and elephants are incredibly smart, sweet and majestic creatures that deserve the best.
