A common misconception about captive elephants used in Thailand’s tourism
industry is that the elephant is a domesticated animal. Domestication entails that an
animal differs significantly in anatomy and character in contrast to its wild coun-
terpart, due to generations of selective breeding by human beings (Lair 1997 ).
Despite having been used by humans for thousands of years, elephants have never
undergone the domestication process and are forced into submission by their human
captors. They remain as one of the most dangerous wild animals to handle despite
their perceived calm behavior while carrying humans on their backs and during
entertainment shows. Their calm behavior is a product of their forced submission—
a breaking-in process that elephant calves are subjected to at around three years old
(World Animal Protection). In the past, breaking-in procedures were conducted in
secrecy and surrounded by complex magical rituals by ethnic groups, such as the
Karen in northern Thailand. The ceremony is called“paah jaan”and is intended to
sever the strong bond between the calf and its mother in order to transfer it from the
mother to the calf’s mahout. The will of the calf is broken during this process, and
the calf is made to submit to the mahout (Cohen 2015 : 163–169).
Thoswan Devakul (cited in Cohen 2015 : 163–169), a wildlife photographer,
described the extreme suffering that the elephant calf was subjected to during the
breaking-in process. The calf isfirstly separated from its mother into an enclosed
wooden cage. The calf is then hit with the mahout’s nailed bamboo stick on his legs
and trunk while he cries helplessly for his mother. Devakul noted that holy water
was poured on the calf’s head, which is believed to tame him, but an iron hook to
the head is followed soon after. Visiting the cage later on, he described how the
elephant’s ears were“bathed with blood from wounds made by the hook.”The
elephant had tears in his eyes and he had been chained by the neck and legs. The
length of this process depends on how quickly the calf submits to the mahout.
Devakul concluded:“What makes the elephants so tame is not the food and care
they receive from the mahouts, but the fear from the pain from iron hooks and the
suffering they experience from being separated from their mothers before they are
naturally ready”(Cohen 2015 : 163–169).
The forced submission of elephants in the tourism industry is the premise to
arguments that animal welfare groups like WAP make to discourage elephant
trekking rides and elephants shows. Elephants are forced to perform and give rides
to tourists out of threat and fear of the mahout’s hook, which can cause painful
puncture wounds when used forcefully and inappropriately (Kontogeorgopoulos
2009a,b: 6). In addition to the welfare issues outlined by WAP’s survey, their
natural behaviors are also suppressed by cruel treatment like during the“musth”
period, an annual phase of increased testosterone production in male elephants
when they display unpredictable and aggressive behavior. This period is both
inconvenient and dangerous to mahouts, so it is dealt with by chaining the male
elephant in isolation for the entire musth period which can last from three weeks to
a few months (World Animal Protection 2010 ).
130 9 Elephants in Tourism. Sustainable and Practical Approaches...