Dear tourists, please do not ride elephants in Thailand
Hankyoreh Animal People, Sep. 06, 2018 (Chiang Mai)
How many people would know that there’s the world’s first elephant hospital in Thailand?
Riding on the national highway no.11 from Chiang Mai to the south for one and a half hour, a signboard of ‘Friends of Asian Elephants (FAE)’ appears on the left side of the road. This is not one of those elephant tour camps that tourist might encounter often in northern part of Thailand. Instead, FAE is a hospital dedicated for the elephants of mentally and physically injured, handicapped from the labor exploitation from elephant riding and logging activities. The elephant hospital has been supported by domestic and international donations. All the medical expenses here are free of charge.
This hospital is established by neither a veterinarian nor a zoologist but an ordinary Bangkok citizen Soraida Salwala (61) in 1993. She is a patient herself and has been suffered from incurable diseases like SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) and multiple sclerosis. The hospital became her second home from a very young age. The first encounter with an elephant for a permanent patient Soraida happened when she was eight. During a family trip, she saw a man crying over the death of an elephant, after a truck accident, on a roadside. The elephant didn’t die instantly from the accident but by the mahout’s mercy killing to end the mammal’s pain. This experience struck the very first memory about elephant to young Soraida. She couldn’t understand why there’s no hospital for this ‘uncle elephant’ while she could do so in many hospitals for herself. Growing up, Soraida had to establish an elephant hospital and care for the mammals for the last 26 years overcoming various threats, financial crisis and severe physical pains that constantly keep her awake 20 hours a day.
She also managed to push the legislation to ban elephants in Bangkok metropolitan city after 17 and half years of struggle. Today she is pressing the Thai Elephant Master Plan Committee to stop the commercial use of elephants and to seek the peaceful coexistence of elephant and humans. A guest correspondent of Southeast Asian region Seulki Lee met Soraida Sawala in her residence Lampang FAE elephant hospital and talked about how to coexist with elephants. Excerpts:
The elephant riding safari tour program is popular among tourists in Thailand. Is the practice acceptable?
“I keep telling the elephant camp owners at meetings with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, that they are exploiting the elephants. It probably is only a 10-minute walk. But before the 10-minute session, they have to stand and wait for a long time under the hot sun. And they have to come to the hospital because they have bruises on their feet. It’s bad for the health because they don’t get fed enough while waiting. But the tourists just love it. And the camp owners refused to give up the activity because they make money out of it. They don’t understand that the elephants suffer from the activity. And they called me crazy. I’m not crazy. Just think of how you stand under the hot sun for a long period of time even though with your own shoes, your gradually get soar feet. They are living creatures so they can get hurt. But they simply exploit them for money and that’s not nice. I mentioned this issue when I went to the prime minister’s office, the government house on the August 12 to the Thai elephant master plan draft committee.”
What can Korean tourists do when they visit Thailand?
“Don’t go to camps that provides elephant rides. So the owners will learn the lesson. Tourists can just come, sit and watch the elephants playing with sand and water. That’s enough for the tourists and the owners can make money from the tickets. Elephant don’t have to perform anything. I can sit for hours even for days watching baby elephant playing. Why do you have to ride them? For the experience of riding an elephant? Since 1993, I told the Tourism Authority of Thailand that tourists should be informed that they shouldn’t buy any tour packages for elephant rides. And now some tour agencies avoid elephant rides.”
What will the urgent political task to ensure elephant welfare in Thailand be?
“That’s what I’m worried about. The draft of the law hasn’t been passed but it’s been kept secret. They want to control all the elephants, both wild and domesticated ones, so they will get the entire budget to themselves. That’s why they don’t want to have this national elephant fund that I proposed for over 20 years now and they never listen. We are one of the stakeholders and the elephant welfare is our concern. But we have never been invited to discuss. The government officials just sit within their own department, of national resources, of wildlife, of livestock, of agriculture to discuss the related laws. They don’t respect our opinion and discuss among themselves and draft their own ideas which is not practical. It’s because they have a hidden agenda. They want all the elephants to be owned the officials, by the government and if we don’t follow their elephant treatment rules then the elephants will be confiscated by government. In 1993, young elephant baby cost only 50,000 baht. Now one would cost 1.5 million baht. And the beautiful tusk costs around 12 million baht. It’s valuable for them.”
You have been emphasizing the traditional culture of coexistence between elephants and human beings for centuries in Thailand. What do you think is the most important task to revive that spirit?
“Understanding. If they know the nature of the elephants you can talk to them.
In the old days, the mahouts and the elephants were usually born almost the same year and grew up together with a very special bond. But in the last two decades, the relationship between elephants and mahouts hasn’t been the same. These days, I refrain from using a mahout because this profession was once a sacred profession who knew his elephant, nature and how to talk to the mammal properly. Now a mahout is only a man who is paid to throw the food, order his elephant to turn left or right; and punish the disobedient animal.”
What can be done to change this?
“I understand it’s hard to change. That’s why when the mahouts come here with their elephants, they can see when I talk to the patients. When they about to hit them, I would tell them that it’s not necessary to do so. The elephant understands the tone of human’s voice. If we talk to them calmly, they become calm. And when I asked the mahouts to drop the sticks and talk to him. Of course not all of them can come here, but words started to spread.”
Please introduce some of your patients here?
“EKACHAI used to be here last year and the owner rented him out to another place. He never had a chance to lie down to sleep since January, that’s bad. And his health was deteriorating, he’s just 44 but looks like 65. So we keep him away, to calm him down. No work. He hadn’t been fed well enough before he came. But he started to eat properly here, and became relaxed. Now he doesn’t feel stressed or isn’t scared. We don’t only offer physical treatment here. Another rescued patient, Bobo, is a permanent resident. No visitors. He would respond to me when I talk to him. When I greet Bobo how are you doing?, he would make some sound responding to my every sentence. When I’m away, I usually call and talk to him via the loudspeaker of a mobile phone.”
How do you communicate with the elephants?
“The tone of the voice, maybe. You shouldn’t raise your voice with them. At the beginning of the hospital, people used to say “hey” to an elephant and I had to correct them that the elephant had a name. Her name is ‘Thani’, so simply call her ‘Thani’. Because I asked them to talk to the elephants and people laugh at it. One day one of the staff came and stand next to Thani, and talked to Thani ‘I just had my hair cut what do you think?’ It sounded like a joke but it’s not. They may not be able to respond in words but they can listen and understand. It’s like you talk to your cats or dogs at home. Elephants are just huge. When I talked to Motala over speaker phone, in the first month or two, she touched the phone where my voice saying “sawasdee ka came through.”
I heard that you have frequent visit from Thai school children. What’s your favorite story to tell them?
“I told them the story of Dumbo that I fell in love when I was young. Dumbo the elephant borne in circus with big ear and people teased him but one day Dumbo found out that he could fly and could help others. Everyone is not the same and we can do everything. Then the kids understand. And then I told them a story of ‘elephant uncle’ I saw when I was eight. Three years after the establishment of “the elephant hospital, I told the story in a TV interview. And later I met the old man, the owner of that ‘elephant uncle’. He became an old man and still remembered that eight-year-old girl. This old man was so proud with that little girl who is helping the elephants 30 years later.”
Do you have an elephant story for Korean children and the youths?
“Take an example of ‘Mocha’ who stepped on a land mine when she was just seven months old. Now 13, she has to remain here for life. And she was the first elephant to wear a prosthetic leg. She’s growing because she’s still a teenager. Mocha fought for her life, so did we. It’s the courage and you know that lives do matter. Actually, there’s one children’s book in English about Mocha. The title is ‘Mocha, the elephant who just never give up’. Mocha means ‘star’ which was given to her because she arrived at the hospital at night when the sky was filled with stars.”
To read original article in Korean: Click
Riding on the national highway no.11 from Chiang Mai to the south for one and a half hour, a signboard of ‘Friends of Asian Elephants (FAE)’ appears on the left side of the road. This is not one of those elephant tour camps that tourist might encounter often in northern part of Thailand. Instead, FAE is a hospital dedicated for the elephants of mentally and physically injured, handicapped from the labor exploitation from elephant riding and logging activities. The elephant hospital has been supported by domestic and international donations. All the medical expenses here are free of charge.
This hospital is established by neither a veterinarian nor a zoologist but an ordinary Bangkok citizen Soraida Salwala (61) in 1993. She is a patient herself and has been suffered from incurable diseases like SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) and multiple sclerosis. The hospital became her second home from a very young age. The first encounter with an elephant for a permanent patient Soraida happened when she was eight. During a family trip, she saw a man crying over the death of an elephant, after a truck accident, on a roadside. The elephant didn’t die instantly from the accident but by the mahout’s mercy killing to end the mammal’s pain. This experience struck the very first memory about elephant to young Soraida. She couldn’t understand why there’s no hospital for this ‘uncle elephant’ while she could do so in many hospitals for herself. Growing up, Soraida had to establish an elephant hospital and care for the mammals for the last 26 years overcoming various threats, financial crisis and severe physical pains that constantly keep her awake 20 hours a day.
She also managed to push the legislation to ban elephants in Bangkok metropolitan city after 17 and half years of struggle. Today she is pressing the Thai Elephant Master Plan Committee to stop the commercial use of elephants and to seek the peaceful coexistence of elephant and humans. A guest correspondent of Southeast Asian region Seulki Lee met Soraida Sawala in her residence Lampang FAE elephant hospital and talked about how to coexist with elephants. Excerpts:
The elephant riding safari tour program is popular among tourists in Thailand. Is the practice acceptable?
“I keep telling the elephant camp owners at meetings with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, that they are exploiting the elephants. It probably is only a 10-minute walk. But before the 10-minute session, they have to stand and wait for a long time under the hot sun. And they have to come to the hospital because they have bruises on their feet. It’s bad for the health because they don’t get fed enough while waiting. But the tourists just love it. And the camp owners refused to give up the activity because they make money out of it. They don’t understand that the elephants suffer from the activity. And they called me crazy. I’m not crazy. Just think of how you stand under the hot sun for a long period of time even though with your own shoes, your gradually get soar feet. They are living creatures so they can get hurt. But they simply exploit them for money and that’s not nice. I mentioned this issue when I went to the prime minister’s office, the government house on the August 12 to the Thai elephant master plan draft committee.”
What can Korean tourists do when they visit Thailand?
“Don’t go to camps that provides elephant rides. So the owners will learn the lesson. Tourists can just come, sit and watch the elephants playing with sand and water. That’s enough for the tourists and the owners can make money from the tickets. Elephant don’t have to perform anything. I can sit for hours even for days watching baby elephant playing. Why do you have to ride them? For the experience of riding an elephant? Since 1993, I told the Tourism Authority of Thailand that tourists should be informed that they shouldn’t buy any tour packages for elephant rides. And now some tour agencies avoid elephant rides.”
What will the urgent political task to ensure elephant welfare in Thailand be?
“That’s what I’m worried about. The draft of the law hasn’t been passed but it’s been kept secret. They want to control all the elephants, both wild and domesticated ones, so they will get the entire budget to themselves. That’s why they don’t want to have this national elephant fund that I proposed for over 20 years now and they never listen. We are one of the stakeholders and the elephant welfare is our concern. But we have never been invited to discuss. The government officials just sit within their own department, of national resources, of wildlife, of livestock, of agriculture to discuss the related laws. They don’t respect our opinion and discuss among themselves and draft their own ideas which is not practical. It’s because they have a hidden agenda. They want all the elephants to be owned the officials, by the government and if we don’t follow their elephant treatment rules then the elephants will be confiscated by government. In 1993, young elephant baby cost only 50,000 baht. Now one would cost 1.5 million baht. And the beautiful tusk costs around 12 million baht. It’s valuable for them.”
You have been emphasizing the traditional culture of coexistence between elephants and human beings for centuries in Thailand. What do you think is the most important task to revive that spirit?
“Understanding. If they know the nature of the elephants you can talk to them.
In the old days, the mahouts and the elephants were usually born almost the same year and grew up together with a very special bond. But in the last two decades, the relationship between elephants and mahouts hasn’t been the same. These days, I refrain from using a mahout because this profession was once a sacred profession who knew his elephant, nature and how to talk to the mammal properly. Now a mahout is only a man who is paid to throw the food, order his elephant to turn left or right; and punish the disobedient animal.”
What can be done to change this?
“I understand it’s hard to change. That’s why when the mahouts come here with their elephants, they can see when I talk to the patients. When they about to hit them, I would tell them that it’s not necessary to do so. The elephant understands the tone of human’s voice. If we talk to them calmly, they become calm. And when I asked the mahouts to drop the sticks and talk to him. Of course not all of them can come here, but words started to spread.”
Please introduce some of your patients here?
“EKACHAI used to be here last year and the owner rented him out to another place. He never had a chance to lie down to sleep since January, that’s bad. And his health was deteriorating, he’s just 44 but looks like 65. So we keep him away, to calm him down. No work. He hadn’t been fed well enough before he came. But he started to eat properly here, and became relaxed. Now he doesn’t feel stressed or isn’t scared. We don’t only offer physical treatment here. Another rescued patient, Bobo, is a permanent resident. No visitors. He would respond to me when I talk to him. When I greet Bobo how are you doing?, he would make some sound responding to my every sentence. When I’m away, I usually call and talk to him via the loudspeaker of a mobile phone.”
How do you communicate with the elephants?
“The tone of the voice, maybe. You shouldn’t raise your voice with them. At the beginning of the hospital, people used to say “hey” to an elephant and I had to correct them that the elephant had a name. Her name is ‘Thani’, so simply call her ‘Thani’. Because I asked them to talk to the elephants and people laugh at it. One day one of the staff came and stand next to Thani, and talked to Thani ‘I just had my hair cut what do you think?’ It sounded like a joke but it’s not. They may not be able to respond in words but they can listen and understand. It’s like you talk to your cats or dogs at home. Elephants are just huge. When I talked to Motala over speaker phone, in the first month or two, she touched the phone where my voice saying “sawasdee ka came through.”
I heard that you have frequent visit from Thai school children. What’s your favorite story to tell them?
“I told them the story of Dumbo that I fell in love when I was young. Dumbo the elephant borne in circus with big ear and people teased him but one day Dumbo found out that he could fly and could help others. Everyone is not the same and we can do everything. Then the kids understand. And then I told them a story of ‘elephant uncle’ I saw when I was eight. Three years after the establishment of “the elephant hospital, I told the story in a TV interview. And later I met the old man, the owner of that ‘elephant uncle’. He became an old man and still remembered that eight-year-old girl. This old man was so proud with that little girl who is helping the elephants 30 years later.”
Do you have an elephant story for Korean children and the youths?
“Take an example of ‘Mocha’ who stepped on a land mine when she was just seven months old. Now 13, she has to remain here for life. And she was the first elephant to wear a prosthetic leg. She’s growing because she’s still a teenager. Mocha fought for her life, so did we. It’s the courage and you know that lives do matter. Actually, there’s one children’s book in English about Mocha. The title is ‘Mocha, the elephant who just never give up’. Mocha means ‘star’ which was given to her because she arrived at the hospital at night when the sky was filled with stars.”
To read original article in Korean: Click