Although the elephant is a most revered creature & symbol in this country, it is surprising to learn of how little that reverence carries over from spiritual life to daily life. Elephants fall under two main categories: domestic & wild. As domestic creatures, owning an elephant is comparable to owning a dog or cat, and what few laws & regulations there are that protect them from owner-inflicted abuse are often not enforced. Most of these domestic elephants are put to work by their mahouts (pronounced "maa-hoot," means elephant driver or controller), either as laborers (although logging has been banned in Thailand since 1989) or as tourist attractions. In either case, most elephants are beat into submission when they are babies, undergoing torture for multiple days meant to break their independent spirits. Unlike training a puppy with rewards for good behavior, the elephants are instead punished for bad behavior. The punishments are brutal: being stabbed by nails at the ends of bamboo sticks (sometimes in the ear, where they have some of the most nerve endings), whipped, caged, starved, sleep-deprived, blinded... It's a terrible tradition that has existed for years and refuses to change with the times. Even when the creatures are finally broken, the hardships do not end. Most elephants are put to work in the city streets, forced to whore out their exotic appeal to tourists. The city streets are no place for an elephant- their feet are highly sensitive to quakes in the ground, so the constant rumble of cars and motorcycles is terrifying and accidents happen frequently. Also, the contraptions put on their backs to seat tourists are painful and destroy their skin, not to mention their spines. On top of all this, off duty they are usually not properly cared for. Adequate amounts of food are not provided, polluted sewage water is their main water source, and they are not shown nearly enough love and affection, which is even worse in the lack of a herd. 
The cultural context must be taken into account though. Thailand is a developing country, with a huge gap between the rich and poor and little to no middle class to speak of. In this kind of society, it is understandable that the poor are driven to, or so it seems from the western perspective, extreme means of surviving, such as putting daughters into prostitution and in this case abusing elephants. It is easy to judge and tsk at such actions, but when faced with these cases of desperation and poverty, what choices do these people have? It isn't likely that they can go to the nearest homeless shelter and get help drafting a work resume. They can't exactly head to a bank and take out a loan for a small business. So they use what they have, and sometimes that's an elephant. And in terms of government intervention, while talking with one Thai, he argued that the plight of the elephant, although sad, is not a priority in a country where the economy is shaky, the infrastructure is crumbling, and the livelihoods of the people are dismal. These problems must be addressed first before the problems of elephants. Now, I'm in no way supporting the abuse or the continued abuse of elephants, but rather I'd like all sides of the story to be considered before damning all elephant owners. My knowledge is still pretty limited, so I'll write more about this aspect later when I know more.
There is a ray of hope though. In a natural valley tucked in the Northern mountains of Thailand near Chiang Mai is the Elephant Sanctuary. Since it's humble beginnings, it has helped over 30 elephants, restoring them back to health and giving them the life they deserve- far away from the commercial use of humans and back in nature. Unfortunately, returning them to the wild is not a viable option, as they have been raised by and have lived with humans for the majority of their lives, but the park creates a nice balance between these two existences. The elephants are given acres of land to freely roam, a river to bathe in, and a constant supply of food. There is a mahoot assigned to each elephant, but unlike the awful aforementioned definition of the mahoot-elephant relationship, these relationships are loving, carefully fostered and grown over time. Some mahoots will spend as long as a month with their elephant night and day in order to gain the elephant's trust. And given the background stories of each elephant, it's truly surprising that they have even come to trust humans at all. Jokia was blinded in both eyes by slingshots and hot pokers when she refused to haul logs because she had had a miscarriage. Another was drugged by hunters who, with a chainsaw, cut his tusks too close to his face, causing nerve damage and infection. And Mae Bua Loi was chained to a tree and forced to mate with an aggressive bull who stomped on her back, damaging it and breaking one of her legs, leaving her with a sagging limp. All of them have stories such as these, and it's heartbreaking to realize that there are countless others out there.
So, for the past 2 days I was at this park, helping and loving these elephants. I got to bathe them in the river (they're so cute and LOVE the water- they kept trumpeting gleefully the whole time, and one sprayed me with water before hugging me with her trunk, at which the mahouts freaked out because they thought she was trying to kill me... with LOVE), feed them bananas and squash, go on walks with them ... They were all so happy and smiley and it took so much self-control to not hug them all! I also fell in love with the people, the daily life, the energy, the park, the purpose & mission, and, of course, the food. Everyone was so friendly, offering smiles and welcome to all visitors and volunteers. As a bonus fun-tivity, I went tubing down the river which was AWESOME. I was terrified at first, y'know as I can't swim and all, but it was a blast, minus my almost floating down the river beyond our designated route and into rapids. I was laughing nervously the whole time while my Australian friend and my guide yelled to me, "Beans! Where on earth are you going!?" The later ended up heroically jumping into the dangerously swift (3 foot high) river and rescued me. Can't take me anywhere. Especially when the route involves a river. Moving on from my embarrassment, the food was a gigantic, vegetarian buffet of Thai cuisine. OMG. So. Good. The papaya salad was so spicy but so delicious that I just had to keep eating it, even as my guide Thep laughed at my spice-induced tears. It was easily one of the best experiences that I've ever had on my travels! My heart ached as I drove away from the park this evening (I almost extended my stay to a week, but woke up to the sad, sad reality that I couldn't afford it), and I cringed as green hills were replaced by scenes of neon signs and stores, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that I knew I'd be back someday. It's a beautiful thing that Lek has created, with a beautiful purpose and outlook for the future of elephants. If you're ever in Thailand, I strongly suggest you visit the park. They have day visits, as well as over-nights, week-longs, etc. available. Prices are admittedly a bit high, but 1. it's a great cause; 2. the experience is really, REALLY worth it; and 3. the park receives zero funding from the government and needs all the financial support it can get. So yea. Chiang Mai, Elephant Nature Park, and Lek, you have all stolen my heart.
And now my laundry is done so time for some late night adventures in Chiang Mai (yay!) before I return to Bangkok tomorrow (BOO).
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