Whether in Thailand or anywhere else in Southeast Asia, elephant life is not peaceful. Elephants are highly complex, intelligent, social creatures that, like us humans, exhibit a wide range of emotions and behaviors such as love, pain, empathy, sadness, fear, frustration, excitement, joy, anger, annoyance, confusion, etc. We only see the "calm" side of elephants, because this is the only side of our inner and outer lives that we do not deny their innate abundance.
Don't listen to any nonsense about how Thais give respect to the "cute, docile, smart elephant" God. One of the greatest hypocrisies of modern Thai culture is the claim that elephants are revered. This also applies to other cultures influenced by Hinduism that make up the Indian Ocean region and the elephants are also natives. In theory, elephants are the embodiment of God. But in reality, elephants are a tool for trade and income, so in South and Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka, elephants have generally suffered unimaginable abuse. Elephants are one of only three mammals, including cetaceans and primates, and they are known to be able to recognize themselves in a mirror. They have a mind, a sense of self, a consciousness of their own existence, and unfortunately they also have a sense of suffering in our hands.
Elephants that appear to be calm are kept in captivity, but now succumb to human existence. They are often "trained" in several brutal processes designed to "domesticate" them. One of the worst processes is the one known as phayaan, which literally means "smashing," and in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, it is the job of some to tame these unfortunate beasts, their natural environment and freedom of behavior deprived of them, and cattle hooks and chains on standby. As you enjoy the tour of riding an elephant, remember that the elephant you ride, the artwork you bought that was "painted" by the elephant, the blessing you received from the temple elephant, behind all this is the high price that the elephant paid, including life.
You call it tranquility, I call it brokenness.
Young elephants undergo the brutal phayaan process, so they learn to obey the will of humans. Half of them came out alive, and the other half never got a chance to come out.
Pay attention to the cow hook placed on the elephant's head to remind it of what will happen if it does not comply.
A chained elephant is trained here and can stand still for hours on end. Pay attention to the sticks that stand upright on the elephant's body. If the stick falls, the elephant is punished. The elephant's body is designed to move. They usually walk dozens of kilometers a day in search of food and water in the wild.
A male elephant was tethered all night. Due to their huge weight, prolonged periods of immobility can put a lot of pressure on their legs, hips, and foot pads. Captive elephants suffer greatly from early arthritis and foot rot, but after that, they are forced to continue working for decades. According to the cloudiness of his eyes, the bull was most likely blind. Elephants at work are often hoodwinked to make them easier to control. For adult male elephants, he was also seriously underweight. He had no abdomen and his hindlimbs were visibly emaciated. However, his workload will not be reduced.
The tip of the cow hook is pressed against the elephant's sensitive forehead as a warning.
An elephant that did not heed the warning.