One orphanage we came across even lets you ride them! Sounds great right?! Well, actually elephants unlike horses are not naturally able to be ridden. What many organizations do to their elephants is actually horrifying. They will take the babies away from the mothers at a young age and start the "training". The baby elephants are trained at a very young age and are beaten when they mess up. The "trainer" uses things like bullhooks or other cruel instruments. This not only hurts the spirit of the young animal but causes them to do obey the trainer to avoid being beaten.
The elephants also don't live a natural life walking miles upon miles a day. They are kept in sheds with concrete floors, the legs of the elephant are also chained down so they can barely move. These hard floors damage the elephants legs. Aside from that the food they are given lacks nutrients that wild elephants eat on a regular basis.
Asian elephants weigh on average 12,000 lbs, but unlike some animals they are not used to having weight on their backs. The weight of even just one person can cause pain to the elephant and even serious injuries to their spine. This is one thing that many people take for granted, which is understandable because of the elephants massive size. Although elephants seem tough and big, which they are, it is still not good to ride them. The cruelty that goes into training them to be ridden is not respectable. There are sanctuaries that do take care of the elephants though and put them in a natural environment.
Although it would be easy to ride the elephants in Thailand, it is very important to be a mindful traveler when you explore different places. If I hadn't done this research I suspect I would have had regrets.
Ethical sanctuaries:
-https://
-https://www.
-http://bees-elesanctuary.org/
