Yesterday we visited Elephant Haven in Sai Yok, Thailand. There we helped care for the elephants by bathing and feeding them. At first we were all astonished by the sheer size of these gentle giants. Eventually we became more comfortable and stepped into the water with them to bathe them. We quickly learned their gentle and careful nature and found out that each elephant had a vastly different personality. Although they were all very obedient towards their handlers, one elephant liked to go wonder off and do its own thing. Each elephant is matched with a handler and therefore establishes a deep connection.

Most of the elephants that were housed at Elephant Haven were there because they were once used for elephant logging or tourism purposes. Unfortunately these elephants cannot be released back into the wild due to their domestication. Thailand is a quickly developing country which results in the destruction of their natural habitat. The main threat to wild elephant is human disturbance such as poaching and clearing of elephants for agricultural use according the the Wildlife Conservation Society and Kaeng Krachan National Park (“Elephant Conservation”). True elephant sanctuaries are important for the conservation of these animals. However, tourist need to be cognizant of which sanctuaries are for the protection of elephants and which are for their exploitation.

Before visiting an elephant sanctuary, it is important to research the specific sanctuary as some places will claim to be ethical, but instead use the elephants for tourism purposes. Any sanctuary that offers elephant rides should immediately be crossed off your list. Elephant rides requires the cruel conditioning of these animals. The sanctuary should provide large enclosures for the elephants at night and plenty of time for them to roam the premises during the day. All these sanctuaries are required to provide stalls for the elephants at night for their safety and that of the surrounding towns. Elephants eat an enormous amount of food per day. These sanctuaries should provide lots of food and water for them to eat and provide a large selection of food to fulfill their nutrition requirements.

In my opinion, Elephant Haven seemed fairly ethical and humane. Each elephant had a large enclosure and the keepers even lived on the premises. The did have a breeding program to promote elephant conservation and did not offer elephant rides when we were there. It’s good to be skeptical of these places to ensure the protection of this endangered species.

https://thailand.wcs.org/Initiative/Elephant-Conservation.