How Tourism in India Is Supporting Cruelty to Elephants (Video)
The image of India is incomplete without evoking the power of awe of the elephant. Declared the National Heritage Animal of India in 2010, the elephant is as controversial as it is admired.
Hordes of foreign tourists flock to different venues in India to ride on elephants, among them the Amer Fort in Jaipur. For these tourists, riding an elephant is a dream come true, the high point of a fantasy that reinforces India’s traditional stereotype of being a country of kings and mendicants, snake charmers, tigers and elephants.
The problem with this image is that it has romanticized the activity of riding on captive elephants that causes immense trauma and pain to a sentient and social creature. Most people who ride on elephants do not realize that captive elephants brutally exploited to provide them with a few moments worth of fun.
Rani, meaning ‘queen’ in Hindi, is a 27-year old female Asian elephant; she lives in a concrete stable at the Elephant Village (Hathi Gaon) outside of Jaipur. Rani has been working at Amber Fort for at least 9 years, which is how long she has been with her current mahout, but she has very likely been doing the same work for her entire life: taking tourists up the steep slope to Amber Fort. She works 365 days a year. Like most elephants here, Rani was probably taken from the lush forests of Assam when she was very young; she has been cruelly trained to obey her captors and behave like a puppet to their commands before being sold into the tourist industry. (image: World Animal Protection)
India has around 20,000 wild elephants and about 3000 captive elephants. Many of these animals are used for joyrides in Amer Fort in Rajasthan and displays in Kerala. Elephants are also used in national parks and forests where tourists ride them to see wildlife. They are used as attractions to lure foreign tourists seeking to have the quintessential Indian experience by riding them.
Tourists, especially those coming from abroad, spend exorbitant amounts of money to ride these majestic animals. The persistent tourist demand for elephant rides fuels the capture of these animals from the wild and perpetuates a cruel form of entertainment where the animals are brutally tortured and abused to cater to human whims and fancies.
These elephants in India, used for carrying tourists, are kept in barren conditions. Elephants in Jaipur kept at Haathi Gaon (Elephant Village) have their soles damaged by walking on hard concrete surfaces. Specialist veterinary care can remedy these injuries. (image: World Animal Protection)
Elephants live gregariously in the wild. Calves live with their parents and relatives in large herds. In order to serve human needs, wild elephant families have to be disrupted and destroyed to provide individuals for human entertainment. Elephant calves are captured from the wild whereby many of their parents and family members are killed in the process. Once caught, they are starved and repeatedly beaten whilst confined a small cage in a process called ‘the crush.'
Many calves die during this mindless treatment and many that survive become permanently traumatized as a result of the immense cruelty meted out during this period. The individuals that survive are torn of their family ties and sent to zoos, circuses and the elephant tourism industry that caters to tourists from all over the world, including United States of America.
India is host to one of Asia’s largest animal fairs, Sonepur in Bihar, where live elephants are allegedly sold illegally. Elephants are protected in the Indian Wildlife Protection Act under Schedule I that offers them the highest level of protection, the same level of protection accorded to India’s national animal, the tiger. The Asian Elephant is also listed under Appendix I of CITES, the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.
Unfortunately, the Indian wildlife protection law has an exemption under Section 40 for transactions in live elephants and it is alleged that traders regularly take advantage of it to illicitly deal in live elephants. Captive elephants in Sonepur are highly in demand in the private elephant circle in India, including for Amer Fort, Kerala and until recently, circuses.
An elephant chained at Haathi Gaon in Jaipur. (image: World Animal Protection)
Elephants have been revered in Indian history and culture for centuries. One of the most powerful images of India is that of Ganesha, the elephant headed God. The elephant features in epics, poems and novels as a symbol of gigantic size, nobility and greatness. Ironically, this same culture has seen the capture and taming of these gentle and noble creatures for millennia, as a result of which many of them continue to endure ghastly conditions in captivity.
Several studies show the extent and scale of this suffering of captive elephants in varying situations in India. There are 116 elephants at Amer Fort in Jaipur in Rajasthan suffering chronic stress, heat and physical abuse. Physical abuse is rife among the elephants in Jaipur with repeated beatings, inadequate diet and long hours of work adding to the debility of the animals.
These elephants have to walk down the hard surface of a road for which their feet are not suited. Rajasthan is also not a natural elephant range state. Regular research, including recent studies conducted by a variety of wildlife protection and animal welfare organizations show that the current status of captive elephants at Jaipur is untenable. Elephants continue to arrive there to keep the stock going, with illegal transfers from Bihar to Rajasthan done with forged certificates.
A recent film has also outlined the extensive pain that these animals undergo in Jaipur. Similar conditions prevail for elephants in Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, Assam and other states and bearing this in mind a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India in 2014 to prohibit the riding and subsequent abuse of these animals in captivity. Whilst the final verdict of the Supreme Court is awaited, several interim directives have paved the way for curbing elephant abuse in this country.
Tourists can be very powerful in reducing demand for elephant rides in India and other places where these are offered, like Thailand. There are several studies, including the latest report ‘Taken For a Ride’ published by World Animal Protection that highlight the problems with perpetuating this self-serving industry that contributes very little to saving wild animals where they belong, in the wild.
An elephant show at a venue in Thailand, Bangkok. Elephants are trained to perform tricks which causes health problems in the long run and pose a risk of injury. (image: World Animal Protection)
Many tourists who ride elephants and involve themselves with close interactions with wild animals are well meaning but are unaware of the cruelties involved in this business. Many travel and tour operators who promote elephant rides and other wildlife attractions that entail abuse may also not be conscious of the real nature of the activity they are promoting. World Animal Protection has a guide on animal friendly tourism that helps tourists and tour operators make the right choices to ensure wild animals remain in the wild.
Big firms like Thomas Cook and Trip Advisor have indicated they are willing to reconsider their position on promotion of abusive animal facilities. All tourists and tour operators, with the appropriate reading and exposure to requisite material by way of reports or films, can help stop wild animal suffering in captivity and ensure wild animals remain where they belong, in the wild.
To learn more, read the World Animal Protection report "Taken for a Ride: The Conditions for Elephants Used in Tourism in Asia."
Sign the pledge to help elephants break free from cruelty to let travel companies and tourist attractions know that you demand an end to the captivity and abuse of elephants.
Watch a video about elephants used as entertainment for tourists in Asia, a cruel industry which is spreading to Southern Africa:
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