The Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand takes a more individualistic approach to conservation than what I had experienced thus far, and in doing so, made me truly feel for each animal I met with. This is emotionally trying, and while this type of approach may seem to accomplish less on a larger scale, knowing that each of these elephants is living in a better, happier place is extremely rewarding. I also gained a new perspective on how elephants are used which complicated the question of whether they should be used at all for the elephant rides popular in other forms of ecotourism.

The park itself is a huge open air space in Northern Thailand where elephants roam freely, surrounded by beautiful lush mountains on all sides with a river flowing through the valley. It’s amazing to see these elephants without restraints and barriers, living without human desires imposed upon them. Many of them come from abused backgrounds in the logging and tourist industries, and could have never hoped for such a life.

The first elephant I met up close was getting ready to be looked at by a veterinarian. She had been blinded in one eye before coming to the park, but was very gentle as I fed her a breakfast of pumpkins, watermelons, and bananas. As I helped feed multiple elephants, a serious task given the amount of food they must consume to fill those giant bodies, I learned their individual stories, and they were often shocking. Malai Tong has stepped on a land mine, and due to this, half of her back foot had been blown away and she was left severely disfigured. Another elephant had had her hip horribly dislocated in a planned breeding attempt gone awry. When she was acquired by the park, she had already healed in such a way so that her hip is permanently out of place, jutting outwards and downwards so that she must walk with a bizarrely extreme gait that looks painful just to watch. However, I was assured that today she feels no more pain from this injury, and can even run. I met another elephant who had been blinded in both eyes by her mahout, out of anger. While working for him in the logging industry she watched her baby die in front of her, and out of sadness lay down and refused to work. This led to her mahout stabbing one of her eyes. When she lashed out in retaliation, he blinded her in the other. Today she is incredibly sweet, and I was touched by how she would carefully use her trunk to feel for my hand and look for the food she was so eager to enjoy.

Note her dislocated hip.

One can’t help but be moved when meeting these elephants and learning their stories. Many went through horrific “breaking-in” processes as babies, stabbed, starved, and prodded in a makeshift corral so that they would learn to obey. Those used for tourism often had to stand on the streets in Thailand begging for money, confused and over-stimulated by the loud noises, hard concrete under their feet, and lack of interaction with other elephants. At the park I realized just how social these elephants were. They did not all wander around in one herd, but had distinct social groups and friends. Sometimes they would just have one best friend, and when that elephant passed away, the other would choose to lead the rest of her life alone in what some interpret as mourning. While helping bathe the elephants in the river by pouring buckets of water over them, I could see these friend groups coming down to the water together, finally happy.

Lek, the inspirational owner at this organization, describes how at the Elephant Nature Park elephants just get to be elephants. They don’t put on shows, play soccer, or give rides. They get to live the rest of their lives in peace. And the effort that goes into making this a possibility can’t be underestimated. Lek transports these elephants from around the country at great cost, and that’s not even considering medical expenses.  Elephants aren’t the only animals she saves though—the park also has hundreds of stray dogs that are fed and cared for by volunteers, as well as buffalos, pigs, cats, and all sorts of other creatures that have been rescued. It’s truly a haven, and I found myself wishing I could be more like Lek.

This experience forced me to question the use of elephants in ecotourism and work. It’s a complicated matter. As I saw in Nepal, they can do much good. They are used to patrol jungles that cars can’t enter and find poachers hiding in the bush. They can help contribute to local incomes by using their dung to make paper and biogas. They can help bring attention to the importance of maintaining the local ecosystem by being used for safari rides in ecotourism. At the same time, my experience in Thailand showed how these elephants can be mistreated while undergoing training, how riding them isn’t natural for their backs, and how they aren’t a truly domesticated species, but are meant to live a different lifestyle. It’s a complicated issue, and I’m glad to have seen both sides.