Why the hell are tourists still riding elephants. Surely by now they realise how cruel it is and they are simply funding future torture of these magnificent giants. Riding elephants destroy their backs as its the weakest part of the elephant. Sickening that this practice still exists. The sooner it stops the sooner these illegal wildlife traders will give up their elephants and they can be relocated to some of these wonderful wildlife parks in chiang Mai or even WFFT in Petchburi. They cannot be released into the wild but these parks at least mean no more riding, no more chains, no more shows but just live out their lives peacefully with other elephants. Please don't ride elephants or support elephant shows. Watch a video of an elephant calf being "broken". It will bring the very toughest man to tears.