2 hours ago, BritScot said:

elephants are very dangerous animals when upset, angry or in Musk. 

I'd be pissed if I had to sleep with Elon.

 

And its musth or must, a Persian word.

For god's sake...just leave all the "entertainement" animals of Thailand in peace and stop riding them as if it was  a Rodeo ....stop encouraging such trades that are harming other living creatures. You love animals ? Fine then give rather a donation to any animal shelter camp and get a selfie next to the animal with no physical contact - this shoud be enough to post and brag on the FB page, right ?

Very disappointed with the lack of empathy shown by most all posters so far. 

And reading comprehension.  Do you guys go theough life looking at headlines.  I'll call you trumpets.   The guy looked like that karate actor but was dating a beautiful woman for a year.  And you fault them for riding an elephant in Thailand.   I just had a customer yesterday ask me things to do on an upcoming business trip with his wife.  He mentioned elephant rides.   Its one of the things non monger tourists think about experiencing in Thailand.  I did tell him no to elephants and sedated tiger posing for selfies. 

Went with some family members to an elephant riding village last week.

We ended up in the wrong place and we were told it is no longer available there.

Instead you are giving a bunch of bananas and toy take the elephant for a walk.

The handler is right there along with you and he took about 50 pictures and some video.

A very nice experience,a lot better then the actual ride i did some 20 years ago.

After the walk you can wash the elephant and feed him some more.

You come away with a very good feeling,you interacted with a magnificent animal and you gained a friend.

 

He says "you can see the guide trying to catch up on foot."

 

Could he have walked any more slowly? He wasn't making much effort to catch up at all. 

Edited November 1, 20232 yr by save the frogs

This continuous pressure on elephants’ bodies can deteriorate the tissue and bones on their back, causing irreversible physical damage to their spines.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-elephant-ride-abuse-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Edited November 1, 20232 yr by save the frogs

6 hours ago, giddyup said:

Broken back and shattered pelvis? Did the elephant stomp on him? Thought maybe a sprained ankle from 10 ft.

 

At 1:47 in the video, but am I hearing this correctly?

"He just takes his trunk in his head and he starts crushing me into the ground. I heard bones breaking."

Did this many years ago and our elephant got spooked and sprinted through the trees. Luckily the mahout was still onboard and managed to calm him down after a few minutes.

8 hours ago, giddyup said:

Never forgave myself for watching a bullfight in Spain or buying a leopard skin in Uganda, but it was a different world then and we live and learn.

Unfortunately the Spanish and Ugandans don't.

5 hours ago, SingAPorn said:

She looks hot !!...in heat... as the weather is getting hotter.

You don't always have to be funny to comment, you're more likely to be taken seriously if you can contribute something substantial to the discussion...

8 hours ago, chilli42 said:

Most proper vacation/short term insurance companies offer medevac as 

a standard option (local Thailand insurance companies).  I have gone on two modestly adventurous holidays in the past year.  The tour operators would not accept your booking unless you had medevac insurance. All said though, I would not be eager to put the policy to the test.  There is a huge price difference between the local medevac insurance policy and that purchased in the USA

 

Vacation/ short term travel insurances pevacuate you to a place where medical care can be provided, using in appropriate means of transport. There is no amount of cuts and fractures that cannot be treated and corrected in Thailand after being transported in an ambulance. The key being a flight back to your country is not medically necessary

 

Dreaming if you think you are getting a medevac flight from these policies,  Please read the exclusions, carefully.

 

During covid I purchased a full year of SafetyWing, 

 

.

Edited November 1, 20232 yr by Captain Monday

That is terrifying ! Ban all this mis treating animals ! 

16 hours ago, giddyup said:

They've been riding donkeys on the beach at Brighton since 1945, only banned it last year. Seems abusing the poor old donkey previously was OK. As the song says "before you accuse me take a look at yourself"

Yes, they used to have elephants at Blackpool but couldn't source enough bananas.. so got donkeys. 

21 hours ago, bob smith said:

I thought they had banned this bs now anyway??

Yeah but banning in Thailand doesnt mean its stopped.

I have worked as a International Volunteer at the TECC [Thailand Elephant Conservation Center] near Lampang since 2003 and have great respect for these animals AND their Mahout handlers [mostly 1 man/1 elephant for life]. I have seen several minor "incidents" during this time BUT nothing of this significance in my experience.

I am very surprised that the elephant threw off his mahout in such a manner BUT I am guessing that this particular mahout MAY have been ill-treating/abusing his charge over an extended period of time [which is also unusual in my experience with elephants BOTH African and Asian in both circuses and zoos].  That person usually comes to a very sticky end at the hands of the abused animal [ALSO witnessed by me on more than 1 occasion].

It is ALSO possible that the animal in question was in MUSTH [an hormone "imbalance" which can be alleviated by a change in the animal's diet discovered after many years of study by TECC staff].

IF this was the case then this animal should have been taken to the forest [for a rest period of several days or weeks] AND DEFINITELY NOT have been used for any tourist riding experience !!! DOH!!!

I have worked with elephants "on and off' from when I was 10 years old [I am now almost 72yo] AND have never experienced an injury of any kind. The elephants I have been fortunate to work with over many years are some of my best [and most loyal] friends ... SADLY many of them have now "left" us ; including most recently "TRICIA" from Perth Zoo in AU ...

 

The unfortunate couple have my best wishes for a speedy and long-term recovery ...

Edited November 2, 20232 yr by brianlg
add PICS

23 hours ago, bobbin said:

I have done the elephant ride thing with my ex many years ago..

 

Shockingly high up... and you end up swaying from side to side.

 

Sad to hear they both suffered severe injuries.

How many times has this elephant been injured as its owner abuses it to make money

Rode on an elephant for the first time this year with my wife and 3 year old.  I was more scared than the 3 year old.  What's terrifying is they had the elephant walk through a river and neither my wife nor 3 year old can swim, so I was thinking who would I save if the elephant flipped us off his back into the water.  Never again. 😬

21 hours ago, giddyup said:

Broken back and shattered pelvis? Did the elephant stomp on him? Thought maybe a sprained ankle from 10 ft.

In the video he says the elephant was pushing his trunk and head into him after he jumped off

22 hours ago, giddyup said:

Never forgave myself for watching a bullfight in Spain or buying a leopard skin in Uganda, but it was a different world then and we live and learn.

Attended one Spanish bullfight 1st time abroad in 1973. Not only cruel but really really boring; the same old ritual played out over and over again.

Elephant 2 Stupid Tourist 0

53 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

Attended one Spanish bullfight 1st time abroad in 1973. Not only cruel but really really boring; the same old ritual played out over and over again.

Yet the Spanish never seem to tire of it. 

The obvious lesson and only answer is...

DON'T participate or support animal exploitation and abuse❗It's just cruel, plain and simple. 

On 11/1/2023 at 1:21 PM, cracker1 said:

So did the business owner renting the rides not have insurance cover for their customers?

There's a warning for others !

This is a hill tribe village north of Chiang Rai town run by the Karens.  Ruammit Elephant Camp is run by a Karen hill tribe ². 

On 11/1/2023 at 2:14 PM, BadSpottedDog said:

Just a few simple google searches would have revealed that it's not only dangerous for people to ride elephants, it's extreme cruelty to the elephant.

Is this the new and improved EU google search? I thought riding them into battle was what was bad, but OMG taking them for a joy ride along the river and give them food... And someone was thinking of It is time to abolish the death penalty in Thailand. What are they thinking about?

Riding an elephant was one of the scarier things I did especially when the elephant decided to run off, I was sitting around it's neck one leg either side, didn't feel stable at all, didn't jump off, just waited for it to settle down