Tourists in Thailand don't know they’re riding killer elephants

[rooster59]

Tourists in Thailand don't know they’re riding killer elephants

BANGKOK, Thailand — On any given day in Thailand, tourists could be paying to climb atop an elephant that has previously trampled or gored a human being.

That’s not a fact you’ll find in glossy holiday brochures, which showcase travelers blissfully riding pachyderms as they lumber through the jungle. Nor do elephant handlers tend to mention to selfie-snapping tourists if their beasts have a history of violence.

Instead, elephants that kill are often resold to new owners and renamed to obscure their identities, wildlife conservationists say. Then they’re recycled back into the tourist trade so that new handlers can keep collecting cash from visitors — who are often more concerned with Facebook "likes" than animal abuse.

Full story: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/12/tourists-thailand-dont-know-theyre-riding-killer-elephants/80283654/

[dcnx]

Happy to see such information relaaed through a major news outlet. Tourists need to know.

[chainarong]

This could possibly be so , registration and chip tagging would eliminate any Identity problem, bearing in mind that also not included on any tourist itinerary is the small problem of killer roads, if you happened to choose a bus or car , the likelihood of being killed on Thailand's roads would be far great than being killed by a Elephant ..........................................

[lostinisaan]

When you see how their "Mahouts" are treating them when they have to "beg" for food, it's easy to understand that they start to hate human beings.

[EyesWideOpen]

Given all the recent tourist deaths from elephant

rides, am amazed any tourist in their right mind

would ride on one......

[stickylies]

Title should read: Tourists in Thailand don't know theyre riding killer elephants, buses, minivans, motorcycles, ... ?

[slapout]

Again its all about the money that is being taken from the tourists / suckers. Some are so uninformed, you weonder how they find

their way home. The Tourist promoters, camp owners, government entities, etc will do nothing or just enough to make a show of concern once in a while.

A different way to get the word to those who will be at risk (many tourists ) is via airlines. The airlines show short safety films on every flight, thus they could show a short ''what to be wary /aware of'' prior to landing that pertains to their destination. Every country has areas, and activities that are putting oeople at risk of injury or even death. Dont just point to Thailand, point out some areas of the usa are unsafe for lone foot traffic after dark, same in England, france etc. Mention the scams they can watch for , Taxie meter broke, unlisensed tour vans (no yellow tag) bungy jumping, go carts, elephant and tiger tours, jet ski, karake/bar rip offs, dual pricing, price gouging on sporting event/entertainment tickets, etc

what id must be on petrson at all times, rental company cannot legally demand your passport, do not litter as fine can be imposed.

These are a few things that apply to many countries, but all and more apply to Thailand. These films are as inportant asd fasten your set belt on flight films ,inexpensive to make and the airlines would not be adverse to showing as it has no reflection on them.

As has been said ''there are more than one way to skin a cat'' and this already has the inspection/certification personel in position/working and can verify the tapes are avaliable on every commercial aircraft landing at major terminals world wide.

[jamesbrock]

I wonder if this will be one of the issues addressed in regards to safety and security measures for tourists...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/894342-thai-tourism-ministry-to-step-up-measures-for-tourist-safety/?p=10412549

[spidermike007]

This is a portion of an excerpt that I previously posted, pertaining to Thai safety standards. These are areas where the authorities could be focusing their effort, and improving safety, for their own people, and for tourists:

Traffic safety- the second highest fatality rate in the world, right behind Libya. The police do not care. There is really nothing in the way of a highway patrol. They only arrive on the scene AFTER a terrible accident. No prevention whatsoever. No speeding tickets, no reckless driving citations, no foresight given to this huge problem.

Boat safety- how many people do we see harmed on and off of speedboats, probably the single biggest culprit. Ferry safety, and other areas need to be tightened up.

Recreational safety- we have all heard stories of the farengs who were recently killed on Samui, by the elephant. How about the zip lines, the bunny jumps, etc? They are barely regulated, as the government just does not care one iota.

Air safety - the authorities were recently given a wake up call when the international bodies cited Thailand for poor safety standards. A Nok Air plane nearly crashed into a hospital yesterday. Much needs to be done here.

Sidewalks - one could poke their eyes out with crap that is hanging everywhere, at eye level, one could sprain or break theie ankle with the poor quality of the sidewalks and curbs.

Highways- apparently due to the harebrained rice pledging scheme of NoLuck, there was no money left to spend on highway improvement. Consequently many important highways like the Highway 4, a main North-South artery were ignored for years, falling into dramatic disrepair. They are just now being fixed. For a country that portrays itself as beyond beyond third world, this kind of thing is a bit of a stretch.

Free zones- areas like Koh Samui, which are about as close to the wild, wold west as you can come. These are free zones, where the police are the least competent, the authorities the most indifferent, and the safety standards are the lowest in the land. Samui has the highest fatality rate in Thailand, for motorbike deaths, by far. The police and the authorities, be they local, state or federal, do NOTHING. Less than zero. They just do not care. The deaths continue daily. it is absolute egg on the face of the PM.

I could go on and on, all day. Safety is something the authorities just never even consider here. It is not anywhere near a priority.

[tomyumchai]

tourists dont care. they must know about koh tao now but are the numbers down?

[stickylies]

tourists know nothing. majority come here and see the infamous thai smile, a smile which can stand for "happy"/"sad"/"enraged"/"frustrated"/"drunk"/"i'm gonna kill you in 15 seconds"/"no understand"/i have diarrhea"...

they go home and infect others. perpetuum mobile. there are very little official warnings about thailand. even in the holy bible, the joke AKA Lonely Planet. i have used common sense since day 1 i came here, ergo never sat on an elephant, never hugged a tiger, never rented a bg, never went to one of those binge-dope-bucket-islands, never believed more than 10% of what i was told

[stickylies]

tourists dont care. they must know about koh tao now but are the numbers down?

it's a certain type of tourist that goes there, the majority of them i mean, and they aren't the most intelligent people...

[English 1]

These majestic animals are trained in the most brutal ways inflicting severe pain until they are broken.

But they can only tolerate s much and just like a human they will snap and attack.

Perfectly understandable.

No Elephant should be made to do tricks or be in a prison.

The so called keepers are uncaring and sadistic

[sawadee1947]

I was expecting such article already. I hope our friend "cumgranumsalum" would read it

[Borzandy]

The Thai safety standard does not include a sign "killer" taped on the elephant side.

[Srikcir]

Thailand is big on foreigners signing acknowledgements.

Perhaps all tourists when entering Thailand should sign an acknowledgement for Immigration that they may suffer serious injury or death during their stay in Thailand and that the Thai government and private sectors disavow in advance of any responsibility or liability.

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK should be TAT's motto.

[trogers]

Is there any difference between a killer elephant and a killer motorcycle or a killer minivan?

Tourists still ride on all of them.

[wabothai]

tourists dont care. they must know about koh tao now but are the numbers down?

They don't know !!!

[wabothai]

This is what you get when half the world is obsessed with their super phones.

[tuanku]

I seriously doubt there is such a thing as a "killer elephant" in the sense of an elephant that repeatedly kills humans.

I am sure that there are elephants that have killed, due to musth or poor handling. There are also elephants which are harder to domesticate properly so tend to give trouble more often. To brand these elephants killers and consider them more dangerous than other elephants is a false premise as the new elephant owned by the cruel, ignorant or incompetent handler that sold the animal on is probably more likely to kill than the old elephant in better care. Perhaps it is killer mahouts or killer elephant tours that need to be labelled rather than the elephants which anyway were not really designed to work in tourism.

This is how they dealt with a "killer elephant" in Tenesee 100 years ago

[nkg]

This is what you get when half the world is obsessed with their super phones.

What are you talking about? What does this have to do with the article?

[tomacht8]

Another trouble that comes with the elephant rides for tourists, has been on the islands, where elephants never life naturally before. In the elephant shit life a insect that use the heart of coconut trees as a breeding ground and brings many coconut palms to die.
The coconut farmers hate the elephants which were imported only for the tourists to make money on the islands.

Edited February 13, 2016 by tomacht8

[Rhys]

Thailand is big on foreigners signing acknowledgements.

Perhaps all tourists when entering Thailand should sign an acknowledgement for Immigration that they may suffer serious injury or death during their stay in Thailand and that the Thai government and private sectors disavow in advance of any responsibility or liability.

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK should be TAT's motto.

What happened to that brilliant suggestion of wearing bracelets? Is that Crack ADM still president.

[BwindiBoy]

Any tourist that doesn't know that ANY elephant could kill them is stupid.

[pattayahenry]

90 % of everything written here about thai elefants is pure nonsense.
elefants are treated as family members, and they behave as family members, unless they are in the musht. of course the mahout knows, if they are in the musht, but this mahout was
new and not familiar with the elefant, he wanted to make money, but he should have chained him to a tree for at least 2 weeks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musth

[halloween]

In Oz, we have a range of animals that can and will kill you. The animal associated with the most human deaths is the horse.

[craigt3365]

This could possibly be so , registration and chip tagging would eliminate any Identity problem, bearing in mind that also not included on any tourist itinerary is the small problem of killer roads, if you happened to choose a bus or car , the likelihood of being killed on Thailand's roads would be far great than being killed by a Elephant ..........................................

True, but transport by car or bus is a necessity. Riding a wild animal isn't. And due to the variety of problems around this, should be outlawed here.

[craigt3365]

tourists know nothing. majority come here and see the infamous thai smile, a smile which can stand for "happy"/"sad"/"enraged"/"frustrated"/"drunk"/"i'm gonna kill you in 15 seconds"/"no understand"/i have diarrhea"...

they go home and infect others. perpetuum mobile. there are very little official warnings about thailand. even in the holy bible, the joke AKA Lonely Planet. i have used common sense since day 1 i came here, ergo never sat on an elephant, never hugged a tiger, never rented a bg, never went to one of those binge-dope-bucket-islands, never believed more than 10% of what i was told

LP has a fairly good talk about issues surrounding elephants. Poaching, over work, abuse, etc. But I doubt many read this.....

[spidermike007]

tourists dont care. they must know about koh tao now but are the numbers down?

it's a certain type of tourist that goes there, the majority of them i mean, and they aren't the most intelligent people...

Dark Tao is one of the most dangerous places in Thailand. It is run by five families, that have no concept of respect, kindness, compassion, or decency. They have used stolen land (leased land with fake title) to earn hundreds of millions of dollars per family, and are now in a position where they are completely above the law. Any and all laws, be they local, state or federal. The army will not touch them (witness the recent B2 catastrophe of justice), they own the local police, and with that kind of money, nobody can disturb your crime empire in this country. Avoid Dark Tao as if it was infected with smallpox. There is a serial killer on the loose there, and he kills for sport. Not worth the risk.

[Chongalulu]

I seriously doubt there is such a thing as a "killer elephant" in the sense of an elephant that repeatedly kills humans.

I am sure that there are elephants that have killed, due to musth or poor handling. There are also elephants which are harder to domesticate properly so tend to give trouble more often. To brand these elephants killers and consider them more dangerous than other elephants is a false premise as the new elephant owned by the cruel, ignorant or incompetent handler that sold the animal on is probably more likely to kill than the old elephant in better care. Perhaps it is killer mahouts or killer elephant tours that need to be labelled rather than the elephants which anyway were not really designed to work in tourism.

This is how they dealt with a "killer elephant" in Tenesee 100 years ago

a

Not just elephants!