RP235 Giving Giants a Second Chance

 RP235 Giving Giants a Second Chance

Elephants are strong, sensitive, intelligent animals. They have been used for heavy work throughout Asia for centuries. Elephants have carried kings, felled trees, and hauled logs, among many other jobs. And since healthy trained elephants can work for decades, they have traditionally been seen as good investments.

Just like human workers, however, working elephants have lost much to technology. Logging has greatly expanded, destroying both the habitats of wild elephants and the livelihoods of domesticated ones. Many elephant owners have replaced their animals with machines, which work faster and are cheaper and easier to maintain.

Domestic elephants may have less work to do, but they still require huge amounts of food, water, and other care. Unable to survive in the rapidly shrinking wilderness, many have been retrained to perform for tourists. This can still occasionally be seen on the street in parts of Southeast Asia. Recently, however, most performing elephants have been moved into parks and camps where paying visitors can ride, bathe, and play with them. Some of these facilities exist for the good of the elephants and serve important conservational and educational functions. Others, unfortunately, severely abuse and exploit their animals in order to make money.

Elephants are wild and, unlike dogs, cannot be trained easily. Torture, starvation, and other forms of cruelty are employed in almost any training of wild animals anywhere. In 2017, the world-famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus closed after 146 years. Animal rights groups had long criticized the circus for its treatment of animals, especially elephants. This is, sadly, a truly global problem.

Elephant abuse is a global problem.

But there are signs of hope. Several programs are now actively working to help "retired" elephants and their caretakers, or mahouts. Some elephant camps offer training packages, allowing tourists to direct and control elephants themselves. Elephants and mahouts are even being trained to patrol forests to stop poachers and loggers. What could be more fitting than employing these gentle giants to help protect their own kind?