Wherever I may roam

Mahouts (elephant riders/trainers) that I saw in Laos were not using hooks or sticks. Most elephants were never ridden, saddleless and free from any sort of harness. In Thailand, on the other side of the Mekong, elephant conservation is mostly (but with some noticeable improvement occuring over time) supported by elephant rides or lumbering, which require training. Feeding an elephant is expensive (they eat as much as 250kg of food everyday) and that cost cannot be fully covered by recycling elephant dejections (they make paper out of it). That's why tourism is needed to protect these magnificent animals. But most tourists are not willing to trek a whole day through a snake-infested, mosquito-ridden jungle to get a chance to see elephants in the wild, with binoculars, from a distance. They wanna pet them, ride them,take selfies with them, watch them race, play football or draw with their trunks. And this requires training. Although training is usually done without violence; like in every profession, there are alas assholes among mahouts. Poaching of wild elephants is a tragedy but I beg tourists to consider visiting national parks or sanctuaries in Laos and Thailand, where elephants are semi-wild, do not work and are free to roam, instead of elephants camp where pachyderms are living a life comparable to that of circus animals. It's also a much better experience from a touristic perspective to witness them in their habitat or with a caretaker who cares

ช่างภาพ:

flamingoid

อัพโหลดแล้ว:

2017-11-25

แท็ก:

elephant expired

กล้อง:

Pentax ME Super

ฟิล์ม:

Rollei Vario Chrome

Lens:

SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.4

เมือง:

Luang Prabang

ประเทศ/จังหวัด:

Laos

อัลบั้ม:

Modal Soul

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