Here young elephants are "broken" to interact with tens of millions of tourists who visit Thailand every year, many eager to capture social media-worthy encounters of the kingdom's national animal playing sports, dancing and even painting. But animal welfare advocates argue the taming technique -- where babies are removed from the care of fiercely devoted mothers at the age of two -- is cruel and outdated. It is also little-known, one of many murky aspects of an evolving elephant tourism trade often kept from view of tour operators and travellers. A committee of several animal welfare associations submitted recommendations to the government last year advocating stricter controls for elephants in captivity. Schmidt-Burbach said their last research in 2015 found some 1,771 elephants whose welfare was in question.

Source: Philippine Star December 23, 2019 03:22 UTC