Originally published 2019-08-23.
The image that went viral: a handler's hook pressed against an elephant's head, beside a close-up of scarred skin. Photos shared on Twitter by the user Abang Da Balik (@faizalghazaly).
A set of photos showing tourist elephants with wounds on their heads, and handlers holding sharp metal hooks, spread across social media in 2019 and renewed a long-running question: is it ethical to ride elephants in Thailand? Animal-welfare groups and some Thai wildlife officials say the most humane choice for visitors is not to ride, and to choose observation-only experiences or genuine sanctuaries instead. This article explains what the photos show, what the research says about tourist elephants, and how to see elephants responsibly.
What the viral photos showed
The pictures were posted on Twitter in April 2019 by a user called Abang Da Balik, with a plea to stop riding elephants. They were widely reported to have been taken in Phuket, one of Thailand's busiest holiday islands, although the exact venue was never confirmed. In August 2019 they went viral again and were picked up by news sites around the world.
You can stop inhumanity tortured on elephants by stop riding an elephant! pic.twitter.com/oYtPd0wXzI
— abang da balik (@faizalghazaly) April 12, 2019
The images show handlers sitting on elephants' necks holding bullhooks, also known as ankus: wooden or metal rods with a hook at the end, used to steer and control the animals by pressing on sensitive points. In several frames there are fresh wounds and old scars on the animals' heads, exactly where the hook is applied.
A handler holds a bullhook on an elephant's neck. The tool is widely used across Asia's captive elephant industry and is at the centre of welfare criticism. Photo: Abang Da Balik/Twitter.
The scale of elephant tourism in Asia
The best large-scale evidence comes from World Animal Protection. Its 2017 report, Taken for a Ride, assessed 2,923 elephants at 220 tourist venues across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India between late 2014 and mid-2016. The charity found that 77 percent were kept in severely inadequate conditions.
Thailand stood out. It held roughly twice as many tourism elephants as all the other surveyed countries combined, and the number of elephants used for tourist activities there rose by about 30 percent, from 1,688 to 2,198, over a period when visitor numbers to the country doubled from 15.9 million in 2010 to 32.6 million in 2016. Some venues served thousands of tourists a day.
The report described typical conditions: elephants chained day and night, often on chains shorter than three metres; concrete floors; poor diets; limited veterinary care; and noisy settings near roads, music and crowds when the animals were not working.
The tip of a bullhook rests on an elephant's head during a ride. Repeated pressure in the same place can leave the wounds and scars seen in the viral photos. Photo: Abang Da Balik/Twitter.
Why Thailand has so many captive elephants
Elephants have worked alongside people in Thailand for centuries, first in war and ceremony and later in the timber industry. In the early 20th century the country had an estimated 100,000 captive elephants. When commercial logging was banned in the late 1980s (the ban is usually dated to 1989), thousands of working elephants and their handlers, called mahouts, lost their livelihood almost overnight. Many turned to begging on city streets and, increasingly, to tourism.
The law has not kept pace. Under Thailand's Beast of Burden Act of 1939, domesticated elephants are classed as draught animals, like oxen or horses, and can be privately owned, with few specific welfare protections. Wild elephants, by contrast, are protected under wildlife law. Estimates of numbers vary: figures cited in 2019 put the country's wild population at about 3,500 and its domesticated elephants at about 4,500, while one 2017 estimate counted around 3,800 captive animals.
In 2019, Dr Patrapol Maneeorn, a wildlife veterinarian with Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, was reported as urging tourists to stay away from attractions that use elephants for entertainment, and as describing how captive animals are often controlled with bullhooks and other sharp tools.
How elephants are trained for rides
An elephant will not naturally accept a person on its back or perform tricks on command. Welfare groups say many tourist elephants are taken from their mothers young and put through harsh training designed to break their will and make them submissive. Afterwards, the bullhook is used to keep that control.
Captivity also shows in behaviour. Elephants that rock, sway or bob their heads repeatedly are often mistaken by visitors for animals that are dancing or happy. Scientists call this stereotypic behaviour: repetitive movement with no obvious purpose, commonly linked to stress, boredom and restricted space. A swaying elephant is a sign that something in its environment is wrong.
An elephant in harness with marks on its head; the purple patches appear to be antiseptic applied to wounds. Thailand has more tourism elephants than any other Asian country. Photo: Abang Da Balik/Twitter.
Common myths about elephant riding
"Elephants are big enough to carry people easily"
Size does not equal suitability. Welfare groups point out that an elephant's spine is not shaped to bear weight from above, and heavy seats, or howdahs, plus passengers for hours a day can cause pain and sores. The bigger issue, though, is the training and control that riding requires.
"Riding gives mahouts a living, so it helps"
Mahout families do depend on elephant income, which is why welfare groups argue for changing the type of tourism rather than abandoning these communities. Observation-based venues can still employ mahouts and earn money from visitors.
"If it's called a sanctuary, it must be ethical"
The word is not regulated. Some venues that call themselves sanctuaries still offer rides, bathing sessions or shows. Look at what visitors are actually invited to do.
How to see elephants responsibly
World Animal Protection's advice is simple: the best place to see elephants is in the wild, and the next best is a genuine sanctuary. Its surveys suggest attitudes are shifting, with the share of tourists who considered elephant riding acceptable falling from 53 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2017. If you are planning a trip, some practical checks help:
- No riding, no shows, no painting or tricks. These all depend on tight control of the animal.
- Watch rather than touch. The best places let you observe elephants foraging, bathing and socialising at a distance.
- Look for space and choice. Elephants should be able to roam, form groups and walk away from people.
- Check for bullhooks and chains. If hooks are in constant use or elephants are chained when not working, look elsewhere.
- Read independent reviews and the venue's own description of daily care, not just its name.
Some projects in Thailand have moved in this direction. One example often cited in coverage of the 2019 photos is Elephant Valley, where the elephants are reported to roam freely and are fed by people only once a day rather than performing for visitors.
Why the photos still matter
The 2019 pictures were not the first images of injured tourist elephants, and they will not be the last. But they put a clear image to a problem that is easy to overlook when a ride is sold as a once-in-a-lifetime holiday moment. Every booking is a small vote for one kind of tourism or another, and visitors who choose observation over riding help make the gentler model pay.
Sources: World Animal Protection: Thousands of elephants exploited for tourism are held in cruel conditions (2017); World Animal Protection Australia: Taken for a ride; Wikipedia: Elephants in Thailand; Original tweet by Abang Da Balik (@faizalghazaly), April 2019. Photos: Abang Da Balik/Twitter.
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