Elephants Working and Playing in Thailand

[ThePatriciaGem]

HAve you ever seen the Thai movie "Tom Yum KungW by Tony Ja

the movie with the famous Words " Where is my elephant?"

the man in the movie love his elephant ,right?

so do the elephant's owners in the clip

the countryside trainers take care all the elephant very well

but there are some bad guys who let the elephants walk on the street in the big city . That's outlaw and i hate that

elephant should live in the happy little ville with the people who love it

[MissRoamie]

Did he hit it at 9:34?

[ThePatriciaGem]

@MissRoamie maybe you dont know how thick is the elephant's skin the elephant's skin is so thick . with that force No HURT ^^ dont worry he do that just for let it know the way it should walk like you use Dog leashes. . but there are some bad guys in my country use the stick with Hook to hook the elephant's ear with Big force .......so it get hurt T^T . SO,IF YOU SEE THE MAN WITH ELEPHANT IN THE BIG CITY IN THAILAND DONT BUY THE FOOD FOR ELEPHANT

[FeelGoodzx]

this is disgusting. I'm all for a fun show and stuff but its clear that these trainers probably beat these elephants senseless for them to perform tricks properly.

[elephantshoo]

When i went to thailand i expected people to care for these magnificent animals. but instead the camp i went to went to extreme measures to train them .i was terrified, but when they were done with training the trainers act as if nothing happened. Instead of staying there i went out into the wild were someone from a village showed me where there is usually herd. the Bulls are very protective and chased us away. i still think it was worth it to see the magnificent animals in there natural habitat

[OnlyTheBestDnB]

I've seen elephants in Thailand and the people on them do not treat them nicely. They do not have bad intentions, ultimately they are making a good living from providing tourists with a profound experience, but hitting them repeatedly in the head to make them go on the right trail and do what they want them to seemed a bit too extreme for me.

[1tahoesky]

...at 34 seconds the handler takes the hook/stick and presses the elephants head foreword to make it take in water, he then hooks her right ear and tells her to "squirt/spray" the water. She/it is not doing that of her own free will.... the ignorant tourist are not seeing the whole picture.

... and while these elephants are not severely abused, they are far from being free in their "performance for the tourist environment."

- and if you watch the handler at 5:20 - he hurts the young elephant

[1tahoesky]

...at 34 seconds the handler takes the hook/stick and presses the elephants head foreword to make it take in water, he then hooks her right ear and tells her to "squirt/spray" the water. She/it is not doing that of her own free will.... the ignorant tourist are not seeing the whole picture.

... and while these elephants are not severely abused, they are far from being free in their "performance for the tourist environment."

[cotoncandie]

Props to the dude who wasn't using a bull hook. I don't mind sticks, when they're used well. I ride horses, and sometimes you just need to use a whip, these are very strong and willful animals, and the use of "natural" cues sometimes just isn't enough

[Cooking4Two]

at 0:36 the guy hits the elephant so that he can throw water on the tourist... is this natural and playing? I understand the people have a good heart and protect the species, but is it normal to treat them like that? Like dogs learning tricks?

[veggiewarriors]

I don't doubt the keepers love their elephants. And they don't have the space or the educational resources to question the ethics of what they do.

But we have to imagine an alternative where these young elephants and their mahouts can live alongside each other without the latter using bullhooks etc to train the eles and make jesters out of them.

Nature is resilient enough to restore her own balance so this crap about low birthrates among eles is really insulting.

[TheKimmieLane]

They are free and loving the human touch ...look at them!!!!!!!

[MausoloSri]

ELephants are so Adorable creatures, strong, tender and intelligent. They're Ganesha's presence, a face of God in Earth. If u can feel more human seeing this gift of nature.

[Endrew5632]

wow i dont like soccer,but with amazing elephants,i like!

oh man... some tiem ago i was on a circus,and i didnt want to take a photo with an elephant because i was afraid of him..

.but now i see that they are so awesome!

[L3S3R4]

Thank you for your information.  Nice to know they treat them well.

[Mrmegaretarded]

@Aqouze have right. Elephant need thai ppl. If u can see in this vid. How lucky the elephant are. And BTW im Thai too. See how much thai ppl learn them Like shooting a ball and playing basket ball. all these thing.

[GenCollado]

haha that elephant is very smart. @ 8:30 he faked that he was gonna shoot with his front leg and instead shot with the back leg..haha.

[firestar000001]

That looks really fun, especially since Thailand is really HOT.

[L3S3R4]

I was crying when I watch this clip. When they were trained, how many times they were beaten to do the tricks. Born free, please let them free.

[S0XF0X]

@L3S3R4 In mahout camps such as these, the mahouts are taught how to train their elephants without violence, and the elephants learns new behaviors and tricks to help earn money for their food, medicine, and to feed their mahouts.

[Graghhh]

@L3S3R4 How about you try paying attention to the videos and organization enough to realize that their ultimate goal is to return their elephants to the wild, rather than looking at a video with humans and elephants together and assuming there is abuse happening behind the scenes. They have already mentioned in other videos that they are using a reward system to train their elephants, so why don't you try to help their cause instead of griping about something without educating yourself first?

[Xlblink815lX]

what happen to their trunks? i hope those sticks that their holding r not hurtful, i still believe that they belong to wilderness....

[FlyinSpaghettiMnstr7]

is this a gop gathering?

[claudiademontevideo]

pero déjenlos quietos!!!!!!!, ya no saben con que currar??

[nanotech2080]

Why when it comes to animals like these elephants right here, people think of them like slaves, clowns and being locked up?

Lets be positive. They are rockstar elephants :)

[Aqouze]

that's my country

those cute elephants right now cannot live without human raising them. their birth rate is too low.... they are on the verge of extinction.

You don't know how much the elephant's trainer love their own elephant like their son or daughter.

there are so many elephants walking around the capital city to work for some bad human... which we... thai people always go against them and try to have them go back to countryside like this village in the clip

[kevn101]

@Aqouze it's nice to know that the elephants are being taken care of well i'd hate to hear these elephants being used merely for profit and entertainment like circuses

[AleksaStankovic]

@Aqouze I was in Thailand 2 months ago and seeing those elephants are one of my best memories ever. Something that Thai people should really be proud of. Very beautiful and amazing animals.

[FeelGoodzx]

@Aqouze I don't believe you... In asian culture they do not see animals like humans as america would.. It's very different there... I think you're being ignorant about this whole situation.

[illbeda1974]

The poachers should be tried and convicted and put in prison for life,no exceptions.

[Portafest]

i'm all for letting them roam free i'd prefer that..but yeah seriously i think the elephants look pretty happy too. think about humans we cage ourselves inside buildings all day not really much of a difference if you think about it....

[nickabocca]

elephants look pretty dam happy 2 me..

[DesireeGrey]

it is lovely to see humans caring for elephants (or any other wild animal) given that there's so much exploitation and cruelty to animals in the world. but really, if we were truly respectful to animals, we would grant them their liberty and allow them to live in peace in their natural habitats, free from human intervention.

[imeldaDuke]

good I love these creatures!!*___*

[bcw324]

I would sure love to know how to donate money directly to the elephants!

[lavender880]

These Mahouts are using their bullhooks and pulling on the elephants hair to get them to do what they want. The noises they are making are noises of distress in my opinion. And....give the poor elephant those bananas you unaware tourists!!!

[Mona5]

Parece muy bonito y gracioso pero es cruel. No son humanos, no por tener un 'trabajo' se sienten más útiles. Hay muchos elefantes en resrvas que fueron rescatados de circos y campos de trabajo y sufren estrés por lo que vivieron, y no dejan de hacer las cosas que les enseñaron, sin que nadie se lo pida.

[milomeeko]

i think it is cruel to have harmless animals locked up in zoos haveing to learn things they may not even like to do .i think they should stop telling them what to do.

[frances607]

I also had a bad feeling about this video. Why should these people feel the elephants should perform for them? It is just like a circus.

[synkronyk]

no its not. These elephants would be starving or dying without these camps. Surely the elephants are capable of interacting with the environment around them, and enjoying the positive interaction.

[sagievy]

I agree with you!! :(

[mikrah]

These animals are not playing. They are performing for their masters. Nothing is wrong with that either. They might or might not be enjoying themselves. But they are not playing. Also, there is something distressing in this.

[Avataraang2]

They are training these animals in a bad way

[Cam4Squad]

Avatarang2 does have a small point, it is amazing to see and watch, but every time the trainer wanted the elephant to spray water they hit the elephant on the head with like a rod thing.

[Pogokoala]

did you ever stop to think they got thick skin?

[InjuredMedic]

The elephant´s skin is despite of its thickness a very sensitive system and has a rich nerve providing. An elephant can notice every fly landing on him!

[Pogokoala]

oh ouch now that i didn't know.. hey do you like the protector Tony Jaa movie lol

[Armyboitaylor]

u dunno i'm not an expert but wouldn't it be better for the elephants if the people (on the backs) left them alone whilst in the river

[catfreak10]

i agree :/

[S0XF0X]

@Armyboitaylor Not really. To the elephants, those people are part of their herd. For them to be in the river together is a way to socialize with the elephants, like an elephant. Also, the humans can keep watch for potential danger, while the elephants bathe. For crowded areas like that, tigers aren't as much of a problem, but out in the boonies it is.

[zeke1958]

@Armyboitaylor Each elephant has it's very own mahout (trainer) who is responsible for it. The mahout looks after it's health and responsible for feeding it and also bathing it when in the river.

[peterconn]

haahaha give him the bananas!

[eladbari]

why didnt u give him the bananas? :[

[Pogokoala]

because elephant prefer peanut :)