Asian elephants are losing the battle to survive and the exploitation of domestic elephants by humans is a major factor in their fast approaching demise. The five main ways that humans are contributing to their rapid extinction are:
1) Loss of habitat--swelling population of villages and farm land has encroached on forest areas, even national parks and reserves.
2) Logging (both legal and illegal)
3) Owners of working elephants not allowing the cows to mate.
4) Continual use for street begging.
5) The tourist trade--taxi rides and circus shows.
Being forced to beg on the crowded streets amid traffic and pollution is a form of slavery that no elephant should have to endure. Yet there are hundreds of elephants forced into this inhumane existence. In these cases, few, if any, of the men handling the elephant actually “own” the animal---it is rented from wealthy businessmen who view the elephants as a commodity to be exploited.
Late one night in 2003, Connie Speight saw a young female elephant in a bustling area of Bangkok. This elephant had been trained to just stand still. As the vibrations from the traffic and street noise traveled through her sensitive foot pads and radiated throughout her body, she could only relieve some of the pressure by swaying back and forth. She had a huge saddle bag slung over her back filled with bananas and sugar cane. Locals and tourists would pay the man beside her a few pennies to feed the miserable animal. This was her only source of food, equal to humans living on junk food with little nutritional value. Her eyes were weeping and she had sores on her body, if she moved too much the man would hit her. She had been forced to walk after dark as many as four or five miles into the city from the garbage dump or freeway underpass where she lived. She had no water in which to bathe and her only source of drinking water was from city fountains.
The Elephants Umbrella Fund was conceived by Connie Speight who could no longer watch the suffering of these animals and was convinced that one person could make a difference--one elephant at a time.
Working in logging industry, whether legal or illegal, is extremely dangerous for elephants. Chains used to pull the logs can snap or become entangled causing injury to the elephant. Carelessly cut trees can fall, crushing a leg, back or trunk. Because of the remote locations of logging camps and the illegal nature of many of these operations, the majority of these injured elephants do not receive medical care, even for crippling injuries. Funded in part by EUF, in 2007, a mobile veterinary unit was put into action in Laos. This mobile unit is capable of traveling hundreds of miles over rough terrain to aid wounded elephants--but such a unit is an exception in Asia. In northern Thailand the government has a well-equipped elephant hospital, but finding a way to transport these massive animals often prevents them from receiving much needed critical care. In reality, most elephants are forced to continue working until they become totally incapacitated or die.
The tourist industry, which is a large part of the economy in Asian countries like Thailand, is also contributing to the demise of the elephant. The majority of “elephant camps” that cater to tourists do not care for their animals responsibly or with compassion. The animals are forced to work all day, seven days a week, frequently when it is extremely hot. Elephants are very strong but their strength is not in their backs. Riding chairs for tourists are often made of dense wood weighing hundreds of pounds, add at least four tourists and the weight can easily rise to over a thousand pounds. It is obvious that carrying over a half of a ton day after day is detrimental to the spine and joints of an elephant. Another factor which is on the rise in camps is the killing of baby elephants by their mothers. It is believed that stress and an unnatural living environment is the major factor contributing to this violent behavior.
