I recently returned from a beautiful vacation at Pukhet, Thailand. We stayed in a villa on the west coast of Phuket, Thailand called http://www.thenakaphuket.com. I believe it is the newest resort and I can vouch for the fact that it is absolutely gorgeous.
I believe it was our second night in Phuket when we decided to see a popular elephant show called Fantasea
As we were coming into Thailand we did run into Beyonce & Jay-Z in the airport and apparently they had visited Fantasea as well and I'm sure they were unaware at the time of the horrible abuse that these animals endure but I'm sure they know now. And I really hope that they have a heart to do something about this.
Here is the article.
When I arrived to Nakaphuket, Thailand all I wanted to do was ride the elephants. I wanted to go to the shows and be apart of their lives. But when I arrived to see the elephants I realized how hard their lives were and how horribly abused they are at the cost of people just like me who come there on vacation and are sold on glitz and glamour of seeing an elephant show or being able to ride them.
This boy in the photo opened a jar to show me he was selling bracelets. The baby elephant opened his little trunk I think because he thought he was being fed and I couldn't believe what I saw. The boy pulled out something that looks like a horse shoe with daggers on both ends. He began to slam it into the baby elephants mouth to shut him up. I was in complete shock and just disgusted.
As I looked further I realized the baby elephant was chained to the ground and ever so often the boy would repeatedly kick the elephant. It made me so sick to see this so I began to read more online and I feel terrible that I ever supported this type of treatment. Had I known I would not have. Silly Americans, we don't think of these things. I had no idea. The experience weighed on me so after doing some research I found that there is an elephant rescue in Thailand and you can pay to see them.
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org
However they say that some of these elephants are so badly broken in their hearts that they will never be ok. I read that they start by breaking the baby elephants spirit when they are young so that they can be socialized with common people. I did in fact write a letter to Peta and I will follow up. If you would like to contact Peta on this matter you are welcome to as well.
http://www.peta.org/videos/thai-elephants/
I wanted to share this photo with you all in hopes that someone sees it and can pass along this experience so maybe we can help in some way.
If you are interested in helping to save the elephants you can donate to this non-profit organization.
http://www.saveelephant.org
There were parts of Thailand that were just beautiful and I do hope to return someday.
It's important to understand how the decisions we make affect ourselves and others around us. This is a year in a time where I'm proud to be an American because although we're not perfect we have made great accomplishments in helping in situations like these. Our little voices have helped to break some of these barriers. So I do hope that you share this link and hope that great things will be in store for our friends, the elephants.
xx
#carleycorbin
#thailand
Thank you, Carley.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Carley
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