Brutal Training, Black Magic
For example, elephants in the crush are taught to raise their feet on command so owners can easily move them. Men give orders enforced by stabbing at the animals' legs with sticks that have nails on the end. Mistakes are punished with beatings.
Elephants are typically covered in bloody wounds and rope burns when released from the crush after three to six days. They are quickly tied up again; the training continues for weeks.
"They say they have to let the elephant taste pain, then the elephant will understand how to listen," said Chailert. But brutality can produce the opposite effect, she argued.
Traditionalists defend the crush. Saehai, a 91-year-old shaman from Chiang Dao who goes by only one name, has been a spiritual leader of breaking ceremonies in northern Thailand for half a century. "Only one way to do this, not any other," he explains firmly. "If elephant doesn't go though this, elephant can't be tamed."
Villagers believe the shaman uses black magic to help tame the elephant and sever ties to the mother. Saehai feels pride in his work because domestic elephants generate much-needed income in undeveloped areas. He is an honored guest at every village he visits.
Like many rural villagers, Saehai argues that to control animals that can eventually weigh as much as 10,000 pounds, it's essential they fear their keepers. He believes it's the only way to safeguard against the animal kicking, goring, or otherwise injuring people with whom they work.
Chailert believes it's time for Thai people to rethink the centuries-old tradition. "I think it should be stopped. We have many different ways to train elephants; we don't have to be so cruel." She argues that positive reinforcement is a more effective and humane strategy for training these animals.
Are there alternatives?
Elephant management techniques in the United States used corporal punishment and negative reinforcement to train elephants until about 30 years ago, when a new method began to emerge.
"We started changing our training methods [over the last few decades] because we had the technology and the know-how," said Carol Buckley, co-founder and executive director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. "The new technique is called 'protected contact,' and it's used in more than half of accredited American zoos."
The new training depends on rewards, not punishment.
"In a nutshell, when the behavior of the animal approximates the target of behavior, you reward them," said Jeff Andrews, Animal Care Manager at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. He is in charge of training the African and Asian elephants at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
Chailert hopes to change how the next generation of domestic elephants is trained. With a tradition so deeply engrained, it won't be easy.
The crush thrives in isolated villages where narrow dirt roads are the only connection to the outside world. Few outsiders venture into these remote areas. Isolation is what allowed the crush to continue unchanged for hundreds of years, and protects it still. Chailert is one of the only people calling for change.
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES