Video shows abuse of Thai baby elephant

Around 3,000 domesticated elephants work in Thailand's massive tourism sector, used for rides and performing tricks for travellers eager for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the beasts.
Around 3,000 domesticated elephants work in Thailand's massive tourism sector, used for rides and performing tricks for travellers eager for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the beasts.

Footage of a baby elephant jabbed by hooks at a camp in Thailand has been released by conservationists.

The footage, taken on a hidden camera last year and published Wednesday by UK-based animal rights group World Animal Protection (WAP), shows what they say is the forced separation of a two-year-old female elephant from her mother.

The calf is confined to a small space known as the "crush box" and held by chains and ropes for days as she struggles to escape.

Calves are repeatedly jabbed with a bullhook - a long rod with a sharpened metal tip - to get them to understand basic commands, sometimes causing bleeding.

About 3,000 domesticated elephants work in Thailand's tourism sector, used for rides and performing tricks for travellers.

Animal rights activists have long argued that elephants endure abuse in the tourism industry, starting with the so-called "crush" process to tame them when young.

"We need to ensure that this is the last generation of elephants used for commercial tourism," Jan Schmidt-Burbach, a wildlife veterinarian with WAP, told AFP.

WAP has not released details of the location of the camp to avoid repercussions for the people who shot the video.

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Vocabulary

  • bleeding: losing blood, especially from a wound or an injury - เลือดออก
  • calf: a young cow or, in this case, a young elephant - ลูกวัว, ลูกช้าง
  • crush: to press something so hard that it breaks into very small pieces - กด  บีบอัด
  • domesticated: (of wild animals) used to living with or working for humans - เชื่อง
  • footage: film of a particular subject or event - ฟิลม์หรือคลิปภาพยนตร์
  • jab: to push or hit something forcefully -
  • repercussion: a bad effect that something has, usually lasting for a long time -
  • rod: a thin straight bar, especially one used for catching fish -
  • separation (noun): the act of separating/dividing people or things; the state of being separate - การแยกออก
  • tame: not wild or fierce, either naturally or because of training or long involvement with humans - เชื่อง (สัตว์)
  • tip: the thin pointed end of something - จุดปลายสุด

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