Rethinking Our Relationship With Elephants

by Will Shrestha

The WildLifeSOS NGO completely changed the way I think about elephants and all other animals in captivity. When we watched the video on how elephants are tortured in order to be deemed “rideable,” I felt especially moved because I have ridden an elephant before. One of the times I was in Nepal, I went on an elephant safari with my dad. On the safari, I noticed that the guide would occasionally hit the side of the elephant and pull on its ears with a metal rod, which I later learned was called a bullhook. At first I was very concerned because I thought that he was hurting the elephant intentionally (which he was) but when I asked, I was assured that he was merely helping guide the elephant through the jungle. After that, I didn’t think about it very much and just focused on having fun looking at all of the cool animals from on top of an elephant.

That’s the problem. People, including myself, are too willing to make themselves believe that horrible things are acceptable because it benefits them. Certain things like when someone or something is being harmed should obviously be seen as wrong. Unfortunately it isn’t always that easy to convince yourself to open your eyes, ask questions, and look behind the scenes. We need to stop putting our desires before the health of others. In order to stop these horrible acts, including the taming of elephants, everyone needs to ask themselves if they think that what is happening is acceptable or not, even if other people tell them that it is. If we come to the conclusion that it isn’t acceptable, we need to act. If we can do that, we can make a lot of progress towards solving problems and saving lives.