On your family’s next visit to Thailand, be sure and plan a visit to an elephant nature park. Parents and kids will fall in love with the elephants that are cared for at these parks. Your whole family will also get an introduction to the dire need for these parks all over Thailand.
Visitors and social media were partly responsible for creating these elephant nature parks all over Thailand. People’s attitudes towards animal welfare have matured over the years. Circuses that have retired their animal acts have been applauded for it, marine parks are phasing out their orca whale shows, and businesses in Thailand that used elephants for trekking and to perform tricks are becoming less popular with the public.
Education Favours Elephant Conservation
The more research has been done about elephants, the more we’ve learned that these gentle giants are incredibly intelligent, social creatures who simply want to live in peace.
Educated visitors to Thailand saw the trekking and performing elephants and took to social media to educate others about the elephant’s sad plight. While knowledge about the state of the elephants in Thailand grew for years, there simply wasn’t a solution that provided for all the out-of-work elephants that needed to be cared for.
New Home for Thailand’s Elephants
Fairly recently, conservationists saw the sheer number of postings about the fate of elephants in Thailand. With this much awareness and the groundswell of love and concern for the elephants of Thailand, they thought they had a better idea of how to provide for the elephants for the rest of their lives.
They bought land and elephants from mahouts and tourist companies that could no longer care for them. They brought them to the tracts of land and formed organisations and networks with other conservationists, veterinarians, and caring volunteers.
They created an entirely new business model for the care of elephants that was humane and sustainable. These new nature parks became an instant hit with tourists and visitors. The visitors were encouraged to interact with the elephants by feeding and bathing them.
The fees collected from these visitors paid for the medical care and feeding of the elephants. But the parks also became a place of education. It was the perfect setting to educate visitors and local people about the need to conserve all the natural wildlife on the planet.
Support Elephant Nature Parks
Being able to touch and look into the eyes of these gentle creatures underlined the importance of adopting a philosophy of conservation and teaching your children its importance.
For the children, visiting an elephant nature park may seem like an exciting and fun day of playing with the elephants. But the compassion they learn on these outings will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary operates four elephant parks in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. On your upcoming trip to Thailand, please visit one of our parks and educate your children on the importance of wildlife conservation for everyone’s sake.
