Riding can cause severe spinal injury to an elephant and that elephant might have been in pain. When elephants are well treated they rarely attack people.
When I was at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, where the elephants don’t do tricks or give rides, I felt totally safe walking among them.
That park is a perfect example of how tourists and elephants can meet without anyone – human or animal – getting hurt.
Eric Bahrt
Chiang Mai