Elephants very peaceful when not carrying riders
Just two weeks after I wrote a newspaper letter about tourists getting hurt at snake shows and elephant camps, a British tourist was killed by a jumbo that d his stepdaughter had been riding at the Safari in Koh Samui.
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
