"Used for centuries to domesticate wild elephants, this torture training method is still accepted as the only viable training method for elephant handlers and is used in almost every elephant attraction in Thailand. And, once they have their souls stomped out, they are simply vessels entertaining people. They are chained.
The barbaric ritual of “crushing” a young elephant’s spirit in order to domesticate it, due to the belief that establishing domination through torture is the only way to tame it, is called the Phajaan.
It is mainly practised in the Karen province of Thailand. Every captive elephant one sees in Thailand with the exception of those still living in the wild and born on protected sanctuaries has more than likely gone through it. The ones begging in Bangkok, the ones in trekking camps, breeding camps, tourist camps, and zoos. At least more than half of them have gone through the Phajaan.
Probably the only elephants that are being treated properly are the ones in elephant sanctuaries, but sadly many of them arrived in a very sorry state. One hopes that with time the people of Thailand will learn the kind way of training an animal and discontinue these barbaric ways. It's no wonder that some elephants become aggressive and turn on their keepers or mahouts.
Have you ever traveled abroad and unwittingly supported an activity that was harmful to animals? I bet most of us have. When I volunteered abroad in Thailand at an elephant sanctuary I learned that almost all of the tourist activities involving elephants support an extremely brutal practice that most tourists are unaware of. This practice is called the pajaan.
The pajaan is a centuries old training method used to break an elephant’s spirit. It involves separating a baby elephant from its mother (which alone is extremely traumatic), at around 4 years of age, and placing it in a cage like structure called a training crush. The goal is to literally crush their independence and make them forever submissive to humans. The cage is just big enough for the elephant to fit inside it and it is tied up with ropes so it can’t escape. The elephant is then beaten by multiple men and stabbed repeatedly with sticks that have sharp nails attached to them. This intense beating lasts for 4 – 7 days.
Throughout this period of “training” they are deprived of food and water and subjected to sleep deprivation to heighten the trauma. The more the elephant struggles, the more severely it is beaten. They get stabbed repeatedly in the most sensitive parts of their bodies – their inner ears and eyes. Some elephants go blind from this abuse. Throughout the pajaan the infant is petrified, confused, in pain and in the end, broken.
When the pajaan is over the abuse continues as they are put through weeks of more training. As you know, elephants never forget so these giant creatures learn to forever be fearful of humans and to always do what they’re told. All domestic elephants in Thailand are subjected to this ritual.
Circus elephants in the United States are not treated much better. Trainers take a baby from its mother and put it through brutal training regimens forcing it to perform dance steps and stand on its head for fear of the consequences. Elephants were not meant to be doing stupid things like this. Yes the fact that they are capable of learning this is amazing but what does it say about us that we want them to.Performing elephants never get be with their families or roam for hundreds of miles per day as they would in the wild. The constant chaining often causes them to develop abnormal behaviors like rocking back and forth. If they finally lose it and act out with aggression, they are killed and labeled as “crazy”. Unfortunately, it’s not the elephants who are the crazy ones…
As long as tourist dollars support unethical activities, they will remain intact. Instead support and volunteer with animal welfare organizations that celebrate thenatural beauty and behaviors of elephants and treat them with respect and kindness. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that they visited Thailand and engaged in tourist activities that they later found out were harmful to the elephants involved. For me, nothing could ruin my vacation faster.
Money is power. Do your research, use your money wisely, be a responsible tourist. The more people support responsible tourism, the faster those industries will grow.
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