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Cited by 48Wildlife Ecology and ConservationGeographies of human-animal interactionsAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies

Asian elephant rescue, rehabilitation and rewilding

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Baker, Liv, Winkler, Rebecca·2020·Animal Sentience
DOI 10.51291/2377-7478.1506
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Abstract

Thailand has fewer than 10,000 elephants left. More of them are living in captivity to serve the tourist industry under grim conditions than are living free in what is left of their wild habitat. Conservation efforts need to be focused on all surviving members of the species, captive and free, but they need to take into account the inextricable entanglement of human and nonhuman animal lives in Thailand today. There is an opportunity for rescuing, rehabilitating and reintroducing captive elephants to the wild with the help of the traditional expertise of a mahout culture that has been elephant-keeping for centuries. We advocate a state of wildness that is meaningful to the elephants and can be attained in a way in which both elephant and human cultures are valued. This would be far better than the status quo for the elephants, restoring to them a life worth living.

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  • Government regulations are often inadequate to protect elephant welfare or have not been effectively implemented or enforced.

    “Unfortunately, government regulations are often inadequate to protect elephant welfare or have not been effectively implemented or enforced (Fernando et al., 2011;Bansiddhi et al., 2018;Baker & Winkler, 2020”

    From Continuing challenges of elephant captivity: the captive environment, health issues, and welfare implications (2024) · cites this paper as Baker & Winkler, 2020

    Section 5 (page unavailable) says many practices in Thailand’s elephant tourism industry would be illegal under its animal-welfare law, yet describes little formal oversight of elephant-conditioning practices. The Introduction (page unavailable) also identifies elephants’ legal status as property as a constraint. These passages support concerns about inadequate protection and oversight in Thailand, but do not establish how often government regulations elsewhere are inadequate or unenforced. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Baker, L., & Winkler, R.
Affiliations
Hunter College (US)
ORCID
Venue
Animal Sentience
Publisher
WellBeing International Publications
Published
2020-01-01
Volume
5
Issue
28
ISSN
2377-7478 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.51291/2377-7478.1506
OpenAlex
W3001353322
Cited by
48
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 25
FWCI
4.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Animal Sentience (publishedVersion)
  • WBI Studies Repository (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Panthera
  • Northwestern University
  • World Animal Protection
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Geographies of human-animal interactions
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
Keywords
Asian elephant, captive elephants, rewilding, reintroduction, elephant tourism, wildlife conservation, human-elephant relations, Thailand

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