Management factors affecting physical health and welfare of tourist camp elephants in Thailand
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Variation in management across elephant camps likely has differential effects on the well-being of elephants. METHODS: This study calculated body condition, foot health and skin wound scores (WSs) for 122 elephants from 15 elephant camps in Chiang Mai province, and examined relationships to management factors using a multi-variable modeling approach. RESULTS: The majority of elephants had high body condition scores (BCS) indicative of being overweight or obese, mild foot problems, but few visible wounds. Females had higher BCSs than males, as did elephants provided a water source at night. Increasing age was associated with higher foot and WSs. Higher WSs were observed in about a quarter of the cases where mahouts carried a hook. Wounds related to saddle riding were rare. Elephants that rested on sand floors at night had a decreased risk of high WSs compared to elephants that rested on compact dirt floors. DISCUSSION: Findings emphasize the need for elephant camps to adjust management activities that negatively affect body condition (e.g., feeding too many sweet treats), foot health (e.g., hard substrates) and wounding (e.g., misuse of equipment) to improve health and welfare of this population.
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Restraint methods like chaining and using an ankus to control elephants are significant concerns.
“However, restraint methods like chaining and using an ankus (also known as a bullhook or guide) to control elephants are significant concerns (63).”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [63]
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References 53 · Cited by 32
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Bansiddhi P Management factors of elephant camps affecting health and welfare of elephants 2019 Doctoral thesis Chiang Mai University
- Lahiri-Choudhury DK Csuti B Sargent EL Bechert US Historical lessons for the treatment of foot diseases in captive Asian elephants The Elephant’s Foot: Prevention and Care of Foot Conditions in Captive Asian and African Elephants 2008 Ames Iowa State University Press 81 84
- Olson D Elephant husbandry resource guide 2004 Lawrence Allen Press
- Rutkowski C Marion F Hopper R Csuti B Sargent EL Bechert US Split nails, abscesses, and cuticular fluid pockets The Elephant’s Foot: Prevention and Care of Foot Conditions in Captive Asian and African Elephants 2001 Ames Iowa State University Press 85 86
- Scorer T Aspinall V Surgical nursing procedures Clinical Procedures in Veterinary Nursing - E-Book 2014 Oxford Elsevier Health Sciences 153 176
- West G Csuti B Sargent EL Bechert US Occurrence and treatment of nail/foot abscess, nail cracks, and sole abscesses in captive elephants The Elephant’s Foot: Prevention and Care of Foot Conditions in Captive Asian and African Elephants 2001 Ames Iowa State University Press 93 97
- Authors
- Bansiddhi, P., Nganvongpanit, K., Brown, J. L., Punyapornwithaya, V., Pongsopawijit, P., & Thitaram, C.
- Affiliations
- Chiang Mai University (TH)
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nganvongpanit, Korakot
- Thitaram, Chatchote
- ORCID
- Venue
- PeerJ
- Publisher
- PeerJ
- Published
- 2019-04-25
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- e6756
- ISSN
- 2167-8359 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6487189
- OpenAlex
- W2941778448
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 4.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PeerJ (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Research Council of Thailand
- Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. program
- Thailand Research Fund
- Chiang Mai University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Equine › Veterinary Equine Medical Research
- Keywords
- captive elephants, elephant welfare, body condition, foot health, skin wounds, Mahout, sex differences
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