Travel Hub Elephant Policy
Travel Hub will not advertise any tour that includes elephant riding or elephant shows (exceptions are noted below). Elephant training for riding and performing in shows is quite rigorous and begins at a young age, and many training programs are extremely brutal. Keeping elephants under control and directing them throughout their working lives frequently necessitates more poking and prodding with sharp hooks. Trips involving such tactics will not be promoted by Travel Hub. Elephants working for elephant camps and trekking operators work their elephants for many hours per day, which can be harmful to their health.
Travel Hub does not have a complete understanding of the workings of every organization that uses elephants, particularly in terms of the training methods used and the elephants' continued welfare; however, we do our best to assess whether the elephants are well cared for, and we hope to be able to provide you with elephant activities where the standard of elephant care is far above the norm. We also value feedback from our clients who have booked elephant activities with us, and you will have the opportunity to complete our feedback form. Please share your thoughts on the elephant welfare standards with us. We examine every form and utilize the information to assist us in selecting only those elephant activity providers who deliver a high level of elephant care.
The bullhook
We accept the use of a bullhook to control an elephant and protect the client's safety if it is necessary and not misused. However the elephant partners we have chosen to work with own elephants that are normally easily controlled by food and the promise of a cooling bath and scrub in the river or mud pond. These are activities the elephants enjoy and very rarely need any poking with the bullhook to get them to do these things. If the elephant owners do use a bullhook we will state this in the tour details page of the tour.
Elephant riding
Travel Hub feels that some bareback riding is OK as long as the elephant is not forced into riding for long hours every day. If a limited amount of bareback riding is allowed then we will state this in the details section on the tour page.
If you want to get up close and interact with elephants there are now plenty of options available to do this in an ethical way. Elephant washing, feeding, and care activities are a great alternative. We have plenty of options on our website or our Travel Hub tour planners will be happy to make a recommendation for you depending on your requirements.
