I found this an interesting article, it's about elephants that are used for tourism in Thailand and about an elephant sanctuary that rescues these animals from just that.
http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/
This article explains that the elephants used for tourism are kept in horrible conditions, chained up and used just for money in tourism. There is also a twist to this article because it explains about ENP (Elephant Nature Park), this is where they rescue elephants that have been mistreated and used for tourism and circuses.
It explains about the elephant tourism industry, which mistreats these animals, and how elephants NEVER forget about anything. The ENP helps rehabilitate these animals (although they shall never forget what happened to them), they still try to help, and give the elephants the life they deserve which is in better conditions to live in (also meaning living in a herd) and also given better and more food, the food they need.
At the ENP, you can get up close and personal with these great animals, helping to rehabilitate them and you also get to learn about this precious species, learning about their natural behaviours and how spectacular they actually are.
By helping out at this facility in Thailand you get to interact with these amazing animals and your money will be going towards the cost of feeding and caring for these animals, and also towards expanding the size of the sanctuary.
So if anyone ever comes across being in Thailand, please don't go towards the tourism elephant trekking or anything else to do with elephant tourism (due to what is stated in the article) and I sure do hope you visit this sanctuary instead, either on a day trip or for volunteering for a week. This will certainly be of help to the sanctuary and also it will give you a once in a lifetime chance to get up close and personal with these animals.
I myself sure will definately try to volunteer for a week when I get the chance of course, as I feel this will also work towards my work experience to put on my CV/Resume and of course as stated above it will be a once in a lifetime experience for me to encounter.
