Thai Caregivers’ Perspectives on Relationships with Their Elephants and Tigers

Logging prohibition in Thailand national parks in 1989 ended work for most elephants and mahouts. Animal tourism developed, affording food and husbandry for elephants, and introducing tourism with young tigers. Media and research on wild animals in tourism have explored the animals’ welfare, but not how tourism shifts human-animal relationships and affects the animal caregivers. Caregivers of elephants (n = 55) or tigers (n = 18) in both private and government tourism facilities in four cities were interviewed in Thai concerning how contexts and management styles impact the relationship between captive animals and caregivers. Mahouts working in private facilities used one-to-one management and were younger and more poorly compensated than those working at government-funded tourism facilities. Tiger caregivers in tourism had direct contact with young tigers, with group management; these caregivers also were younger than in government facilities, with fewer benefits. Most mahouts considered their elephants as family members; a slight majority of these mahouts questioned the ethics of this use of elephants. Tiger caregivers classified tigers as family or friend equally often; one-third of all declined answering whether they approved of use of tigers in tourism. While somewhat solving problems, animal tourism also creates some challenges.