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Several months every year for a decade I have lived in Southeast Asia, dedicated to mahouts and the elephants in their care, providing elephant pedicures, teaching Compassionate Elephant Care, and constructing chain free corrals to free elephants from chains.

The challenges are great on many levels, resulting from the variables in mahout skills, owners’ willingness to recognize welfare issues, access to proper facilities for foot care and protected contact training, as well as each individual elephant’s personal reaction to her/his expected involvement. Unfortunately, elephants in Asia are managed one way: brutally. Negative reinforcement management is all the mahouts know, all the owners know and the only thing the elephants have experienced. As a result, the elephants and many mahouts are beaten down, unenthusiastic and, in most cases, non-responsive.

While there, I’ve seen a clear indication of the erosion of the country’s mahout culture. Perhaps this is result of the quickly changing landscape, where elephants live outside their natural habitat on city streets, considered a profit-making possession by businessman owners who have little knowledge of elephants. Their care is put in the hands of poorly and even untrained mahouts, many hired with no previous elephant experience. The owner’s motivation of money coupled with the mahouts’ inexperience is a lethal combination for elephants, mahouts and tourists alike.

Even though they claim to have a training tradition, elephant training in many parts of Asia appears to be done in an unstructured and haphazard way. Mahouts yell, wield a heavy stick or nail and hit or stab the elephant simultaneously with giving a verbal command. The elephant is not provided the opportunity to respond before pain is inflicted. This unskilled approach to training actually teaches the elephant to respond only after experiencing pain. This is not training -- it is abuse.

In addition to instructing mahouts on what they should do, I attempt to convey what they should avoid. Much effort is put into explaining learning theory, which unfortunately is difficult because of the language barrier. It is not enough to show the mahout how to train; one must be able to explain why things are done a certain way. Gestures and broken English fail to convey enough in-depth information for the mahouts to truly comprehend the training, especially when the training is counter to their way of thinking.

In the case when a translator can be sourced, much progress can be made. In all cases, the elephant is either fearful, disengaged or aggressive. Experience tells the elephant that when a mahout approaches, pain will follow. The fight or flight response caused by fear switches off cognitive function of the brain. The mahout yells louder in an attempt to intimidate the elephant, which only succeeds in frightening her/him even more. But when the mahout learns to employ a gentler form of training and the elephant realizes that s/he is not going to be hit, goaded, or stabbed, they relax. Over time the elephant begins to respond voluntarily. Positive reinforcement training is the only option for a humane future of Asia’s captive elephants.

Mahouts have a deeply engrained tradition of elephant training. To influence their beliefs takes patience and perseverance. It has been my experience that young mahouts have the interest and desire to further their education, but only after I prove my expertise.

Mahout skills vary from city to city, region to region, and country to country. In some areas the mahouts are receptive, others are bored with their job and disinterested in developing new skills, while others only want to ensure that they don’t have to work overtime. In most situations, the more impoverished the mahout, the more difficult it is to engage him. The common thread that appears to weave through the entire mahout nation is alcohol abuse.

But all is not hopeless, I have been very fortunate to work with many mahouts who demonstrate a sincere desire to better their skills and provide a quality life for the elephants in their care. Over the years I have been fortunate to meet more of these motivated men. Their continued success is key to the welfare of captive elephants. With mahouts are well trained and fairly compensated, elephant abuse can be replaced with a more humane form of elephant management. Education is the key.