Are Sanctuaries Really The Best Place for Elephants?

A wildlife sanctuary does not mean the absence of stress or triggers. It also does not mean the absence of control or rules. Unfortunately, when sanctuaries are viewed with this expectation, they are often flooded with criticism and bad feedback. Why? Because most criticism comes from the ideology that sanctuaries should be the perfect environment for elephants, and while sanctuaries are usually the best case, they are not perfect and they never will be.

When we attach our standards for supporting a sanctuary to the expectation that they must be perfect, we discount the fact that perfection is an unobtainable goal when it comes to managing captive wildlife… here’s why.

© Danielle Carnahan

Oftentimes when thinking about the trauma wildlife experience in captivity, the brain goes directly to extremely exploitative or abusive environments… Sea World, animal testing facilities, elephant riding camps, cub petting operations, forced breeding centers, and the list goes on. All of these are extremely stressful and trauma-inducing environments; however, in rescuing animals from these traumatic situations, we are often just putting them right back into a new captive environment with different stressors. Therefore, change in that animal can be slow and often invisible to those not working with the animal everyday.

This is because a change of environment takes away one source of trauma, but can often introduce a new one. So while it is true that sanctuaries are usually a place where animals can heal from some of the trauma they’ve endured, they are still a place of confinement. And at the end of the day, a completely stress/trauma-free captive environment does not exist for a wild animal.

The point here is not to label any one management system as good or bad, black or white, but instead to look deeper into the gray areas we often disregard so we can come to terms with the fact that in our culture of traumatizing animals, we have not been left with an option of obtaining “perfect”.

Why Should Elephants be in Sanctuaries?

Sanctuaries can offer a place for elephants (and all other captive wildlife) to experience more freedom and autonomy than they’ve had in previous management styles. Whether the redeeming factor for the individual is the ability to freely roam a bit more, the access to more food, or the freedom from painful training methods… sanctuaries offer a chance for the animal to take back its life in small ways.

However, something that is important to be addressed is the fact that captivity of any form should not be glorified, because it is not natural. In a perfect world, sanctuaries would not have to exist; because of that, we should not see sanctuaries as the highest standard of living for elephants, they should be seen as the best we can do with the situation we’ve created for captive wildlife.

The Concept of “Retraumatization”

Although it’s true that elephants and all other captive wildlife are best off in an ethical sanctuary environment, we often do not talk about retraumatization. It can be seen in many situations… an elephant is being moved from a more stressful environment to a sanctuary and upon arrival their stress behaviors (such as swaying back and forth or increased aggression) start getting worse. From the outside looking in, it can feel confusing as to why this animal would be reacting so badly to the new environment… this could lead one to believe that maybe the sanctuary isn’t as good as they originally thought it was.

However, this is not the case. Regardless of if we humans see the new environment as “better”, it is still a huge change. Even if their old home was exploitative or abusive, it was consistent. Being moved somewhere with new sounds, smells, people, surroundings, and expectations can bring up a ton of stress! When we project our reasoning onto animals that don’t understand our intent to help, we overlook how they are experiencing the world. By staying in this narrow mindset, we are unable to truly understand the trauma or stress experienced by captive wildlife.

Real Life Example

A great example of this is the taboo subject of chain use in captive elephant care. If you want a full explanation of this topic from my perspective, check out The Gray Area of Elephant Tourism. The important takeaway here is that we need to make distinctions between what we are doing to please the human eye and what we’re doing to benefit elephant welfare. If an elephant has been on a chain for nearly its entire life then comes to a sanctuary and on the first day the chain is removed with the expectation that the elephant won’t feel any stress, there is an inability for that sanctuary’s staff to step out of their human perspective of the issue and see the situation through the elephant’s eyes. This is an example of how retraumatization can occur even with the best of intentions.

© Danielle Carnahan

While there is no doubt that being chain-free is ideal, jumping straight into no chain is skipping quite a few steps that would make the process more seamless. By failing to see these necessary steps, it begs the question… is this being done just to say the elephant is chain free/to attract more sanctuary guests/to be seen as “ethical”? Or is it being done because that’s what the elephant is ready for?

By enforcing change so quickly when it could otherwise be taken at the elephant’s pace, we are overlooking what best benefits welfare and instead are working from our own discomfort of seeing a chain around an elephants foot. A quote that I feel sums this concept up very well is from a research paper I read while in graduate school…

Treatments deriving from the same culture responsible for traumatizing *elephants are logically suspect and raise the question whether a treatment accommodates the elephant or humans and their institution. The fact that animal wellbeing has been scientifically and legally defined by human values compels this question.

- Dr. Gay Bradshaw *quote originally about chimpanzees

All this to say, the human intention needs to be evaluated often and consistently if we want the focus to remain on elephants and off of human desire. When we cannot get on the animals level of thinking, we are more likely to cause more trauma to surface in them.

What is the Optimal Captive Environment for Elephants?

© Danielle Carnahan

The non-answer here is… there is no “optimal” captive environment for a wild animal. For sentient beings like elephants, there is no captive environment that is free of human interaction, barriers (both physical and mental), training, and control. These things are necessary as they maintain structure and safety within the captive environment, but when we speak from an elephants point of view, the only optimal place for them is in the wild.

The more realistic and helpful answer is, sanctuaries and other ethically managed facilities that prioritize the autonomy and welfare of elephant are the best captive environment for elephants. However, just because it’s the best option, does not make it an option free of downfalls.

The purpose of sharing this, as well as last weeks article, is to communicate how important it is for all tourists and consumers to be aware of the complexities of the elephant psyche and the management of captive wildlife. The consumer perspective is a huge influencer for sanctuaries and other captive facilities as it makes the difference between having funding or not! Because of this influence, a sanctuary may, for example, push a rescued elephant to get off a chain faster because they’re afraid of the information tourists will spread about them if they see a chain around their elephant’s foot. This is understandable as it could majorly impact the amount of support the facility receives and impact their reputation if framed the wrong way! But, it can also bring more trauma to the elephant.

Alternatively, if tourists are aware that the process is not black and white, an elephant’s healing is not linear, and what works for one won’t always work for another, they are empowered to instead ask questions and gather facts that will further advance the knowledge they have about each individual elephant’s journey! This enables the consumer to do their part in preventing continued trauma in the sanctuary elephants they’re visiting.

So when viewing captive elephants at a sanctuary, don’t be quick to write the facility off if you see an elephant with stress behaviors, a chain around their ankle, or a mahout on their back. Instead, take the time to ask where the elephant came from, the trauma they’ve dealt with in the past, how they’ve improved since coming to the facility, and what the sanctuary plans for that elephant going forward. You should always feel comfortable asking questions knowing that any facility that is working for wildlife will be transparent about their practices.

There are many things an ethically managed facility can do to improve the psychological health of elephants, but there will also be things they (maybe unknowingly) do that aren’t good for the mental health of their elephants too! Elephant minds, much like ours, are complex and there is yet to be a perfect solution for captive care because there is still much we don’t know.

Therefore, there will be triggers, there will be past trauma manifesting into abnormal behaviors, there will be mahouts riding elephants, there will sometimes be chain use, there will be all these things, but there will also be progress.

So please remember that no system is perfect. No system is free of stress or trauma. We must remember that there is no “gold standard” there is only “better”, and only then can we release the unobtainable expectations we hold sanctuaries to.