How To Not Crush Your Soul On An Elephant [Season 1, Episode 29] - a podcast by Sheila Dee & Evo Terra - Third World Survivors
from 2015-07-28T18:00
Full Show Script
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EVO: If Phuket has a ubiquitous tourist attraction, it's elephant trekking. Billboards, in-hotel pamphlets, official-looking street signs... the message is clear. No trip to Phuket is complete without an elephant encounter.
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SHE: Rides on the backs of these majestic giants are offered by tour operators large and small, typically with elephants on display right next to the road. And typically with several tour vans offloading eager participants, ready for a slow, plodding journey up the side of hill under elephant-power.
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EVO: That's exactly what we found as we were scootering our way up to The Big Buddha statue (and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like). We stopped, took some pictures, even shot a video with the elephants ... and then felt kinda bad about it. We, unlike most people, are aware of the controversy surrounding elephant tourism.
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SHE: But LIKE most people, we didn't know all that much about the problem. However, this was an opportunity for us to dig a little by asking questions. It seems the responsible thing to do, right?
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SHE: ... And then she walked off to get yet another person. But I get it. I don't speak any Thai beyond "hello" and "thank you", so I was happy to wait patiently.
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SHE: So... that wasn't a very big area. But it's on the side of the big hill, so maybe it was bigger than it looked. No one was offering me a chance to examine the enclosure (and seriously, I don't know what I should be looking for), so I decided to change questions.
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SHE: Wow. Eight hours? That seems like a lot. At another elephant trekking place down the road (like we said, there are lots of them in Phuket), I got some clarification on that:
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EVO: Let me do the math on that for you. Each trek up and down the hillside takes about an hour, including prep and slow transit time. That's 3-4 hours -- up to 10 hours -- the elephant is working. That doesn't sound too bad... except for two...
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