#Repost @dr.evanantin (@get_repost) ・・・ #WorldElephantDay 🐘 #Thailand #2011 If you have any interest in elephants then please continue reading...I usually keep my posts positive on purpose, but this is something that is too important to me, so apologies for this sad post....but it must be shared. - Did you know that most young Asiatic #elephants in the tourism trade have gone through a process called "phajaan"? Phajaan is a term that means to crush the elephants spirit, or to separate the spirit from the body. As babies, they take them away from their mothers and put them in a tiny cage, big enough only for them to stand but not sit or move around at all. Then they're literally beaten, for days on end, in the most cruel ways possible. - The elephant trunk is so sensitive, and it's how they eat and explore the world. But during phajaan, they'll often be encouraged to stick out their trunks to smell or investigate something, but then their trunks are beaten with bats and spears and whips. The elephants are deprived of food, poked with sticks and blades, kicked, and screamed at. They play terrible mind games with them. It's a truly awful, horrible thing. The idea, in the end, is to crush this animal's spirit so much that they are just an empty shell who will listen to every command...and then they are sold to tour operators for elephant rides and treks and the illegal logging industry. - This individual at @elephantnaturepark barely survived Phajaan and has suffered femoral and hip fractures from abuse and injuries sustained in the illegal logging trade...If you know someone going to #SoutheastAsia soon please share this post and the link in my bio. @thetravelmuse produced this video to represent the horrors of Phajaan and share some of its survivor's stories. #wildlife #saveourelephants #wildvet #wildlifeconservation #conservation #thailand #elephantconservation #elephantnaturepark #asiaticelephant #iloveelephants #wildvet #tusk