Management factors affecting physical health and welfare of tourist camp elephants in Thailand

PeerJ

article

Pakkanut Bansiddhi¹  Korakot Nganvongpanit¹  Janine L. Brown³  Veerasak Punyapornwithaya⁴  Pornsawan Pongsopawijit¹  Chatchote Thitaram¹ 

[1] Center of Elephant and Wildlife Research, Chiang Mai University;Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University;Center for Species Survival, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal;Department of Food Animal Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University;Excellent Center of Veterinary Public Health, Chiang Mai University;Department of Companion Animal and Wildlife Clinics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University

关键词: Health;    Welfare;    Management;    Asian elephant;    Thailand;    Elephant camp;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.6756

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Variation in management across elephant camps likely has differential effects on the well-being of elephants. Methods This study calculated body condition, foot health and skin wound scores (WSs) for 122 elephants from 15 elephant camps in Chiang Mai province, and examined relationships to management factors using a multi-variable modeling approach. Results The majority of elephants had high body condition scores (BCS) indicative of being overweight or obese, mild foot problems, but few visible wounds. Females had higher BCSs than males, as did elephants provided a water source at night. Increasing age was associated with higher foot and WSs. Higher WSs were observed in about a quarter of the cases where mahouts carried a hook. Wounds related to saddle riding were rare. Elephants that rested on sand floors at night had a decreased risk of high WSs compared to elephants that rested on compact dirt floors. Discussion Findings emphasize the need for elephant camps to adjust management activities that negatively affect body condition (e.g., feeding too many sweet treats), foot health (e.g., hard substrates) and wounding (e.g., misuse of equipment) to improve health and welfare of this population.

【 授权许可】

CC BY