EFFECTS OF THE HOWDAH

Howdahs are the large metal or wooden saddles used by many elephant owners. They often come adorned with decorative and regal looking covers but what are they hiding?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEF has been peeking under the covers and have discovered that Howdahs are very bad for the long term health of elephants as they are proven to cause many injuries such as;

Pressure Wounds
Spinal Damage
Belly Abscesses
Rope Sores
Internal Injuries
Dehydration and Starvation

 They will ultimately take years off an animal’s life. Howdahs even cause difficulty in drinking, eating and simple moving or breathing, because of the tight fitting harness, similar to a person wearing a tight corset.

Howdahs are often poorly constructed and the elephants are overloaded and worked for long periods of time, this leads to the frame rubbing their backs, causing blisters, abscesses and open wounds that can become infected. Here at MEF we have treated many elephants suffering with these wounds and injuries.

As a tourist we trust that animals being used for commercial purposes receive the best possible care but as we know this is not always the case. The howdah is often sold as a safety device to reassure riders which while it can be reassuring we believe that as a tourist it is fair and right that you have all information available to you so that you can make informed decisions about animal welfare in tourism.

We hope that by getting up close and personal with these amazing creatures and learning about them in our museum that you will go away with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the elephant and appreciate that we must all do everything that we can to protect and save these magnificent animals. All activities at the MEF are closely supervised to ensure visitor safety and to ensure that no harm or stress is placed on our elephants.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” -Gandhi

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?

YES! Responsible Tourism

Riding bareback or with a slightly padded blanket as we do here at MEF is an obvious, cheap solution to the Howdah issue. Combined with limiting the number of riders at any one time, this will eliminate many of the injuries that elephants working in the tourist industry suffer each year. Simple alternatives such as these will lead to the animal suffering less stress and having a longer, happier life.

The management teams of the organisations using Howdahs are concerned that being able to take fewer people on rides at one time will lead to a dramatic loss of income, like us they have to pay large amounts of money to ‘hire’ the elephants, we hope that by making the elephant owners aware of the problems caused by howdahs they will realise that a healthy elephant will live longer and more income can be generated.

So next time you think about riding an elephant ask yourself…

Whats under the covers?

“May all that have life be delivered from suffering” - Buddha

Here at MEF we have launched a campaign to raise awareness among the elephant owners an would like to see the Howdah banned, starting in Sri Lanka and then hopefully worldwide!

Please join us by following the twitter campaign @MEFLiftTheCover, send in any donations that you can to support us and spread the word via facebook!

This campaign is dedicated to Sumana who we sadly lost in 2011. As seen above she had deep and infected wounds from a Howdah. We miss her terribly and want to stop others suffering as she did.

 

Blanket or bareback

Elephant less stressed

Tourists ride guilt free

Trauma and injuries eliminated

Elephant’s lifespan extended

Resulting in healthier elephants