Phajaan or “The Crush”
AET: Phajaan – it’s a brutal subject matter. It’s about the barbaric ritual of “crushing” a young elephant’s spirit in order to domesticate it due to the belief that establishing domination through torture is the only way to tame it. It is practiced in the Karen province of Thailand. Every captive elephant one sees in Thailand with the exception of those still living in the wild and born on protected sanctuaries has more than likely gone through it. The ones begging in Bangkok, the ones in trekking camps, breeding camps, tourist camps, and zoos. At least more than half of them have gone through the Phajaan.
The elephant whisperer: A haven for mistreated animals
By Jan McGirk in Mae Ping http://www.independent.co.uk/
December 9, 2005
“Known to everyone as Lek, or “Tiny”, Sangduen Chailert is a diminutive Hill Tribe woman with mammoth plans to look after her country’s declining population of domesticated elephants. Her forthright challenges to elephant owners to behave responsibly have made her something of an endangered species herself: death threats are common when she is out on the road inspecting injured or orphaned animals.
Lek averages just four hours sleep a night, in a hammock, surrounded by 35 neutered feral dogs who warn of any strangers’ approach. She is up against centuries of rural Asian tradition because she insists elephants should no longer be subjected to phajaan. This term, which translates literally as “crush”, is an understatement for a week of elephant abuse and torture. Heated irons and sharpened metal spikes are jabbed continuously into roped juveniles during their first separation from their mothers.
The process is designed to wean them and break their spirit so they can become beasts of burden. Lek has documented scores of these brutal sessions, during which half of the animals die. “Of the survivors, about half will go mad,” she says. “This brutality can make them aggressive and dangerous. I do not believe elephants need to taste pain to learn how to listen.” About 100 elephant trainers are killed every year by their charges.”
Bloggers’ entries on the Phajaan which is also known as “The Crush” – to literally crush an elephant’s spirit.
http://terrencemillie.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!11B4F0B1B9C231DE!940.entry
http://isaanstyle.blogspot.com/2009/04/elephant-cruelty-in-thailand-phajaan.html
Media
Photogallery of the Phajaan on National Geographic News
PETA: Be warned, it’s very graphic.
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