Elephants: The Crush

A baby elephant braces for a hit during a training session in a Karen village in Myanmar. The training session is coined the 'crush' as the goal is to break the elephant's spirit. Wild elephants are typically tied up and beaten for 3 days straight and left to starve. Burmese mahouts near the Thai border operate a clandestine and illegal trade network smuggling elephants into Thailand to be sold to mahouts for the Thai tourism industry. Officials estimate that 1 Burmese elephant is smuggled into Thailand every week.