Elephants used in logging operations in Southeast Asia face significant welfare challenges from harsh training, overwork, and inadequate rest and veterinary care.
Working elephants in logging operations face welfare harms that begin with capture and training. Traditional breaking methods use physical restraint and pain to suppress natural behavior and create compliance. Once working, elephants are typically used well beyond their physical capacity and in conditions that neglect their nutritional and social needs. The combination of initial trauma from training and chronic working conditions causes lasting behavioral and physiological effects. Better-managed programs exist and demonstrate that working elephants can be used with genuine welfare consideration, but these represent exceptions rather than the norm.