Editorial. This week in Bali and the Mason Elephants

Social media is such a hard place. As we all know, anyone can say whatever they want and quickly find supporters, a following, or get totally vilified by the masses, depending on the comment section and responses. One thing I have noticed, though, is that mud sticks, and builds quickly over time if the mud slinging continues. It doesn’t really matter how true, or false the narrative may be, it’s difficult for the person being attacked, or dare we say, cancelled to escape the deluge. It seems if you say anything in your defence the mob will get more riled. If you stay quiet, they will judge you as complicit, or even being arrogant. This is really one of the greatest negatives of the internet age. I’m talking here about the Mason Elephant Park, of course. The place has been taking a hammering on social media from what I would call a concerned, but possibly misinformed, crowd over the past month or two, and I don’t mind saying my two cents worth about it right here – in the hope that the full story can be rationally discussed.

The Elephant Park was first built to protect a small herd of six Sumatran elephants that had already found their way to Bali almost 30 years ago. The man who had brought them to Bali from Sumatra, had got himself into a real pickle not knowing what to do with them after he had got them here. He had bitten off more than he could chew. This is when Nigel and Yanie Mason stepped in and bought the six animals. These were the first rescued elephants housed in the fledgling park. Nigel Mason talks to me about the elephants back in 2020 – click here

The Masons were already involved in adventure tours, rafting, and even the Bali Bird Park at the time, so it made sense to help out and bring all those activities together. These large, stately, but mainly wretched creatures at the time had been mistreated for years in Sumatra and looked like it by the time the Masons came across them that fateful day in 1996. Slowly the animals’ health improved in the park that was created for them north of Ubud. The herd grew to 30 after two more successful rescue trips to Sumatra over the next five years. (You can see one such rescue operation in a video here) Also, much to the pleasure of all involved, new offspring were born in the park over the past 15 years. These animals that were being mistreated for years before coming to Bali had found peace and health in their new habitat.

Now, this question of whether people should be riding elephants, or not, brought up in a recent, but apparently often regurgitated, article on the Peta website, has caused a bit of a stir, but is definitely open to debate. Personally, I would say the elephants look strong enough to carry a human, but I am no ‘expert’ on such things. However, I did come across a well known expert on elephants from the US named Lauryn Murray, who has a few words about it here. Please check out what she says. There are also countless sites stating categorically it is not good to ride elephants, but like everyone involved, at the bottom of the page they are looking for donations, or let’s just say money. You see, there are always different opinions on everything, and that’s all they are, opinions. So, in the end, it’s up to you what you want to believe―do your own research, but remember, they are all just opinions.
Here’s Nigel Mason talking recently about the many claims made by media outlets after the Peta article and what happens at the elephant park today, or at least, until recently.

So, in any case, I have been informed that Mason Elephant Park has decided to drop the elephant rides altogether and created less arduous pursuits, such as walking with guests and other activities. We’re not sure how much the animals will enjoy these new activities, compared to taking a person on a ride around the park. They appeared to enjoy it with vigour, and they also received excellent exercise from the process. According to the park officials, the challenge from now will be keeping the animals fit. The other challenge is for the three hundred or so staff and the local village community that have built their lives around the park. If the cancelling continues, one can only imagine what happens to them and to the elephants.

I recommend the people that have jumped on these social media threads to defend the poor animals, which, of course, is a great ideal, should do their own research, go to Sumatra to check for themselves the natural habitats, or what’s left of them, or at least go to the elephant park to see for themselves the reality of what everyone is talking about. They may well learn something new.