She's Not a Bad Elephant. She's Fighting For Her Freedom.
Meet Mae Kam, an elephant who refused to give up even after a lifetime of abuse
Thailand's complex relationship with its elephants
In Thailand, elephants have existed alongside humans for thousands of years. They are deeply respected and revered, often seen as symbols of strength and blessing.
But this respect exists alongside a difficult reality.
Historically, they've been held captive and forced to work for humans - in warfare, in royal ceremonies, put to work in the logging industry and in recent years, tourism.
A life of labour and suffering
This is Mae Kam.
She too, had been a logging elephant her entire life before commercial logging was banned in 1989.
Broken, scarred and depressed from a lifetime of labour, Mae Kam had suffered the unimaginable - including the loss of her babies.
She had delivered a still born calf in her logging days, and lost her second calf to a King Cobra bite.
From logging to tourist camp
With the logging ban, her owner could no longer afford to feed and care for her. So, he rented her out to a tourist camp, where she was forced to carry people on her back.
She couldn’t take it anymore. She started shaking mahouts and tourists off her back.
It was a cry for help. An act of resistance. Mae Kam may not have had a voice, but her spirit and determination spoke volumes.
As a result of her acting out, she was badly beaten in the camp. Her owner had no choice but to bring her home. And for nearly two years, she was chained above her owner’s farm.
A wild idea to retire Mae Kam
That was until conservationists Burm and Emily came along with a wild idea:
What if Mae Kam didn’t have to work anymore? What if she could... Retire?
They were building a truly ethical sanctuary. No riding, no performances. One built on respect.
Her owner agreed to a one year retirement contract. In 2012, after a long 75km journey through the mountains, Mae Kam arrived at Burm and Emily’s Elephant Sanctuary (BEES).
For the first time in her life, Mae Kam got to just be... An elephant. She spent each day foraging in the forest, free from work and abuse.
Mae Kam's breaking point
Her owner was happy with the extra income he was receiving in return for her freedom. He even agreed to resign the camp rental agreement - a big win.
But three years later, he insisted on taking Mae Kam back for a blessing ceremony. Despite being asked not to, he put a trekking basket on her, and climbed to ride her.
Mae Kam immediately shook and threw him off, sending him to the hospital with serious head injuries and broken vertebrae.
Because of this, he no longer wanted to work with elephants - believing that Mae Kam was a bad omen.
But Mae Kam is not a bad elephant.
She remembered the lifetime of pain and suffering, and chose to fight for her freedom.
Her owner gave Burm and Emily one month to get funds, or he would sell Mae Kam back into labour. In an amazing 13 days, friends of BEES from all around the world donated the funds to secure Mae Kam’s freedom, forever.
Happy, flappy and thriving
As of 2026, it's been 13 years since Mae Kam has been living her best life at BEES, with her best friend Mae Dok.
She’s happy, flappy and thriving.
Mae Kam’s story is just one of many in Chiang Mai. If you want to meet her and the other rescue elephants, book this Seek Sophie ethical elephant retreat experience.
Ethical Elephant Experiences in Chiang Mai FAQs
Why can’t I bathe elephants?
Bathing with elephants may look fun on IG, but it’s usually really stressful for elephants. Elephants are wild animals and normally bathe when they want, with their herd. In tourist camps, they may be made to bathe many times a day for different groups of visitors. This is really stressful for them, and it also disrupts their natural grooming behaviours.
Also, elephants are ultimately wild animals. For people to get this close safely, elephants need to be tightly controlled, which often means harsh training behind the scenes. So the “friendly” elephants you see in bathing photos have been abused to tolerate constant human interaction.
Ethical sanctuaries avoid this and simply let elephants bathe naturally when they choose.
How do I know you're not just pretending to be ethical?
Good question, and you shouldn’t just take our word for it either. When wildlife are involved, it’s always worth asking how experiences are checked and verified. In our case, we speak with conservationists on the ground, read deeply into reviews and visit the sanctuaries ourselves. We only list places with strict no touching, no bathing and no direct interaction. And if anything we list ever doesn’t feel right to you, please talk to us about it - ethical wildlife tourism is complicated and we’re always open to learn more!
If I can’t touch or feed the elephants… what do we actually do?
You’ll walk through the forest to where the elephants roam and watch them just be elephants - grazing, splashing in mud! The guides will tell you cute stories about their personalities, like little dramas between them and their favourite snacks. At some sanctuaries you might even help prepare their food (sometimes given through a feeding tube, not by hand).
We promise it's way more fun this way - because you get to see elephants really be themselves, instead of performing for tourists.
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