Today an article that will be in the June issue of National Geographic was plastered in many of my social media feeds and left my heart sink.

The dark side of animal tourism and one of the main points was the abuse of elephants for the tourism industry.

A picture of four year old Gluay Hom, chained and with a bloody wound on his head brought many questions to the author of the article and National Geographic itself: Why didn’t you save him?

As an elephant advocate and someone who has first hand experienced time with elephants, a task like this is nearly impossible.

To assume that a group of foreigners can take an elephant from its owner is the wish we all hold tight.  Elephant camps and untrue sanctuaries do not want you to see images like this, and why… Money.

How many people in their lifetime has dreamed of riding an elephant, or seeing them perform.  I say this, because I too fell under the spell. My dream was to visit Thailand and ride an elephant.  When the time came and she looked up at me with sorrowful eyes, I knew this was wrong.

After this, I vowed to make a difference and two years later I did.

If you don’t like the images of elephants being abused for the benefit of tourists, take this fire inside of you and share awareness, encourage others to support true and ethical sanctuaries.  This is the way to create change and save these elephants from a lifetime of cruelty.