Sangduen "Lek" Chailert plays with ex-working elephants at her rescue centre for domesticated elephants in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on November 19. 2007. Elephant conservationists such as Chailert worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.

Sangduen "Lek" Chailert plays with an ex-working elephant at her rescue centre for domesticated elephants in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on November 19, 2007. Elephant conservationists such as Chailert worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.

Two Asian elephants push their trunks over a stadium barrier and into the crowd at Thailand's largest elephant festival in the northeast town of Surin on November 17, 2007. Elephant conservationists worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.

Sangduen "Lek" Chailert plays with ex-working elephants at her rescue centre for domesticated elephants in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on November 19. 2007. Elephant conservationists such as Chailert worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.

Super strength chains bind the front legs of a bull Asian elephant together to prevent it attacking people while in "musth" at the Surin Elephant Round-up Festival in northeast Thailand November 17, 2007. Musth, a recurring period of heightened aggression, affects all male elephants for several weeks every year. Elephant conservationists worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.

(China Daily via Agencies, December 24, 2007)