Dozens of elephants at Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand have been freed from their chains after criticism from charities.<br /><br />The elephant centre was slammed by charities for taking the pachyderms into captivity and making them perform for tourists.<br /><br />One of the complaints targeted metals chains that were fastened around the ankles of the jumbos. <br /><br />But bosses at the camp have now begun to remove the shackles, letting some of its 77 elephants wander around the grounds.<br /><br />Footage filmed on Thursday (January 9) at the elephant centre, also called Pang Chang Mae Sa, shows some of the older creatures walking happily on the grass.<br /><br />Executive officer Anchalee Kalamaphichit said that the new scheme is going well and they plan to remove the chains from all of the elephants in the coming weeks.<br /><br />She said: "The centre has been criticised for a long time about how we chain the animals in here, so we decided to free them.<br /><br />"However, living freely is a new thing to these elephants. They need time to adapt into their new way of living so we chose to start with the eldest and friendliest of the elephants.<br /><br />"We are glad that they appeared to be happier living without chains and their mahouts, so hopefully we can free the rest of them soon."
