A video of an elephant massaging a woman’s back went viral on social media recently with lots of mixed reactions from the public.

The video showed the woman lying on a low bed as the elephant used its trunk and legs to apply pressure on her back.

Though the footage is not new, – it went viral again after it resurfaced on Twitter, once more shining a spotlight on what some people described as “problematic practice.”

According to reports, using trained elephants to massage tourists had long been promoted as a fun activity in Thailand.

While the idea seemed terrifying to some, the elephants were said to have been trained from an early age and several visitors look upon elephant massages as a unique and harmless activity.

But an animal welfare organisation had expressed concerns about the practice because the elephants used for that type of entertainment had to undergo a “cruel training process.”

According to officials baby elephants are separated from their mothers at a very young age and subjected to brutal ‘training’ processes designed to make them submissive to humans.

“This elephant was obviously trained to pamper to amuse humans. I hate this kind of stuff. Elephants are not our servants. This is gross,” a twitter user said.

Nearly all elephants used for tourist entertainment activities like rides and circuses had to be trained to make them obedient.

Training, according to experts, could involve starving the animals, locking them in small cages or inflicting pain with bullhooks.  — ndtv.com