A Thai Buddhist monk performs a religious rite blessing elephants and mahouts to mark the National Elephant Day at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal in the world heritage city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, 13 March 2025. The National Elephant Day has been observed annually on 13 March since 1998 when it was established by the Thai government, in an effort to protect and conserve Thai elephants, who are part of the Asian elephant family classified as an endangered species. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Winner, photojournalism. Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia Zoo. Visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners. (Photo by Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A baby elephant struggles to climb out of a dam before being rescued by rangers at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa in the last decade of March 2025, having been pushed into the water by another elephant. (Photo by Anne Laing/Caters News Agency)

An Asian elephant cools off at the zoo during the World Elephant Day in Lodz, central Poland, 12 August 2022. The World Elephant Day is observed every year on August 12. (Photo by Grzegorz Michalowski/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Elephants forage for food at a rubbish dump encroaching on their jungle habitat in Oluvil, Sri Lanka in September 2020. Examination of dead elephants has revealed undigested polythene and other plastic waste. (Photo by Tharmaplan Tilaxan/Cover Images)

An elephant “kisses” a visitor during a show at an elephant training school in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, April 18, 2015. Some 16 elephants live at the school and give four 30-minute performances everyday for visitors. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

A mahout rides on an elephant in the city of Amritsar, India, 08 November 2015. Such elephants are often accompanied by their caretakers who ask for alms from people in the streets. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA)

A mahout leads an elephant calf to the river Tunga for bathing at the Sakrebailu Elephant Camp in Sakrebailu in the southern state of Karnataka, India, November 12, 2016. (Photo by Abhishek N. Chinnappa/Reuters)