expertly-adequate

I travelled south east Asia and in Thailand there were a lot of elephant sanctuaries which allowed tourists to visit. When we arrived there were over 50 people to four elephants and my friends and I immediately felt uncomfortable with how stressed the elephants seemed to be.

What is your honest opinion on this business? Is it a necessary evil to keep these sanctuaries running (they were very anti the riding industry)? How would you recommend ethically seeing elephants?

Edit for grammar