Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has recorded a sharp decline in international visitors, and that is why hundreds of elephants kept for tourism purposes have been released to the natural environment. .
Many elephant camps in Thailand were once the top destination for international tourists, but are now forced to close or scale down due to the March 2020 ban. return to their original habitat.
An estimated 3,800 house elephants have been moved out of the tourist spots scattered in Surin province (southeastern Thailand) to the coastal towns of Pattaya or Phuket and the mountains around Chiang Mai.
Several individuals were brought back to Huay Pakkot, a village 180 km southeast of Chiang Mai city where the Karen ethnic minorities have traditionally raised elephants for generations.
A bishop is looking for 4 old elephants. Older males can become aggressive and even kill their offspring. Photo: Nikkei Asia
“After two days, the elephants are gradually adapting to new habitats,” said Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Association.
Huay Pakkot and several surrounding villages used to be the largest concentration of elephants in Northern Thailand. Here, elephants are used in the logging industry. After Thailand’s ban on logging in 1989, elephants and mahout left and joined the tourism industry that grew “like mushrooms after rain”.
“The elephants have been returned home, where they were born, but that place is not the same place anymore,” Mr. Theerapat said.
Bishop Pongkavi Kwansaodaeng hugs Dumbo (5 years old), one of his four elephants. Image:
Nikkei Asia
The once fertile forests, where elephants could roam around and find plentiful food, have “disappeared”, replaced by bare slopes planted with corn for fodder. . The amount of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers used are now in the soil and will most likely cause the elephant’s death.
“Elephants now have to share their living space with modern agriculture,” said Satit Trachookwamdee, a man who used to raise five elephants. “The natural forests now meet only 10% of the elephant herd’s daily diet. The rest must be shipped from remote towns, which are very expensive.”
An elephant can consume up to 300kg of fodder per day, most of the house elephants are now chained to prevent them from destroying crops, and to prevent unknown elephants from colliding with each other.
“This is like gathering aggressive kids in a nursery,” said Theerapat.
If you lose your elephant, the consequences are very unpredictable. An 8-year-old female elephant named Nana suffered chemical burns on her tongue and palate after eating food containing herbicides.
The elephants were fed corn, a food source not available at Huay Pakkot. Photo: Nikkei Asia
In order to promptly cure dangerous cases, Chiang Mai University collaborated with the Thai Elephant Association and the government to create a mobile multi-purpose clinic: a truck that can be converted in minutes into a field clinic, or used to transport severe cases to one of Thailand’s four elephant hospitals.
However, getting the health force to reach remote areas may still take days. This is considered one of the limitations of elephant farming in rural areas instead of in tourist sites where care services are available.
In these villages, the majority of people often live in poverty, lacking the necessary resources to sustain these “giant” animals.
“I prefer to live here. It’s much more free here,” said Pongkavi Kwansaodaeng as he stroked Dumbo, one of his four elephants. “The elephants are happier here too. You can see it through their eyes and expressions. Here they have more time to mingle with nature.”
However, Pongkavi also admits that this paradise life may not last long. Before the pandemic broke out, Pongkavi worked in a tourist area and could earn 24,000 Baht (more than 17 million VND) in rent for an elephant a month.
Most of the money he saves is used to buy elephant food. But it is likely that this amount will be depleted in less than a year, although there are many opinions that Thailand will reopen international visitors in October to help revive the country’s tourism industry.
Theerapat, owner of Patara elephant farm near Chiang Mai city, said it currently receives only about 10 visitors a week, compared with 45 times per day before the pandemic. Despite being prized for how to raise and breed elephants, his farm is currently struggling to keep the remaining 40 elephants, compared with 81 pre-pandemic herds.
This elephant rancher had to use up his savings, borrow money, sell property and vehicles to continue his business. “During my heyday, I used to drive a modern sports car. Right now, I can only afford a 40-year old Range Rover,” Theerapat said.
Elephant tourism previously brought Thailand nearly 6 billion Baht per year, although difficulties still surround, but Mr. Theerapat believes that this is also an opportunity for elephant tourism to create some new reforms.
“We should not think of elephant tourism as a business, but see this as a way to help preserve and conserve this species. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an appropriate standard for the industry. This “, Mr. Theerapat stressed.
In its early days, elephant tourism was often “Disneylanded” with elephants kicking soccer balls, playing basketball, and performing circus-like games to attract tourists. Many farms also train elephants to learn to draw or play musical instruments. Several farms have been accused of exploiting elephant labor.
In response to criticism and calls for boycotts from animalists at home and abroad, some farm owners prevented visitors from riding elephants, restricting visitors from participating in activities such as elephant feeding. and shower.
But according to Mr. Theerapat, this is a misconception. Elephant riding is seen as daily exercise for this species, if this activity is not maintained, it is easy to cause overweight for elephants, or cause them to digestive problems and make them worse. Females become difficult to give birth, even die during childbirth.
Theerapat said that the elephant tourism industry is a solution to help prevent the extinction of the elephant population in Thailand, which owns the second largest number of elephants in Asia after Myanmar.
Releasing large numbers of elephants to no longer invested or relatively sensitive natural areas in Thailand would be difficult. Although they are able to return to the place where they were born, when falling into unemployment and lack of caregivers, house elephants find it difficult to survive on their own.
“Before, there were some people who wanted to quit elephant tourism. Now, maybe they have achieved their wish. But then what?”, Shrugged Mr. Theerapat. “Who will be responsible for the future of these elephants?”
Sapphire
According to Nikkei Asia
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