The Elephant Problem in Thailand

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There is a growing problem with wild elephants in Thailand. Quite simply there are too many elephants and too little space. There is nowhere for them to go.

There are estimated to be around three thousand elephants in the wild today (some say five thousand) and there may be upwards of three hundred in captivity in the various captive sanctuaries, zoos and trekking centres. The animals are breeding well wherever they are.

Recently the worlds attention was drawn to the animals living the Kang Ang Rue Nai national park  (see Too Many Elephants) where it was shown that there was as many as 272 elephants living in space that can only comfortably support between 160 and 190 animals. This is a dramatic increase in numbers as research in 2002 showed that there were then only 136 animals there.

Even this current environment is far from suitable. Research has shown that Asian elephants do best in a mix of 60% forest and 40% grassland. The Kang Ang Rue Nai national park only has less than 2% grassland!

So now, today, there is around 100 animals too many. There are around 20 births here each year. This vastly exceeds the death rate and with twenty births per year that means that there are around 40 cows pregnant right now. The numbers are going to rise.

Elephant versus Man conflicts are on the rise and they will continue. Some of these animals have been known to travel as far as 180 kilometres from home. Accidents and conflicts are inevitable. These are large wild animals and are sometimes desperate for food.

One of the measures taken was to dig a ditch three metres wide, 2.5 metres deep and 184 kilometres long in an attempt to divide people and elephants, but whereas people know that they should not cross over to the other side, the elephants do not and elephants do. Any zookeeper who has worked with elephants confined in moated enclosures can tell you tales of the climbing and clambering feats these huge creatures are capable of.

The elephant problem is not confined to Kang Ang Rue Nai. Confrontations have recently taken place on the outskirts of fifteen different forests in eleven Thai provinces.
The Salak Phra Wildlife Sanctuary is another place where there are just too many animals for the food source available.

Amongst the solutions of ditches, electric fences and fireworks there are plans for 'wildlife corridors'. These have been shown to be successful for many species and allow isolated populations to link up with greater ease. In the case of the elephants though, this is not really the problem. The problem is too many animals in a steadily growing population competing with man in very limited space. Corridors will need to link to suitable elephant habitat where there are currently no animals living.

There is no 'quick fix' here. Sterilisation has been suggested and should be given some consideration as awkward and as difficult as it may be to carry out.



Read More About Elephants:

Elephant Care

Anne The Elephant

Elephant Aphrodisiac

King Kong versus the Elephant

National Thai Elephant Day

Royal Elephant National Museum in Bangkok Thailand

The Elephant Of Tregaron

Ankus

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Too Many Elephants

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 Too Many Elephants

Seeing elephants on the streets in Thailand used to be very common. They would wander around the bars at night collecting coins or people would pay a few baht to feed them with sugar cane. Others would pay to crawl under the elephant for luck, especially on a birthday. One wonders where they all went to.

Elephants are still there in the numerous places which do trekking and shows, and the so called 'sanctuaries' which do much the same thing. All of these places are breeding elephants and, being long lived animals, there is a worrying problem emerging. Just where are they all going to go?

There are already too many elephants in some of the national parks. Space is at a premium. It is estimated that the Kang Ang Rue Nai national park can comfortably support a population of around 190 animals. Unfortunately the numbers there are now somewhere between 250 and 270 elephants. There is not enough space or food to go round.

Animals are now coming out of the forest and raiding the surrounding farms. A few more wiley groups are hijacking trucks loaded with sugarcane or cassava. The authorities have now prohibited nightime travel and use of the roads in the area to prevent elephant attack.

What is the solution? Contraception, culling, relocation. Whatever... this is an elephant sized problem which is not going to go away in a hurry.


Read more about elephants:

Elephant Care

Ankus

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Status of Elephants in Thailand

The other day I posted up a short piece on a Tightrope Walking Elephant at Safari World in Bangkok. Today it is the status of wild elephants I draw your attention. Taken from an excellent article in Today's Bangkok Post:

FALLEN GIANT: This male elephant was killed by poachers who were then surprised by rangers in Kui Buri National Park. PHOTO: DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL PARKS, WILDLIFE AND PLANT CONSERVATION


Cruel trade brings slaughter to the deep forestThe continuing demand for ivory worldwide is a major contributor to the perilous decline of the noble and once thriving Asian elephant

Late last month a male elephant was shot dead in Kui Buri National Park in Prachuab Khiri Khan province. The poachers chopped the elephant's face and trunk to pieces in an attempt to remove his tusks. They failed, however, because park rangers arrived at the scene soon after hearing the gun blast and arrested one suspect. It is believed that the poaching incident was ordered by another party.


A month earlier in nearby Keang Krachan National Park in Petchaburi province, another bull elephant was shot dead and similarly mutilated. The poachers were successful in removing the valuable tusks.

Two years ago a similar incident sparked a conflict between conservationists and park officials when a male elephant in Tap Lan National Park in Prachin Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces was killed and its tusks were removed and allegedly sent to an ''influential'' Bangkokian. Some witnesses claim that park workers and even a local monk took part in the slaughter.

Since wild elephants live in the deep forest it is hard to quantify the actual number lost in such criminal acts, which are publicly reported only when the carcasses are discovered by villagers or forest rangers. The three incidents above took place inside national parks which are monitored by wildlife rangers. It's not known how frequently such scenes are played out in unmonitored forests, along the nation's borders, or inside neighbouring countries.

What is known is that Asian elephants are becoming a seriously endangered species in environments where the mighty beasts were once plentiful.

Sompoad Srikosamatara, an assistant professor at Mahidol University who has studied Asian elephants and the ivory trade, said that in Thailand there are an estimated 1,600 elephants left, and in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam their number has decrease to around 1,500. He said that 53 elephants were known to have been killed in Thailand in the wild from 1992 to 1997, 24 for their tusks.

Mattana Srikrachangan, a National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (NPD) elephant researcher, said ivory hunters are not the only threat wild elephants face from humans in Kui Buri National Park.

The wildlife scientist said some of the park's jumbos had been poisoned to death to keep them out of pineapple farms surrounding the park.

''Four were killed in 1997 and 1998 when the price of pineapples was high. Another two were killed in 2003 and one in 2008,'' she said, adding that those killed were females and males without tusks.

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Elephants And Floods

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Those of you who look further than local news may be aware that large parts of Thailand are presently under water because of flooding. Other places are threatened. The Philippines has just had a close call with a mega typhoon Megi which destroyed 600.000 tons of rice. Indonesia faces a rice shortage. The typhoon is now headed for China. Meanwhile things on the other side of the world look to be getting a whole lot wetter too.

There follows a message from Ewa and Michelle of Elephantstay in Thailand

We are in disaster mode, the flooding has meant evacuation of us all as well as the elephants. Have spent the last three days wading through rising water carting stuff into the huts, hopefully the water wont get higher than in 2006. when the water came to just a couple of inches short of the floor of the huts. We have been working until mentally and physically exhausted. The mothers and babies are in the Kraal, some of the dangerous elephants are up near the Kraal, the water hasn't reached to the road yet. The other elephants are about a mile down the road, where they went in 2006.


Michelle and I are lucky as our wonderful friend, Wimon, who has the driving business, has generously let us stay in her home stay. That is Michelle and I, Paul, (our expat volunteer who lives at the Kraal) our two dogs, Buddy and Little Girl, (Buddy has been a problem as he is getting old and feeble and we are on the second floor and his bladder is not working too well), Munchie the cat, Boonlua the monkey who did not want to come, so we had a bit of fight getting him into the cage we bought for his temporary stay outside and so I have to spend time holding his little hand for comfort, Stripe his rabbit, and the bird, Rosalie One Wing, so all in all it was quite the evacuation just for us, let alone for Pi Om, where sand bagging his house gave him a couple of days to try and get his stuff out of the house. They ended up knocking out a wall at the back to remove stuff and get it into his new house, which was still not finished. So he has had his plate full with supervising and coordinating all the elephants, people and all. A very stressful time for all. On top of that we have already had to turn away a number of people, over 300,000 baht so far, so it has been devastating on all fronts. Last time we were out for 34 days, this time we are praying it wont be for so long. As soon as things are settled and everyone is relocated, we are going to try and run the program in a modified form as we cant afford to keep sending away people and losing out on so much income.




Pi Om mentioned he was going to take Boon Seuhm, Natalie, Plai KonKha and some other killer elephants to Bangkok to see the Prime Minister, as this state of affairs is unacceptable. What the government and so many people don't seem to realise, is Pi Om could easily sell all his problem elephants and just keep the ones that are easy and make money and then we would not have to worry about a thing, but of course he wont do that. Close to half the elephants don't make any money at all yet they need to be looked after by people who know what they are doing and need to be given a life that is safe and secure and where they will get the care they need and deserve.




So pray for us if you can as we need all the help we can get.

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Elephants to Osaka?

Osaka Zoo wants to raise two Thai elephants
Bangkok Post - Published: 13/09/2009 at 12:00 AM

Bangkok and Tokyo will hold talks over a plan to send a pair of Thai elephants to a state zoo in Osaka, Industry Minister Charnchai Chairungruang said yesterday.

The minister, who is in Japan to promote trade cooperation, said the jumbos would be a "present to mark close trade ties between the two countries".

Japan had expressed strong interest in raising a pair of Thai elephants at its zoo in Osaka, which already has one Thai jumbo, Mr Charnchai said ahead of a meeting with the Japanese environment minister.

"Japan has been asking for the past six years if it can look after a pair of jumbos, but the Thai government has yet to reply," the minister told the Bangkok Post via telephone from Japan.
"Giving the elephants to an important trading partner such as Japan will be a good way to strengthen economic cooperation," Mr Charnchai said, adding he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti upon his return.

Animal rights groups and environmentalists say sending the elephants to Japan would send a wrong signal that Thailand supports trade in endangered wildlife.

Soraida Salwala, founder of the Bangkok-based Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation, urged the minister to scrap the planned jumbo export.

"The government should keep the elephants here, while Tokyo should stop asking for the jumbos," said Ms Soraida.

Thailand had a bad image as one of the world's largest wildlife trade hubs.

Ms Soraida said many countries had asked Thailand to send Asian elephants to their zoos, including the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

Elephants are one of 51 wild animals listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which bans the export and import of listed animals except for educational and conservation purposes. However, some imports and exports of protected wild animals have been conducted under government-to-government animal exchange programmes.

Thailand has sent elephants to countries for educational purposes and to strengthen relations, such as the 2006 elephant-koala swap under which eight elephants were sent to zoos in Australia.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/23766/charnchai-backs-japanese-request-to-raise-two-jumbos-at-osaka-zoo

I really cannot see any problem with this move. It is only the loony rantings of the anti-zoos that present a hurdle. To even suggest that such a move implies "that Thailand supports trade in endangered wildlife" is so ridiculous that it cannot be seriously be taken on board by any rational human being.
It is all about reasoning and being sensible. Believe you me I would be at the very front of the anti's demonstration to protest about any elephant being sent to the Philippines. They do not have a zoo there which could cope nor offer accommodation. Okay Manila Zoo has an elephant but it has truly awful stabling.
Sri-Lanka? Different case altogether. Do they really need an Asian Elephant? Unlike the Philippines I am unaware of the zoo there.
Common sense is all that is needed.
Osaka would certainly provide a good home for two elephants and be good company for the single animal they already hold. Definitely a good move.