And then an elephant came…

A century ago, when Thailand was still 75 percent covered by forests, the country had more than XNUMX elephants.

Urbanization, roads and railways, agricultural lands, golf courses, industrial estates, holiday parks have since significantly reduced elephant habitat. Ten years ago there were still two thousand, at least wild elephants, and now the number is estimated at three thousand plus four thousand domesticated jumbos.

That success, because we can call it that, is due to the establishment of national parks - the first Khao Yai in 1962 - , the ban on logging in 1989 (although illegal logging is still happening, but on a much smaller scale ) and the rigging of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in 1992. Now there are two hundred protected areas across the country.

Admittedly, the area that the rangers have to cover is immense, budgets are limited, hunting poachers is not without risks and the legislation is outdated. But the elephant has benefited despite its misuse as a street beggar and tourist attraction in elephant camps.

The biggest threat to the wild elephant, meanwhile, remains the hunt for ivory and baby elephants, which are sold on the black market. Kaeng Krachan National Park in the southwest has been suffering some carnage for some time due to a lack of control and law enforcement. The number of elephants has therefore declined, but they may also have migrated to Kui Buri National Park further south. The situation there is not much better because in the past 5 to 10 years the number of elephants has decreased by 100 percent.

Another danger looms in the Khao Ang Rue Nai Game Reserve in eastern Thailand. About 170 elephants live there. The road through the park has been widened and provided with a new road surface, making it possible to drive faster. In May 2002 [?] in the evening darkness, a pickup truck collided with a 5-year-old elephant. The animal did not survive; neither does the driver. The elephant was not the first road victim, nor the last. In the end, the authorities decided to close the road from 21 to 5 a.m. and since then the number of accidents has dropped drastically.

There are even more threats: the construction of pineapple, sugar cane and cassava plantations. Where elephants used to live, villages came. The villagers expect the elephants to dissolve in the forest, which of course they don't. Moreover, the jumbos like the tasty snacks that the villagers grow.

There have already been conflicts. The villagers poison elephants' waterholes, plant spiked sticks, shoot them, or electrocute them. Occasionally there are casualties among the villagers.

Finally, one bright spot: the street elephant is forbidden in Bangkok, but I myself have seen them in Rangsit, which is just outside Bangkok. Elephants used to be indispensable in waging wars. They are a national symbol of pride and joy, according to L. Bruce Kekule Bangkok Post. Would it?

Photos: Tourists come face to face with a male elephant in Khao Yai National Park.

(Source: Bangkok Post, July 31, 2013)