Tourists in fact guilty of killing Thai elephants
Have you ever ridden such a pachyderm in a Thai elephant camp? Never wondered where the animal came from? Of course not, because you're up holiday.
According to Dutchman Edwin Wiek, a tireless fighter against the illegal trade in animals Thailand, poachers shoot elephants almost weekly to trade their young on the black market. To then sell it to elephant camps.
In an article in the English-language daily newspaper The Nation, Wiek, who is also the founder of the Wildlife Rescue Center near Petchaburi, explains that tourists are actually responsible for the deaths of elephants in national parks such as Kaeng Krachan and Kui Buri. At least six carcasses of shot animals have been found there in recent weeks.
Elephant camps in Thailand are severely lacking young animals that they can train to carry tourists on their backs. In captivity, too few elephants are born to meet the demand. An elephant between two and four years old usually fetch 900.000 THB. Poachers shoot the accompanying and protective older animals in a national park and take the calf to a place where an intermediary pays 300.000 THB (over 7000 euros) for the young animal. This is then trained with the help of torture. The calf is coupled to an older mother animal, which officially passes for the biological mother of the poached calf.
According to Wiek, this involves an estimated 100 elephant calves each year. Usually more than 300 older animals in the national parks die for this. Please note: Thailand only has 2500 wild elephants. The Dutchman argues that influential politicians, business people and police officers are behind the trade, which means that it can take place almost unhindered.
Wiek challenges the Thai government to subject young elephants in the camps to DNA testing. According to him, it turns out that more than half of the calves come from the wild. In that context, Wiek cites the elephant camps in Ayutthaya, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket as the main culprits. Wiek considers it a shame that the Thai national icon is being destroyed in this illegal way out of pure financial gain.
I completely agree with this, you shouldn't even look at those young elephants in Thailand, no photo or feeding, just keep walking. Then maybe the Thais will stop here to torment those animals.
On the other hand, there are more and more palm oil plantations in Asia and huge areas of jungle are being cut down for this. That oil goes to Europe and in our diesel tank to be able to stand in traffic jams. There is less and less space for herds of wild elephants, causing them to leave their areas and cause a nuisance.
@ Nok. How did you get the information that the palm oil is going to Europe? The 2 largest buyers are in Asia itself! 1/3 of the oil is used for cooking, for example. How about soap, shampoo, make up, green energy? The largest buyer in Europe is our own little frog country. Less than 2% is used for transport, so the combination of diesel with Europe is very short-sighted.
Read for yourself: http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2011/12/19/importheffingen-voor-duurzame-palmolie-afschaffen.html
Well, that Wiek no longer needs to count on a new tourist visa!
Anyway, when I read The Nation I also thought “And where do all those elephants in the theme parks come from?”
Unfortunately for the elephants, nothing will change.
Edwin Wiek has been in Thailand since 1991, so I don't think he has a tourist visa….
For those who are interested, take a look at the work that Edwin does. It is located about 10 km from Cha-am (check the internet for the correct location) and has a beautiful and educational park. Has also written some nice (school) books that are available in the park. Entrance is free, but donations are welcome.
This definitely needs more attention. I have been to the Elephant Nature Park during my holiday. Here they catch the elephants whose will has been broken years ago. Terrible when you see the images, how this happens!
I would like to refer everyone to the following site:
http://elephantnaturepark.org/herd/index.htm
The Thai people close their eyes. They don't want to know about this. Sad.
Renate, I don't think that's true. The elephant nature park is a good thing. But when I wanted to visit and went to ChiangMai office with my wife, my wife thanked me for it. There was no way I could take her. And do you know why not?? According to her, it is impossible for a Thai to say that he takes care of the animals and also has his own travel agency to be the only one to go to that park. You can't worry and take advantage. I think that's the biggest reason the Thai is failing, besides the cost.
Ruud,
Your wife is absolutely right. The co-founder, K Noi, of the Elephnat Nature Park also owns several regular elephant camps where old-fashioned riding on the back is done and tricks are performed. Extremely hypocritical, but luckily money doesn't stink and the ENP is a gold mine.
Can someone explain to me why tourists are in fact guilty of this illegal trade? Those influential politicians, business people and police are therefore not to blame, although the story correctly concludes that that is where the sore spot is.
In that case, couldn't the title of the story be a little less roaring and a little less Telegraaf-style
As far as I know, there is no tourist who, when booking a holiday to Thailand, insists that an elephant ride must be made. If all elephants live in the wild or in parks and an elephant ride is no longer possible for tourists, the number of tourists will certainly not decrease.
Kudos to Edwin Wiek, by the way, but I fear that he is fighting against game mills like Don Quixote. .
That is easy to explain. As long as the Thai earn money by taking a picture with tourists, selling sugar cane expensive for the elephant, letting children sit on it, etc., it will continue.
If the tourists all say ohhh what a sad little elephant in Pattaya (or Samui or wherever) and then just keep walking, the Thai will quickly get tired of it.
In India I have seen how they are taught something and how much pain they are in, how they were attacked with a kind of axe, terribly poor animals. Do not close your eyes and never ride on their back. The elephant will take you be grateful