for all you elephant lovers - lets take a look at them elephants over here in pai. if you do not like this animal - skip this page right here.
Well i do not know if that is good or bad for the animal to keep it that way. for me that is bad.
lets look on the facts: 100 years ago there were at least 100000 elephants in thailand. in the good old times they where uses as warriors and workers. the teakwood timbering industry dependes on them to get the logs out of the mountains. in 1989 the worst flood in thai history caused the death of thousands of people. the flood was the result of excessive timber harvesting. in reaction the governmment outlawed timbering. (what they do now is burning the forest - well it was a wild fire and now the forest is destroyed - so i can farm there? And for the rest of the wood - they clearcut in laos and have contracts with myanmar to build roads inside the country to get the wood out... so much for conserving nature!)
this left over 3000 domesticated elephants with no means of supporting themself. mind you that the average elephant eats 150 kg a day! a elephant has a mahout and they depend on each other. so they can continue illegal loggin in the northern thai-myanmar border regions. a lot of elephants get insured and killed by the mines there and are fed with drugs to work harder. or they set them free in the wild - that means a death sentence for them. there is no more "wild" left and the are domesticated elephants which could no more surfvive than a domesticated poodle.
that leaves the camps with the tourist industry - which is fine for me for the old ones but who need new elephants there?? hmmmm - how do you thing the thais make the, into riding horses? does not have to be the way all the times but have a look over here be sure to watch the video! navigation is a bit bad on that site - but read on down there at "Phaajaan - A Cruel Tradition".
to end this paragraph: why has a mahout usually a stick with a sharp claw on it? and why has a elephant usually a open wound behind the ear where it hurts a lot?
mind you - i have no idea if this is what happens to this ones as well!
looks like they are crazy for bananas - if you go next time - bring them some!
