Mahouts appeal for help as "unemployed elephants" on their last legs

[webfact]

Picture: INN

 

INN reported that an online Twitter Space conference call was made between desperate mahouts nationwide and Pheu Thai party representatives yesterday.

 

Deputy spokesman Chanin Rungthanakiat and Surin MP Khunnakorn Preechachanachai heard their grievances via a page called "unemployed elephants".

 

Elephant camps nationwide have suffered greatly from the government's closure orders on tourism during the pandemic.

 

Only skeleton staff remained at some camps to take care of the pachyderms over most of the last two years.

 

But they and their charges are on their last legs and need help from the government with benefit payments to each elephant in order to survive.

 

The elephants and their masters have tried all sorts to raise funds including online appearances on platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

 

But donations are drying up as members of the public have little money left for their cause. 

 

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[ezzra]

Pity those poor mahouts and animals had to get to begging... I would gladly donate to the betterment of those majestic animals and the symbol of the Thailand had they have a proper donations site put in place with the appropriate funds managements...

[Cake Monster]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Elephant camps nationwide have suffered greatly from the government's closure orders on tourism during the pandemic.

And right there is the problem.

The Elephants are in Camps, if they were to be free in the Jungles there would be no issue.

10 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Pity those poor mahouts and animals had to get to begging... I would gladly donate to the betterment of those majestic animals and the symbol of the Thailand had they have a proper donations site put in place with the appropriate funds managements...

Any donations are welcome of course, but I personally am not so sure its spent on Fruit for the beasts.

[Doctor Tom]

13 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Pity those poor mahouts and animals had to get to begging... I would gladly donate to the betterment of those majestic animals and the symbol of the Thailand had they have a proper donations site put in place with the appropriate funds managements...

Elephants are indigenous to Thailand, they can and do live quite happily in the wild.  Its the people that constantly exploit them that are suffering, tough <deleted> is my view. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

20 minutes ago, ezzra said:

put in place with the appropriate funds managements...

Thats the KEY thing in Thailand as  far as Im concerned

[ezzra]

6 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Elephants are indigenous to Thailand, they can and do live quite happily in the wild.  Its the people that constantly exploit them that are suffering, tough <deleted> is my view. 

Yes, but what do you do want them to do? send the elephant free just because the government don't care? and how do you that elephants who were born in captivity can fend and forage for themselves now? surly doesn't take much to feed them and their mahouts?...

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Elephant camps nationwide have suffered greatly from the government's closure orders on tourism during the pandemic.

It is not just elephant camps.

All over Thailand there are also rescue centres. These people try and rescue (buy - 40-50,000 baht) the elephants and then look after them. They too are struggling with there being zero tourists.

However, donations to these centres do go to the elephants.

I have been to the local one here and have donated and seen where the money goes.

Just donate to ones in your local area. There will be one somewhere.

 

https://samuielephanthaven.org/rescued-elephants/

[Doctor Tom]

2 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Yes, but what do you do want them to do? send the elephant free just because the government don't care? and how do you that elephants who were born in captivity can fend and forage for themselves now? surly doesn't take much to feed them and their mahouts?...

You do what is done for many animals by other, more caring countries, you  re educate them to live in the wild and then protect that environment long term. Its hardly rocket science. Many organisations have been doing the same for big cats and primates for many many years. The Mahouts are largely low lifes who exploit the animals for no good reason and then bleat when that exploitation can't go on. 

[mokwit]

37 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

(buy - 40-50,000 baht) the elephants

Might buy one. probably have to keep it on the parking floor of my condo.

[fvw53]

How could elephants survive thousands of years before they started to be employed by homo sapiens?

[mokwit]

Just now, fvw53 said:

How could elephants survive thousands of years before they started to be employed by homo sapiens?

The forests hadn't been cut down.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But they and their charges are on their last legs and need help from the government with benefit payments to each elephant in order to survive.

Elephants should not be in camps solely for the enjoyment of tourists... 

time to get rid of the camps once and for all.

[NeoDinosaw]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes, but what do you do want them to do? send the elephant free just because the government don't care? and how do you that elephants who were born in captivity can fend and forage for themselves now? surly doesn't take much to feed them and their mahouts?...

I think the elephants eat an enormous amount of food each day

[johng]

5 minutes ago, NeoDinosaw said:

I think the elephants eat an enormous amount of food each day

Yes but it wouldn't take much  in the scheme of things for a government  to feed them.

[Tropicalevo]

59 minutes ago, NeoDinosaw said:

I think the elephants eat an enormous amount of food each day

Asian elephant will eat 150 kilograms and drink 40 litres of water . 

(With thanks to DuckDuckGo)

[digger70]

Mahouts appeal for help as "unemployed elephants" on their last legs 

 

No problem .

Tell the Mahouts to take the Elephants back to the forest and Get a Job. 

There's plenty of work around the country. Many People just don't want to work . 

[papa al]

3 hours ago, fvw53 said:

How could elephants survive thousands of years before they started to be employed by homo sapiens?

Rice fields were forests then.

[billd766]

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes, but what do you do want them to do? send the elephant free just because the government don't care? and how do you that elephants who were born in captivity can fend and forage for themselves now? surly doesn't take much to feed them and their mahouts?...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephants_in_Thailand#:~:text=Eating occupies 18 hours of,male) will eat 4.8 percent.

 

The Thai elephant (Thai: ช้างไทย, chang Thai) is the official national animal of Thailand. The elephant found in Thailand is the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), a subspecies of the Asian elephant. In the early-1900s there were an estimated 100,000 domesticated or captive elephants in Thailand.[3] In mid-2007 there were an estimated 3,456 domesticated elephants left in Thailand and roughly a thousand wild elephants. By 2017 the number of captive elephants had risen to an estimated 3,783. The elephant became an endangered species in Thailand in 1986.

 

Elephants are herbivores, consuming ripe bananas, leaves, bamboo, tree bark, and other fruits. Eating occupies 18 hours of an elephant's day. They eat 100-200 kilograms of food per day.[6] A cow (female) will eat 5.6 percent of her body weight per day. A bull (male) will eat 4.8 percent. Thus a 3,000 kilogram cow will consume 168 kg per day, a 4,000 kg bull 192 kg per day. As elephants can digest only 40 percent of their daily intake, the result is dung amounting to 50–60 kg daily. As elephants will not eat in unclean surroundings fouled by dung, their instinct is to roam to a new area.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Elephants should not be in camps solely for the enjoyment of tourists... 

time to get rid of the camps once and for all.

And what do you do with the 3,xxx elephants?

[billd766]

2 hours ago, johng said:

Yes but it wouldn't take much  in the scheme of things for a government  to feed them.

Say 3,000 elephants eat perhaps 200kg each per day, that equals 600,000 kg or 600 tons of food per day.   

 

That is a huge logistical problem assuming that they all stay where they are. If they are turned loose into the jungle the problems that local villagers are having nowadays with elephants invading their land and eating their crops will be multiplied at least 3 times. Tame elephants will most probably want to stay near humans as that is what they are used to.

 

Posters who suggest just turn them out into the jungle have not really thought it through.

[natway09]

What jungle, we have taken it over raped it & there is now little jungle left that can support elephants.

Same thing happening in Indonesia & Papua with the orangutans.

Huge problem 

[jak2002003]

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes, but what do you do want them to do? send the elephant free just because the government don't care? and how do you that elephants who were born in captivity can fend and forage for themselves now? surly doesn't take much to feed them and their mahouts?...

Of course the elephants can forage for themselves.

 

They eat plants and grass....like a big cow. 

 

They don't have to learn to hunt.

 

No excuse for keeping these animals as captives 

 

Plenty of jungle left...the west of the country has one of the largest remaining Asian forest left. 

 

Take them into the jungle, take of their chains and let the poor abused things free. 

 

Sorry, but that will not happen as the elephant camp owners and elephant owners won't make any money. 

 

No one is keeping these animals to help them. They are kept as a tool to make someone money.  

 

At the very least make some big safari style park and let the creatures roam free in massive natural looking enclosures and do as they please without being poked and stabbed with hooks. Then people will pay to drive in and see them enjoying life and behaving naturally...as well as get an education about wild elephants. 

 

 

[mokwit]

6 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Of course the elephants can forage for themselves.

Have you not seen the video of an Elephant "foraging for itself" by running out in front of a pickup carrying pineapples to stop it and then feasting on the pineapples.

 

Elephants foraging for themselves will forage in planted fruit orchards (or by knocking down the wall of someone's house as per photo on TV) - there is footage of villagers trying to protect their crops in India by letting of firecrackers and firing guns but the elephants learn to ignore it and eat the villagers crops - killing of villagers also happens.

[itsari]

Elephantnaturepark.org

Never realized the park existed and not so far from where I live .

Donations can be made to the organization .

[jak2002003]

7 hours ago, mokwit said:

Have you not seen the video of an Elephant "foraging for itself" by running out in front of a pickup carrying pineapples to stop it and then feasting on the pineapples.

 

Elephants foraging for themselves will forage in planted fruit orchards (or by knocking down the wall of someone's house as per photo on TV) - there is footage of villagers trying to protect their crops in India by letting of firecrackers and firing guns but the elephants learn to ignore it and eat the villagers crops - killing of villagers also happens.

Yes.  However, I said to take the animals I to the large jungle on the west side of the country and release the elephants out there.

 

There are no roads (at least no major busy ones) there...and certainly none at all further in. It's untouched deep jungle.

 

If there were any problems of some of them finding their way back just use safe electric fencing around the problem area.

 

OR better still do my Safari park idea.  I bet they could get all the money they need from international rescue / conservation organisations for that.  They won't get money for keeping the elephants in the camps or using them for entertainment though. 

[jak2002003]

6 hours ago, itsari said:

Elephantnaturepark.org

Never realized the park existed and not so far from where I live .

Donations can be made to the organization .

That is a great place. I have been there a few times. The elephants are very happy there and are free to roam a large valley and go up I to the jungle as they please. No chains, no rides, no shows or tricks.  And they get really good medical care. They have a channel on you tube with many of their rescue stories.

[Bert got kinky]

On 10/6/2021 at 12:04 PM, Cake Monster said:

And right there is the problem.

The Elephants are in Camps, if they were to be free in the Jungles there would be no issue.

Any donations are welcome of course, but I personally am not so sure its spent on Fruit for the beasts.

Any donations are welcome of course, but I personally am not so sure its spent on Fruit for the beasts.

Sorry but you are wrong, that's exactly were the money will go to.

However, the fruit will be fermented with yeast & sugar and the beasts are the the prison warders of these magnificent pachyderms.

 

 

 

[ozimoron]

video contains a story about the plight of elephants

 

 

[mokwit]

2 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Yes.  However, I said to take the animals I to the large jungle on the west side of the country and release the elephants out there.

If there are no elephants living there you have to ask why not, and if there are you have to ask what population density it can support and whether the existing elephants would be accepting of strangers in their territory.

 

On the positive side I assume Elephants don't have to worry that this area is a large uninhabited area because it harbours drug resistant malaria strains.

[jak2002003]

4 hours ago, mokwit said:

If there are no elephants living there you have to ask why not, and if there are you have to ask what population density it can support and whether the existing elephants would be accepting of strangers in their territory.

 

On the positive side I assume Elephants don't have to worry that this area is a large uninhabited area because it harbours drug resistant malaria strains.

You are right there.  There are elephants but the population is low...used to be a lot higher....until people killed a lot for ivory and also captures lots over many years to 'domesticate' and use to use in the logging trade.