Begging Street Elephants Remain A Problem

[ChiangMaiMail]

egging street elephants remain a problem

Mahout charged with assault on foreigners

Rittiphong Techaphan, representing the Governor, talks with Saengduen Chailert of the Save the Elephant Foundation and other supporters at the protest at City Hall after a mahout was in court for attacking foreigners.

Nopniwat Krailerg

Members of elephant protection groups demonstrated at City Hall and submitted a petition to the Chiang Mai Governor to present to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva on December 24. A mahout in charge of a begging street elephant appeared in court that day charged with the assault of Australians Kingsley William 41 and Kim Kavanagh, 31 on Loi Kroh street on December 13 after they had an altercation regarding the begging elephants.

Sangduen Chailert, chairwoman of the Save the Elephant Foundation, praised by Time magazine as a Heroine of Asia in 2005 was accompanied by Carol Buckley, founder of Elephant Aid International and representatives of the Elephant Home Foundation were joined by about 30 foreign volunteers from the elephant preserve and concerned residents at Chiang Mai City Hall.

Holding signs protesting the begging elephants, they submitted the letter to Rittiphong Techaphan, chief of the Chiang Mai Provincial Authority Office.

Saengduen Chailert of the Save the Elephant Foundation said that at there are an increasing number of mahouts and elephants begging on the streets of Chiang Mai. “There are about 200 elephants in the country; this gives the country a very bad reputation when film crews come to Thailand to cover Thailand’s elephants.”

She added “We have also submitted about 30,000 signatures of foreign tourists protesting against the roaming elephants and mahouts. It is a shame since the Thai elephant is the symbol of Thailand. We will continue to fight against this problem until the Thai government helps to solve the problem of begging elephants.”

Carol Buckley of Elephant Aid International added that they were calling for changes not just to remove the elephants but to offer better living conditions for mahouts and elephants. She pointed out that “Thai elephants are really a beautiful thing for Thailand, and Thais should help protect and preserve these elephants in the right manner.”

She said that elephants find the city streets torturous, adding, “I believe that the Thai government has a budget to help relieve the status of Thai elephants. And from traveling around the world, I have never seen the roaming elephants anywhere like in Thailand.”

http://chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd11

[chiangmaimail]2011-/01/01[/chiangmaimail]