ELEPHANTS

DNA database to form to protect elephants

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Natural Resources and Environment Ministry plans to build a DNA database of the 4,000 or so domesticated elephants in order to stop people from bringing in wild elephants and taking over identity papers of deceased pachyderms.

Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk vowed to solve elephant related issues nationwide within a year.

Preecha said he would contact the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of issuing elephant identification papers, for information about the beasts living in camps and elsewhere nationwide.

He was speaking at a press conference to discuss the February 35 elephant fair at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang's Hang Chat district.

Once the data is collected, university veterinarians could start collecting the blood samples for DNA tests.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) will also carry out DNA tests on wild elephants in order to create a database for comparison, he said.

Preecha explained that the killing of two elephants in the Kaeng Krajan National Park had alerted the authorities about elephant issues and that he had instructed the DNP to cooperate with police.

-- The Nation 2012-01-26

"Preecha explained that the killing of two elephants in the Kaeng Krajan National Park had alerted the authorities about elephant issues and that he had instructed the DNP to cooperate with police."

He didn't notice that since about 1900 the elephant population in Thailand has gone from approx 400,000 to 4000.

Shame on Thailand.

Will the elephants keep their identification papers in their trunks?