For 'de-Programmed' Elephants, Return To Wild Is A Slow, Costly Process

[Lite Beer]

For 'de-programmed' elephants, return to wild is a slow, costly process

Thanapat Kitjakosol

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- Two elephant conservation groups are working together to reintroduce domesticated elephants to the wild, releasing 84 of them over the past 10 years under an initiative of Her Majesty the Queen.

The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation (ERF) must shoulder not only the increasingly high cost of purchasing elephants, but also of preparing them for their return to the wild. In the meantime, it focuses on taking good care of the domesticated elephants in its custody, which is only a fraction of the number in the Kingdom that could potentially be released back into their natural habitat.

ERF secretary-general Siwaporn Thantharanont said that without the conservation efforts of the foundation and the National Elephant Institute (NEI), an estimated 2,500 to 2,800 domesticated elephants could die unnecessarily over the next 30 years.

Due to higher demand for elephants in the tourism business, where the pachyderms are put on show for tourists, plus begging on the streets of Bangkok, an elephant now costs up to Bt1.5 million, compared to Bt300,000 in recent years.

Reorienting a domesticated elephant for life in the wild once cost the ERF Bt300,000 to purchase the animal plus Bt200,000 in nurturing expenses, food and mahouts' fees. This later rose to Bt1 million: Bt700,000 to buy the elephant plus Bt300,000 in costs. A well-respected monk recently agreed to release two elephants to the wild, but the ERF could not obtain either elephant, because each would have cost between Bt1 million and Bt1.5 million, Siwaporn said.

Of the country's approximately 2,800 domesticated elephants, around 1,500 to 1,800 are in the custody of conservation dens in Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Lampang and Surin. The remainder are privately owned, either by individual mahouts, loggers who use them in their work, or zoos and tourist attractions. A 1998 estimate put the number of remaining wild elephants in Thailand at around 2,000.

The ERF now has 67 elephants undergoing reorientation for a return to the wild at three dens. Wild elephants, and those transformed and returned to the jungles, minimise human-made wildfires, because they keep people away [from the jungle], while benefiting ecological systems, and help maintain the natural reproduction of plants by scattering plant seeds in their excrement.

"Wild elephants do not vandalise jungles as most people think. Instead they keep conditions tidy and help with the scattering of plant seeds, which are mixed in their excrement," Siwaporn said.

So far, the 84 elephants the group has returned to the wild since 1998 have produced only one baby, and as many as 20 of them are thought to have died due to old age. They were released at three locations: the Doi Pha Mueng Wildlife Sanctuary in Lampang, the Sublanka Wildlife Sanctuary in Lop Buri and Phu Phan National Park in Sakhon Nakhon.

But a good example of a success was observed at Phu Phan, where there had been only one wild elephant left. Two reoriented elephants were later let loose to join it in the wild. "The three of them later communicated and got along with one another, until one of the reoriented elephants died. Later, six reoriented elephants were returned to Phu Phan, where all … of them now live together as wild elephants," he said.

One important sign showing that an elephant has genuinely become wild is when they ignore orders or greetings from the staff or mahouts who occasionally visit them. "The staff and the mahouts show that they are hurt upon seeing that, but it's a sign that deeply cheers every one of us, because [the elephants] have become fully reformed," Siwaporn said.

A senior veterinarian at the NEI, Thaweephoke Angkhawanich, said that in order to be selected for reorientation the elephants must be healthy, show a tendency toward behavioural change and have a social behaviour. Reorientation periods vary depending on each elephant's character and the two of reorientation undertaken.

Reorientation to "survival" level may take five to 10 years, while "sustainable" reorientation takes longer, Thaweephoke said. Studies show that reoriented domesticated animals retain memories of their mahouts and caregivers, and commands. "It's the next generation that will be completely wild by birth," he said. The NEI is currently reorienting 56 elephants, with many of them showing behavioural change. Those showing good signs of reform will be the first to be unchained and allowed to live freely in a vast area designed to simulate jungle conditions.

A worker at a den at Doi Pha Mueng, Chonsaporn Apiwongngarm, said many elephants, mostly younger ones, run away when they see staffers sent to observe their habits and behaviours - which is a good sign of reorientation. A worker at Sublanka, Parichart Jantharakrut, said elephants there between 20 and 30 years old showed changes in their behaviour and that only a few with illnesses were still chained up.

-- The Nation 2012-10-21

[asiawatcher]

Keeping elephants for tourism is sad. The babies are beaten badly and many die from the stress or their 'training'. There is a project presently being filmed in Thailand called Through Elephant Eyes, a documentary. The director has travelled all over Thailand to the camps and conservation groups, and even witnessed the communication between elephants where a matriarch died just after being filmed, but was not permitted to see or film 'elephant education'.

Having theses animals in almost starvation under 'care' by humans is an atrocity. As for 'buying them' at 1M plus, just confiscate them and rehabilitate them. They don't belong to anyone.

[Dibbler]

Buying domesticated elephants for reintroduction to the wild only perpetuates the trade and keeps the market price up. Traders then poach more young elephants from Thailands forests or smuggle more in from across the border in Myanmar. Unfortunately domesticated elephants can't be confiscated as could wild elephants because they come under The Draught Animals Act of 1929, and are considered the same as cattle, ducks and other livestock. So acquiring elephants for release is problematic because they fall in a legal grey area. And young elephants dont need to be registered until 8 years of age. The traders like it that way.

[MEL1]

My elderly mother came to Thailand 4 years ago. We were driving in BKK, and suddenly I was asked to stop.... near Nana. My mam was nearly weeping. There was an elephant with a bike rear-light twinkling red on its tail. A tourist attraction, I said, that ventures with it's keeper who earns large amounts of money selling bananas to apes who pay for it. She saw my humour but uttered, "They just don't know what they are doing, do they?"

They still don't know what they are doing!

-mel.

[fstarbkk]

My elderly mother came to Thailand 4 years ago. We were driving in BKK, and suddenly I was asked to stop.... near Nana. My mam was nearly weeping. There was an elephant with a bike rear-light twinkling red on its tail. A tourist attraction, I said, that ventures with it's keeper who earns large amounts of money selling bananas to apes who pay for it. She saw my humour but uttered, "They just don't know what they are doing, do they?"

They still don't know what they are doing!

-mel.

Sorry your mom had to see this. The truth is even worse, I'm afraid - They know exactly what they're doing and simply don't care. Short sighted greed trumps all in the LOS!

[harryfrompattaya]

My elderly mother came to Thailand 4 years ago. We were driving in BKK, and suddenly I was asked to stop.... near Nana. My mam was nearly weeping. There was an elephant with a bike rear-light twinkling red on its tail. A tourist attraction, I said, that ventures with it's keeper who earns large amounts of money selling bananas to apes who pay for it. She saw my humour but uttered, "They just don't know what they are doing, do they?"

They still don't know what they are doing!

-mel.

Sorry your mom had to see this. The truth is even worse, I'm afraid - They know exactly what they're doing and simply don't care. Short sighted greed trumps all in the LOS!

A special tax on all tourist to save Thailand elephants is needed maybe a just extra 3000 baht on each visa.

Edited October 21, 2012 by harryfrompattaya

[Tanaka]

My elderly mother came to Thailand 4 years ago. We were driving in BKK, and suddenly I was asked to stop.... near Nana. My mam was nearly weeping. There was an elephant with a bike rear-light twinkling red on its tail. A tourist attraction, I said, that ventures with it's keeper who earns large amounts of money selling bananas to apes who pay for it. She saw my humour but uttered, "They just don't know what they are doing, do they?"

They still don't know what they are doing!

-mel.

Sorry your mom had to see this. The truth is even worse, I'm afraid - They know exactly what they're doing and simply don't care. Short sighted greed trumps all in the LOS!

A special tax on all tourist to save Thailand elephants is needed maybe a just extra 3000 baht on each visa.

That would not save a single elephant. It would just increase the bank accounts of several officials and civil servants.

[jerrysteve]

They need to start beating to death the people that harness them for Tourist. Edited October 21, 2012 by jerrysteve