Yingluck Instructs Plodprasop To Monitor Suspected White Elephant On The Spot

[webfact]

PM instructs Plodprasop to monitor suspected white elephant on the spot

BANGKOK, 26 April 2013 (NNT) - Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasob Suraswadi has been instructed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to visit Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi Province, following reported sightings of a white elephant in the area.

The Deputy Prime Minister, in his capacity as Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, revealed that his visit would be to verify the news, and that it could not be confirmed for the moment whether the elephant calf in the news was a white elephant until all the traits have been confirmed by experts.

He also rebuked the Forestry official who disclosed the news and claimed the calf was a white elephant before verification, saying that the declaration should only be made by the Director General of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Manopat Huamuangkaew.

Mr. Plodprasob has instructed Mr. Manopat to monitor the movement of the elephant in question and try to prevent it from roaming into neighboring Myanmar. He also suggested the Director General to firstly observe the elephant once found, and to avoid capturing it before he is absolutely confident that the elephant belongs to the rare breed.

Mr. Plodprasop indicated that during his visit to the Kaeng Krachan National Park, he would also follow up the park's progress to resolve the problem of wild elephants evading local farms, citing a possibility of installing electric fences to stop elephants from entering residential quarters.

-- NNT 2013-04-26

[kblaze]

Lol @ "try to prevent it from roaming into neighboring Myanmar"

[sjjmmi]

Its "PINK"

[jaidam]

Hopefully without his butchering knives. Were not elephant on his menu at the chiang mai night safari's infamous buffet?

[thhMan]

They dont have staff to do that?

Why would Yingluck need to tell Plodprasop to do his/her job... Isnt that why he/she is in that position?

Hasnt Yingluck got better things to do... like FIX the country?

[GrantSmith]

"he would also follow up the park's progress to resolve the problem of wild elephants evading local farms"

If I was a farmer, I don't think I'd have a problem with elephants (wild or otherwise) evading my farm...

[Thai at Heart]

Beats monitoring "white elephant" flood projects I guess.

[NongKhaiKid]

This instruction must have come in by Skype as she isn't in the country just now

[rkidlad]

I assume he can go whenever he pleases like old Chalerm

[ratcatcher]

A white elephant is an idiom
for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot
dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of
proportion to its usefulness or worth. The term derives from the story
that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers
who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient
by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object,
scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered to be without use
or value.^[1]

^Wikipedia

There are herds of White Elephants in Thailand. (And many elsewhere I might add)

There's the White Mountains of Rice.

The Rare White Military Blimp.

The Common or Garden White Bomb Detector.

The CTX X Ray Machines.

And quite a few others I believe.

OTOH, if this turns out to be a Pink Elephant, rather than the pachyderm expert Plodrasop, I recommend Deputy P.M. Chalerm since he has more experience with Pinks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants

[Robby nz]

Well DP Plodprasop should it be white it will be an albino and not a "Rare breed" and the last thing it will need is you and your gang flying around in helicopters (not capable of walking) disturbing it and its mother.

What's this capturing it bit? for what, so it can be exhibited like some freak in a circus?

Sure get the park staff to keep an eye on it to make sure no bastits want to harm it but leave it to get on with its life.

[moe666]

ooooooooooooooooooo a white elephant we can use it to distract the population from my dear brothers return, oooo perfect timing

[nuananddon]

If its a wild elephant, it sure as hell don't recognize or care that there is a border it's not supposed to be crossing. The animal don't belong to Thailand anymore than it does to Myanmar, it's free roaming.

[americaninbangkok]

ooooooooooooooooooo a white elephant we can use it to distract the population from my dear brothers return, oooo perfect timing

I love TV... can never go a whole page without bringing Thaksin into the picture.

Edited April 26, 2013 by americaninbangkok

[Ajaan]

Well DP Plodprasop should it be white it will be an albino and not a "Rare breed" and the last thing it will need is you and your gang flying around in helicopters (not capable of walking) disturbing it and its mother.

What's this capturing it bit? for what, so it can be exhibited like some freak in a circus?

Sure get the park staff to keep an eye on it to make sure no bastits want to harm it but leave it to get on with its life.

Officially certified "white" elephants (there are a bunch of criteria, and some of them are contrary to what you or I might classify as a "white" animal) must be captured and ceremonially presented to the King. Actually, not a horrible life for them, they get to roam, eat, and live out the rest of their days in a private Royal forest in Lampang Province...nobody can ever bother them. Except for the capture part.

[Suradit69]

"... avoid capturing it before he is absolutely confident that the elephant belongs to the rare breed."

Not really a "breed" are they? I thought it was the result of some genetic aberration??

"... to resolve the problem of wild elephants evading local farms..."

Still, there's nothing quite as exciting as a high speed chase involving a farm in pursuit of an elephant.

[khunken]

Actually there's no better idi..person to handle a white elephant than Plodprasop.

All his ideas fall into that category.

[Cardiff1963]

Every reply a whinge . keep it up old farts. i love tv

[khunken]

Every reply a whinge . keep it up old farts. i love tv

You need to work out the difference between a whinge and mockery with a bit of levity.

[Xonax]

"... avoid capturing it before he is absolutely confident that the elephant belongs to the rare breed."

Not really a "breed" are they? I thought it was the result of some genetic aberration??

"... to resolve the problem of wild elephants evading local farms..."

Still, there's nothing quite as exciting as a high speed chase involving a farm in pursuit of an elephant.

White (or pink / albino) elephants in the nature, is the result of a naturally occured but very rare genetic mutation. If you breed a white elephant (if fertile) with another elephant, you can more likely expect, that around 25% of the offspring will be white elephants. So maybe that´s what they are doing in the royal forests.

[bangon04]

A white elephant is an idiom

for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot

dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of

proportion to its usefulness or worth. The term derives from the story

that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers

who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient

by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object,

scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered to be without use

or value.^[1]

^Wikipedia

There are herds of White Elephants in Thailand. (And many elsewhere I might add)

There's the White Mountains of Rice.

The Rare White Military Blimp.

The Common or Garden White Bomb Detector.

The CTX X Ray Machines.

And quite a few others I believe.

OTOH, if this turns out to be a Pink Elephant, rather than the pachyderm expert Plodrasop, I recommend Deputy P.M. Chalerm since he has more experience with Pinks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants

and the biggest of these must be the great white aircraft carrier.....

[LuckyLew]

They dont have staff to do that?

Why would Yingluck need to tell Plodprasop to do his/her job... Isnt that why he/she is in that position?

Hasnt Yingluck got better things to do... like FIX the country?

According to her and the PTP everything is perfect as it is now ... lot of food in the trough

[xkmasada]

Be careful with what you guys are saying... under Thai law, white elephants must be presented to the King.

[Cardiff1963]

Every reply a whinge . keep it up old farts. i love tv

You need to work out the difference between a whinge and mockery with a bit of levity.

i tried, still sound like the usual 7/11, bottle of leo, whinges to me

[Credo]

This is one of Yingluck's smartest moves. Let him wonder around in the jungle for a long while and once he's done with that, I think they spotted a big foot somewhere around Doi Suthep.

[bigbamboo]

I can't think of anything more likely to scare off the poor creature than the sight of Plodrasop appearing over the horizon with his 'How to capture a white elephant' instruction book.

[candypants]

Every reply a whinge . keep it up old farts. i love tv

You need to work out the difference between a whinge and mockery with a bit of levity.

it is neither here nor there, he got the old fart bit right

[waza]

I guess it would be great face if Yingluck presented the king with a Farrang khaao chang

[onflipflops]

One question, did anybody here see the footage on television of this so-called 'white' elephant?

The movie is terribly over-exposed. In a Bangkokpost article they write that the person who filmed it is a photographer. In theory he or she is, but in my opinion not everybody with a camera is a photographer. Though, it might be a photographer that knows how to fool the public by over exposing on purpose, and make sure the image is as unstable as possible... Just like fishermen know that you need to use a wide-angle lens, hold your catch with stretched arms to create more distance between the fishermen and the fish and hold it close to the lens, and due to the difference of perspective of a wide-angle lens compared to our eyes, the person behind the fish gets dwarfed, and the fish looks like a giant.

However, when you look at the hands holding the fish, you'll see they are totally out of proportion compared to the fishermen's body. Why am I writing this, haha... I'll continue with my plea...

By over-exposing with the camera, the animal and the scenery looks much brighter, and in contrast all his/ her mates in the herd have been swimming in the reservoir where it was filmed. Because of the wet skin all the other elephants have turned much darker than usual. So between all these dark, wet elephants there is one elephant that has not yet decided to take a bath him/herself and therefore appears to be a white elephant. If you look closely, it does seem to have lost a bit of pigment on its trunk, but there is quite a bit of contrast between the areas with lost pigment, and the regular skin. Common in Asian Elephants.

Maybe the so-called elephant experts have no knowledge about photography, and therefore believe this whole story. Giving it way too much publication and the same scene where recently some elephants were killed by some poachers, will probably now see an even higher number of poachers. Good job, Yingluck!

I'm sure this is a lot of fuss about nothing, but they haven't asked me to investigate the whole story .

Hope it does not cause even more elephant deaths.

Edited April 26, 2013 by onflipflops

[wiyada]

Every reply a whinge . keep it up old farts. i love tv

You need to work out the difference between a whinge and mockery with a bit of levity.

i tried, still sound like the usual 7/11, bottle of leo, whinges to me

Is the Leo purchased in bars different from those available in 7-11's ?