50-year-old elephant killed for tusks in Ayutthaya

[ratcatcher]

thaisness, you must love it

everybody happy, remember ?

Thainess has nothing to do with it. This was a simple case of "criminal vandalism and theft" (Not sure if that is an accurate statement). No doubt there will be a very strong pursuit of the perpetrators of this crime due to our present circumstances.

Bear in mind what happens in other countries where grown men feel the need to gun down a magnificent creature to show off. The African continent is still rife with elephant slaughter as well as legal controlled culling (a polite word for killing),

The British during their Raj period managed to slaughter a huge percentage of India's wildlife particularly tigers and elephant.

So, please go easy on the Thais. The bastards that killed this jumbo will probably make a wrong move by trying to sell the tusks in order to buy pills or an I-Phone.

[wabothai]

Death penalty!

So there is an ivory market here. The NCPO is already too busy.

[bander]

Is there anything Thai's don't do to get a few bucks? Feel sorry for the elephant who was put to death by some greedy bas7ards,

[Trentham]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

Pigs and cattle are not endangered species because of mankind's breeding of them. Perhaps we could slaughter them more "kindly" but they are not in danger of dying out. Elephants are in peril.

Ridiculous remark - so because they are not endangered we can slit their throats whilst alive to appease a religion and their absurd outdated beliefs ?!!!

However on topic this is hideous - the ivory will almost certainly end up in China which seems to be the recipient for most bi-products of animal cruelty !!

Can you not read properly or understand English? My post did say that we could be more kind when we kill pigs and cattle. I did NOT say that we should be cruel to these animals. Maybe you are a vegetarian and are against eating these animals so have gone off half cocked.

It is a tragedy that such a magnificent beast as an elephant - and an endangered one - should be slain to make a bit of jewellery or a nice carving or bangle. I am an animal lover but cannot push my own feelings on people that eat meat. There are thousands of species that eat other species and it is a part of the natural environmental and biological process. Wolves and lions etc. actually start to eat their prey before it has even died. I would do anything to have our food animals treated more humanely. However they are not endangered as is the elephant.

[SOMeTOM]

You have to love the truly xenophobic farang who only see evil

No, no, we all hate farangs, we know that thai people cannot do these things (as we are constantly reminded by locals and wannabe locals of that), so, people, just try to keep your eyes open for a farang wearing 2 huge elephant's tusks in Walking Street tonight...

[Loles]

Teeth for tusks !

And why don't I believe to mahout ???

Edited July 11, 2014 by Loles

[Cuchulainn]

Animals have souls too. The killing of an animal should be treated as murder and carry the same consequences as that of a human. At one stage in the CuChulainn household, there were 5 dogs, 15 hamsters and a frog.

Rain, hail or shine, Mrs C goes into our soi and feeds the soi dogs & cats religiously EVERY evening. They eat before I do!!!

Edited July 11, 2014 by Cuchulainn

[Cuchulainn]

The elephant, the symbol of Thailand and what do they do? Poison it and saw its tusks off.

Enough said.

[Jimmu]

Animals have souls too. The killing of an animal should be treated as murder and carry the same consequences as that of a human. At one stage in the CuChulainn household, there were 5 dogs, 15 hamsters and a frog.

Rain, hail or shine, Mrs C goes into our soi and feeds the soi dogs & cats religiously EVERY evening. They eat before I do!!!

Oh Please! Give it a rest with that poppycock...

[ratcatcher]

Animals have souls too. The killing of an animal should be treated as murder and carry the same consequences as that of a human. At one stage in the CuChulainn household, there were 5 dogs, 15 hamsters and a frog.

Rain, hail or shine, Mrs C goes into our soi and feeds the soi dogs & cats religiously EVERY evening. They eat before I do!!!

Was one of them the Hound of Culann?

[Oziex1]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

I think many people care about how animals of all sorts are treated. and there are organisations taking care of the worlds creatures, unfortunately it is an ongoing battle against cruelty and exploitation

.

[SOMeTOM]

I wonder how much lower the Thais can go in your estimation.

It's doesn't really matter, as they always beat us getting even lower....much lower.

Strange that the suicide theory hasn't been taken into consideration (yet), or perhaps a passing hacksaw's spirit, who knows?

[rubl]

Just saw the report on Channel7 news.

The person praying and holding a yosh stick may have been sincere, but I wonder about lottery numbers coming Wednesday.

[ddavidovsky]

Must take a lot of poisoned sugarcane to kill an elephant - or a massive hypodermic needle. This can't have been an opportunistic act.

Tuskers should be given better protection.

Edited July 11, 2014 by ddavidovsky

[Mudcrab]

After reading some of these posts it seems that a lot of the animal lovers will only be happy when the news reports elderly farangs in Pattaya are murdered for their "ivory" teeth to satisfy the Chinese demand. Of course then we will have the Thai bashers saying they are so stupid as they didn't realise the teeth in the glass by the bed were dentures.

[Paulzed]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

Australia has stopped exports of beef and sheep to Indonesia and Pakistan many times over the past few years when is was revealed by secret filming of animals being tortured before they prayed Allah Akbar and cut their throats'

Pakistan's excuse was that the sheep were diseased and the indos said it wasn't them and it was a set up.

[craigt3365]

An off topic post has been removed from view. This is not about the USA. Amazing how the US gets brought into soooo many threads.

[mok199]

poachers are in the same lot as preditors.......phsycopaths with no feeling for life...evil lives there.

[bigbamboo]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

And here is another whine about those who find the killing of these animals to decorate some rich <deleted> home abhorrent. Sure the killing of animals for food and how it is done is an issue just as killing animals for their fur but this thread is about elephants.

The fact that it happens in a supposedly animal loving Buddhist country where the elephant is national symbol simply compounds the crime.

Let's hope that under the new regime ALL those involved will be caught.

Edited July 12, 2014 by metisdead

[ukguyinthai]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

they do care mate its just a 50 year old Elephants turn........feel for the handler too

[Just Destiny]

Here is the big whining for an elephant, but no one care how pigs for meat are treated or how the killings for halal beef is done....

Totally different story. Your example is for eating that is source of protein. What about chooks or fish? Have you ever done fishing?How did you kill fish? You know it is different thong. People killed elephant jut for her husk and left body. It is very brutal!

[Trouble]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Don't worry! Whoever did it, will make merit tomorrow morning giving food to the monks on their knees and then it will be back on his usual stuff (killing,stealing,whatever it goes etc) again, you got to love the true "thainess" here...sabai sabai.

"you got to love the true "thainess" here...sabai sabai."

Yes, only Thai people are greedy, cruel, etc. You have to love the truly xenophobic farang who only see evil in selected people.

What happened was wrong and the INDIVIDUALS who did it should be punished, but let's not use it for one more excuse to blame all 67 million Thai people and the Thai culture. Everyday in every country, every nationality, every race people do incredibly cruel, inhuman, senseless things and a lot of them go unnoticed and, if noticed, are quickly excused. If you're blind to the universality of all these shameful acts, that says a lot about your selective world view.

Yes there is greed in every country and senseless and inhumane things are done everywhere. But the greed and and certain behavioral aspects of Thai culture (if you can call it that) make Thais quite unique and up there at the top of the list in being generally untrustworthy. Sure there are honest, good, and decent Thais, but just ask yourself how much you trust a Thai and how much you understand their motives for doing anything. My experience has been that anyone of a higher level is fair game. Sorry that's just the way I see it. With Thais, trust must be earned not automatically given. In my opinion part of it is the religion. Far too many Thais go to temple to make merit only for better luck not for learning teachings about humanity, compassion, honesty and all the other tenants that many religions preach. Giving to a beggar in a general sense is not done out of compassion, it is done because it helps to make merit for good fortune on themselves. Of course not all Thais are this way but sorry to say for far too many this IS the concepts they understand. So yes Thai culture is partly to blame for everything that goes on in Thailand from the greed that causes one to kill an elephant to human trafficking or the extent of corruption which is rampant throughout the country.

[Malthus101]

Morons.

[jacko45k]

Don't worry! Whoever did it, will make merit tomorrow morning giving food to the monks on their knees and then it will be back on his usual stuff (killing,stealing,whatever it goes etc) again, you got to love the true "thainess" here...sabai sabai.

Or if he happens to be Catholic, go to confession, say 20 'Hail Marys' and then back to killing,stealing,whatever it goes etc

[Lite Beer]

Elephant 'movie star' poisoned in Ayutthaya, tusks stolen
The Nation

Funeral rites are held at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal for a 50-year-old elephant, who was poisoned to death and his tusks sawn off early yesterday.

A 50-year-old male elephant, which reportedly appeared in a movie about Alexander the Great, was poisoned to death and its metre-long tusks sawn off early yesterday. Police suspect a former worker at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal was responsible.

Ayutthaya police chief Pol Maj-General Sermkid Sitthichaikan led officers to inspect the bank of the Lop Buri River, where the body of Phlai Khlao was found yesterday morning.

Sermkid said the former worker, who has a prior record for theft, was spotted around the kraal in recent days and reportedly had a drinking party at a bridge area near the scene on the day.

Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal owner Laithonglian Meephan said he loved this elephant, which had been in Ayutthaya since 1999. He said the bull was not used for labour but was chained at a spot near Phraya Phetch Island pending use for important events.

He said the elephant, whose metre-long tusks were beautiful and appeared in Oliver Stone's film "Alexander".

He said he would beef up security for elephants after this incident.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Elephant-movie-star-poisoned-in-Ayutthaya-tusks-st-30238317.html

-- The Nation 2014-07-12

[BSJ]

The poor old elephant didn't deserve to die like this. The scum that did it deserve a good few years in prison to absolve themselves for their sins.

"Sermkid said the former worker, who has a prior record for theft, was spotted around the kraal in recent days and reportedly had a drinking party at a bridge area near the scene on the day."

Alcohol and drugs seem to behind may criminal acts in LOS.

[Lite Beer]

Hunt on for killers of famous Thai elephant

AYUTTHAYA: Police are hunting for two employees of an elephant centre in Thailand’s old capital after they poisoned a famous elephant and sawed off his tusks.

The 50-year-old bull elephant, Phlai Khlao, a star of movies and royal ceremony, was slain last night (July 10).

Laithongrian Meephan, owner of the Elephant Kraal, initially discounted the possibility that any of his staff were involved. He said the killers might be local youths or drug addicts, because they did not saw the tusks off right at their base. He said they did not appear to know that beautiful tusks must include the base to be truly valued.

Thailand, which has a large legal domestic ivory market, is one of the countries targeted by wildlife activists as a centre of the illegal international elephant ivory trade, mostly fueled by demand from China.

Phlai Khlao, who was 50 years old and weighed just under five tonnes, was poisoned while chained to a tree beside the Lop Buri River.

An autopsy by veterinarians and police forensic specialists will determine what poison was used to kill the tusker, and at what time he died.

Phlai Phlao was buried at the elephant camp later today, with religious rites performed by local monks.

Elephant Kraal boss Laithongrian said the elephant was worth at least 4 million baht. The crime was unprecedented, he said.

Security had been increased to protect other elephants at the Elephant Kraal.

Phlai Khlao was probably the best known elephant in Ayutthaya. He featured in Alexander, the 2004 Oliver Stone film about the life of the ancient Greek general and conqueror Alexander the Great.

Battle scenes involving elephants, set in ancient India, were actually filmed in Ubon Ratchathani province.

Phlai Khlao also took part in several royal ceremonies.

-- Phuket News 2014-07-12

[rhythmworx]

No doubt there will be a Chinese person trader involved in this somewhere.

[lostsoul49]

Unfortunately they will never stamp it out. The more they arrest, the more they curb the trade and the higher the value becomes, and that just fuels the desire to do it even more.

It is a catch 22.

[snowpea83]

The mahout forgot to add first that he was paid to leave his elephant chained by the river and told not to come back till morning. There's no way these mahouts would leave their elephants out of sight.

Exactly the same crossed my mind. These mahouts sleep with their elephants; they are their bread and butter.

I hope the tusks are located, and then the mahout can live with his sin in some forgotten place, and without his financial gains. This was in Ayudhya, for god's sake, not the outback. Left by a river for the night my arse. It does not happen... unless there is motive!

I have never met a mahout who sleeps with their elephant (and I currently have around 30 mahouts in my employ) except in the case of a new born baby, It is true that most tuskers will be kept closer at hand to prevent this sort of thing generally, but that does not mean in sight, normally just in hearing distance.

Having said that, people down there that I know, say that the bulls were moved recently to make way for construction of some sort to a less secure location and that this bull was just coming into musth so was separated further from the other elephants. Sounds like an inside job for sure. Someone had to know the location of this elephant and that it was in a more isolated spot etc..

A tragedy any way you look at it... Just further evidence that Thailand needs to fix its out of date ivory laws..