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Thai Elephants Are Tourist Must-See, But They May Be Trafficked

Watchdogs say young elephants from neighboring Myanmar are being illegally captured and trafficked to Thailand for sale into the tourist trade there.
Image: THAILAND-LIFESTYLE-NEW YEAR
Tourists splash water at elephants as people celebrate ahead of the Songkran Festival on April 9, 2014. The Asian elephant is endangered, and demand by tourists for elephant rides in Thailand is fueling a system of abuse that compounds the threat to its survival, according to a new report from TRAFFIC, a leading international wildlife trade monitoring network.PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL / AFP - Getty Images

YANGON, Myanmar and CHIANG MAI,Thailand — The selfies show smiles, victory signs and slightly sunburnt skin.

Seated atop a rollicking elephant on a rudimentary platform strapped to the animal’s back, tourists in Thailand take happy snaps as a mahout edges one of Asia’s largest land mammals along with a stick.

But at the end of this stick glints the curve of a blade. Underneath the platform, the elephant’s back is blistered and raw — apt metaphors for the dark underbelly of Thailand’s elephant rides.

The Asian elephant is endangered, and demand by tourists for elephant rides in Thailand is fueling a system of abuse that compounds the threat to its survival, according to a new report from TRAFFIC, a leading international wildlife trade monitoring network.

Image: INDIA-WILDLIFE-ELEPHANT
In this photo taken on June 3, 2014, a herd of wild elephants roams in the Kalabari forest close to the India-Nepal border. Asian elephants are listed as endangered and as the human population increases, the elephants' natural habitat is destroyed.DIPTENDU DUTTA / AFP - Getty Images

Tourists often feel good about the elephant rides, having been told that the beasts have been “rescued” for “conservation,” and that the fees they pay will help the animals. Yet watchdogs say young elephants from neighboring Myanmar are being illegally captured and trafficked to Thailand under the protection of legal loopholes for sale into the tourist trade there.

“The young are then transported to Thai-Myanmar border areas and then mentally broken and prepared for training before being sold into the tourism industry in Thailand"

The once-prolific population of wild elephants in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has dwindled to between 4,000 and 5,000 in recent years. Development and deforestation are partly to blame, but capturing wild elephants, previously for logging but now increasingly for tourism, has played a key role in population declines and is now considered a major threat to wild elephants, the report argues.

“In Myanmar, domesticated elephants are used to corral wild animals into pit-traps where older protective members of herds are often killed and the higher value, younger animals taken,” the report reads. “The young are then transported to Thai-Myanmar border areas and then mentally broken and prepared for training before being sold into the tourism industry in Thailand where they are put to work at tourist camps or hotels.”

Image: Elephants perform to celebrate the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, along the Khaosan tourist street, in Bangkok
Elephants perform to celebrate the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, along the Khaosan tourist street, in Bangkok June 13, 2014. The performance was part of an event arranged by the Khaosan Road business association in a bid to boost tourism under the current curfew, according to the association.CHAIWAT SUBPRASOM / Reuters

Thailand has no legislation that specifically addresses this type of animal trafficking, although some efforts have been made in the past to authenticate the origin of tourism elephants. One of the Thai legislation loopholes is the requirement that tourism elephants be registered only after they reach eight years of age, leaving young elephants from Myanmar highly vulnerable to being laundered into the Thai tourist trade.

TRAFFIC’s report recommends urgent reforms so wild and domesticated animals are governed under one law, clarifying responsibilities for management, enforcement and ownership of the animals, including mandatory DNA registration and use of microchips for tracking.

"If the capture and smuggling of calves is not stopped, some of the last great wild populations of the species are at risk of extinction"

This week CITES, the international body concerned with protection of animals, meets to discuss the progress Thailand has made for protection of elephants.

“The Asian Elephant is the forgotten elephant; it needs government support now more than ever. If the capture and smuggling of calves is not stopped, some of the last great wild populations of the species are at risk of extinction," said Joanna Cary-Elwes, campaigns manager for wildlife NGO Elephant Family.

Travel for Wildlife zoologist Cristina Garcia said that the demand to ride elephants by tourists visiting Thailand underlies systematic abuse of the animals. The price of a young elephant has risen fivefold in recent years to $33,000. Mistreatment of the animals continues once they enter the tourist trade, Garcia said.

Image: Elephant Dung Coffee Produces The World's Most Expensive Cup
A Thai elephant's eye is caught by the sunlight at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

“Elephants used in the trekking industry suffer physical effects as they spend their lives carrying people on their backs. Their spines were never designed to carry people, and the weight of the chairs leads to long-term damage,” Garcia said. “Furthermore, the trekking platforms rub on their backs all day long, causing blisters and infection. Not to mention broken legs and foot damage.”

“The bottom line is, taking a wild animal and using it for human entertainment is inherently not caring for it appropriately.”

Despite this, wildlife experts say boycotting elephant tourism altogether is unnecessary. Instead they recommend tourists in Thailand and Myanmar wishing to interact with elephants do so through programs that offer ethical opportunities to feed, bathe or walk with the elephants instead of using the animals as a ride.

“If you still want to ride an elephant, you can look out for signs of mistreatment. If the elephants are chained and the mahouts use bull hooks, this is a sign of serious abuse,” Garcia said. “The bottom line is, taking a wild animal and using it for human entertainment is inherently not caring for it appropriately.”

Image: Urban Elephants Roam The Streets of Bangkok
Sangworn, a mahout (elephant driver), stands with his elephant, Bussaba, 13 years old, at his temporary camp September 26, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Elephants have been big business for the country for centuries but now they are reduced to a major tourist attraction. The Tourism Authority of Thailand says that about 65 percent of tourists will visit an elephant during their stay.Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

This story originally appeared on GlobalPost.

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