2023-11-14 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The International Elephant Foundation, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Chiang Mai University, the National Elephant Institute, and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Kasetsart University happily announce the 19th International Elephant Conservation & Research Symposium to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on November 14-17, 2023 at the Empress Hotel Chiang Mai.
2023-08-28 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Following Thai tradition, the offspring of Pang Sarai, 22, and Plai Ningnong, 27, was named ‘Plai Boonmak,’ symbolizing ‘Abundant Merit.’ This ceremony expressed heartfelt wishes for the well-being and prosperity of the young elephant. The occasion was particularly significant, as this gentle giant marked the fourth elephant birth of the year and the 108th within Nong Nooch Tropical Garden.
2023-08-18 - Lampang, Thailand.
The Thai elephant, recently repatriated from Sri Lanka, Sak Surin, was moved to a new home today (Friday), at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang province, after the completion of its 30-days at the quarantine centre. Suratchai Inwiset, director of the National Elephant Institute, said the transfer of Sak Surin to his new home, which is just a stone’s throw from the quarantine centre, went smoothly and took only about half an hour.
2023-07-05 - Lampang, Thailand.
It is out of question that Sak Surin, now the most famous elephant in Thailand, will have to return to Sri Lanka, as he is now under the patronage of HM the King, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa on Wednesday. Commenting on a call from a senior monk in Sri Lanka for Bangkok to return the elephant once he fully recovers, Varawut said the matter is not even open for discussion.
2023-07-04 - Lampang, Thailand.
On 2 July 2023 at 07.00 hrs. the Tusker, Muthu Raja (Sak Surin), was transported from Sri Lanka to Thailand for medical treatment and rehabilitation by Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane, with cooperation from the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand and the relevant authorities of Sri Lanka. The Tusker arrived safely at Chiangmai International Airport, Thailand, on the same day, and later...
2023-04-22 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden welcomed its second baby elephant of 2023. Park Director Kampol Tansajja presided over the April 20 blessing ceremony for the new calf, named “Plai Chai”, with Phra Khru Kittisophon, abbot of Wat Samakkhi Banphot temple in Bang Saray.
2023-02-14 - Lampang, Thailand.
Keeping in mind the well-being of elephants, a total of 13 mahouts (trainers) and cavadis or assistants to mahouts from Tamil Nadu were sent to Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang for training in the scientific management of these animals in captivity. Those sent for training were chosen from elephant camps at Theppakadu in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Kozhikamuthi in Anamalai Tiger Reserve. On their return the 13 men were felicitated at a function held in Vandalur’s Arignar Anna Zoolo...
2022-09-29 - Pattaya, Thailand.
follow us in feedly The third baby elephant of the year has been born at a botanical garden in Pattaya. The Nong Nooch Gardens Pattaya welcomed the new little member, named “Ply Poa Jai” with a religious ceremony yesterday. Ply Poa Jai was born to his mother “Ply Por Chai” and his father “Phang Fonthip.” Veterinarians said he was born healthy.
2022-08-20 - Khuekkhak, Thailand. Lean Jinghui
An elephant in Thailand has reportedly ripped its mahout (elephant rider or keeper) in half after being overworked. According to The Thaiger, the incident happened at a rubber plantation in the Phang Nga province, on the morning of Aug. 17, 2022. Local police from the Takua Thung Police Station were informed of the keeper's death at 11:30am on Wednesday. Upon arriving at the scene, the officers were informed that Pom Pam, a 20-year-old male elephant, had ripped apart his keeper, 32-year-old Supa...
2022-04-14 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The keeper Peerapat, 18, pierced Chan's thick leathery skin with the bullhook and caused the elephant so much pain that his legs collapsed. Chan Chao is now being treated by local vets with deep cuts to his head. Video also shows the moment Peerapat was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by the camp's manager and forced to kneel at the elephant's feet and say sorry. Veterinarian Thongthae Meepan, the manager of the attraction, claimed that the wounds on the elephant’s head would be ‘healed in...
2022-03-30 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Elephants are a major engine of tourism in Thailand, which uses nearly three-quarters of the total number of elephants used in tourism in Asia, according to London-based World Animal Protection (WAP), a nonprofit animal rights organization. Before the pandemic, nearly 40 million tourists visited Thailand in 2019 generating some 20% of its gross domestic product. According to surveys conducted by WAP, 28% of visitors rode elephants or intended to when they arrived, suggesting demand for over 11 m...
2022-03-24 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Another elephant from Maesa elephant camp in Chiang Mai died on Friday, making it the 22nd elephant to die at the camp in the past two years. Without almost no income from tourists during the Covid-19 pandemic, many camps and sanctuaries have been struggling to provide care and food for the animals. A 50 year old male elephant named Krung Rattana died on Friday just as staff were about to lift him into a truck to seek treatment at the Elephant Conservation Centre in nearby Lampang province. The ...
2022-03-22 - , Thailand.
Wildlife officials have captured "Sidor Noke", a roaming bull elephant who has been raiding farms in Krabin Buri district and killed one villager and returned him to his home in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary. While on the run, the solitary elephant was blamed for the death of a 73-year-old woman foraging in the forest and caused extensive damage to orchards and field crops. On March 15, Rungnapha Pattanaipul, deputy chief of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservatio...
2022-03-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Petch Petpailin
The owner of Mae Taeng Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai made the announcement on Sunday, which was National Elephant Day. Wassana Thongsook, who has been running the camp for 28 years, told Thai media that she has over 40 elephants and needs to spend over 2 million baht per month to care for elephants and pay the staff. She says she’s spent all of her savings and hasn’t had support from the state during the pandemic.
2022-03-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has drawn up a 10-year action plan to mitigate human-elephant conflicts that have occurred wherever elephants and locals share the same habitat, competing for the same resources. The government on May 26, 1998, designated March 13 as National Elephant Day in a bid to raise awareness about the animal's importance to society.
2021-12-22 - Bangkok, Thailand.
a recent controversy over an award-winning photo of a swimming elephant at Khao Kheow illustrates the friction that exists between some animal rights activists and people who manage elephants in Thailand. Some Thai people see a double standard in how Khao Kheow, and Thailand in general, have become lightning rods for animal-related criticism from the West. They wonder why the elephant swimming exhibitions held at zoos in Germany and Switzerland have drawn minimal criticism despite appearing to s...
2021-12-10 - Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.
Manit Thanabat, 43, of Surat Thani’s Wiang Sa district, was killed at a rubber plantation in tambon Katun by his 25-year-old bull elephant, Phlai Jumbo. The elephant then ran off, but was captured late on Thursday night by livestock officials shooting tranquilliser darts. The elephant was later taken by truck to a controlled area in Wiang Sa district.
2021-12-02 - Pattaya, Thailand.
A three-month-old baby elephant was recovering in this eastern province on Thursday following lifesaving treatment after being shot several times and caught in a hunter's trap. The elephant, whom rescuers have named "Fahsai", meaning "clear sky", was found by passers-by on Sunday with her right foot caught in a trap and gunshot wounds to her shoulder.
2021-11-22 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Article about the relocation of Asian female elephant Kamu to ENP.
2021-07-27 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
A hungry wild elephant in Thailand has smashed his way through the same kitchen wall a month after his first raid. The 40-year-old bull named Plai Bunchuay rammed his head through the concrete building to steal a bag of rice on June 20 in Hua Hin, southern Thailand. Shocked residents recorded the carnage before the damage was repaired by officials.
2021-06-21 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
A woman in Thailand made a startling discovery when she heard loud noises coming from her kitchen: There was an elephant that appeared to be looking for snacks. The incident occured in Hua Hin in southern Thailand around 2 a.m. Saturday. The kitchen belonged to resident Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon, according to The Guardian. The elephant, named Boonchuay, poked its head through Puengprasoppon's kitchen wall and proceeded to open drawers and knock down pots and pans as Puengprasoppon filmed it all...
2021-04-09 - HUAY PAKKOT, Thailand. DENIS D. GRAY
In one of the largest known elephant migrations in memory, many of the country's estimated 3,800 captive elephants trudged out of tourist sites ranging from northeastern Surin Province to the beachside towns of Pattaya and Phuket and the mountains around the northern city of Chiang Mai. One group from Chiang Mai trekked for a week to return to Huay Pakkot, a village 180 km southeast of the city, where the Karen ethnic minority has kept elephants for generations
2021-04-06 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Napalai Mai-ngam, 26, said five years ago she had brought her relatives and their tamed elephants from Surin to work at an elephant resort in tambon Lam Huay Yai of Bang Lamung. After waiting in vain for tourists near Pattaya for more than a year, five elephants and their owners are heading back to their northeastern home province of Surin – a 500km journey, on foot.
2021-03-16 - Rayong, Thailand.
In Thailand, according to “RT”, a wild elephant was able to identify the veterinarian who treated him 12 years ago, Patarabol Manion, and extended his proboscis to touch the veterinarian’s hand during an unexpected reunion, according to the “Daily Mail” newspaper.
2020-12-11 - Tambon Ban Tong, Thailand.
Chabakaew, a baby elephant saved after falling into a septic tank last year and taken care of by park officials, died on Wednesday at the Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary in Bueng Kan province. They suspect the calf may have died from Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV), or bad bacteria in its digestive system.
2020-11-12 - Rayong, Thailand.
The elephant, named Nga-Sun, was found collapsed on a palm plantation by villagers in Rayong province last month. Vets from the local wildlife team identified gunshot wounds across the animal's buttocks, tail, and front leg. The wounds had punctured major internal organs such as its lungs, heart, spleen, and intestines.
2020-10-26 - Pattaya, Thailand. Patcharapol Panrak
At 09.09 on October 26, Nong Nooch Tropical Garden Pattaya president Kamphol Tansajja held a religious ceremony to welcome a new born female elephant. The baby jumbo was born on October 19 to parents father Ning Nong, 25, and mother Pailin, 19, and was given the name Opal. Pailin had given birth to three babies before, Tubtim, 9, Mukda, 6, and Paetai, 2 and a half.
2020-10-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Focusing on animal welfare, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is working with the Department of Livestock Development, veterinarians and elephant experts to seek a solution in enhancing the standards of elephant camps and mahouts around the country.
2020-09-28 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Pioneering elephant welfare charity, The Human Elephant Learning Programs Foundation (H-ELP), is partnering with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) to launch a global service that stars elephants in Zoom video calls live from their natural habitat in Northern Thailand’s ancient jungle.
2020-09-04 - Lampang, Thailand. CLAIRE TOUREILLE
Channel 5 viewers were left in 'tears of joy' after following the fate of a baby elephant at a Thai elephant hospital last night. Two-year-old Minnie was being treated for the Elephant Herpes Virus, which can kill the animals, at the Lampang's Elephant Hospital where the show was filmed.
2020-07-30 - Bangkok, Thailand. Johanna Read
"Are there improvements to be made in how captive elephants are treated? Absolutely. But banning tourist-elephant interactions and boycotting elephant camps can result in worse, not better, welfare conditions for elephants. Dubrocard says, “It’s not the activity itself that should be criticized, but the way it’s managed and handled.”"
2020-05-06 - Bngkok, Thailand.
The millions thrown out of work in Thailand by the coronavirus include elephants dependent on tourist money to feed their voracious appetites. With scant numbers of foreign visitors, commercial elephant camps and sanctuaries lack funds for the animals’ upkeep and have sent more than 100 of them trudging up to nearly 100 miles back to their homes.
2018-01-03 - Pattaya, Thailand.
A baby elephant scampers to her feet after becoming the first one born in Thailand in 2018. The female calf - named Yellow Saphire - was born on Tuesday at around 5 am after her 23-year-old mother went into labour in Chonburi, Thailand. Local Buddhist monks visited the newborn elephant to bless her at a ceremony with the centre’s mahouts and staff. Kampong Tonsajja, Director of the Nong Nooch Gardens which houses elephants, said: ‘’She is a beautiful girl and the first of the new year. She...
2017-03-14 - Surin, Thailand.
Hundreds of performers and more than 50 elephants staged shows and historical re-enactments to show the importance of elephants to Surin’s history. More than 100 elephants feasted on watermelons, pineapples, bananas and jicama on tables stretching 100 meters.
2017-03-11 - AYUTTHAYA, Thailand.
Laithongrien Meepan, owner of the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace, said he and other elephant keepers in other provinces would not rally at Government House on Monday, which is also National Elephant Day. Government authorities earlier asked them not to rally in Bangkok as it would cause traffic chaos, he said on Saturday.
2017-03-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai authorities said Tuesday they have seized 422 pieces of ivory elephant tusks and arrested a Gambian national suspected of smuggling the illegal wildlife product worth some 17 million baht (US$ 482,406) The 300 kilograms of tusks were seized at Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi airport late last week after customs found suspicious shipments from Malawi through Ethiopian Airlines listed as unprocessed gemstones, according to Associated Press.
2017-03-05 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
The world’s most expensive coffee, which is priced at $70 per serving, is made from elephant poo!Black Ivory Coffee, produced in Thailand’s Golden Triangle, a region better known for its export of opium, is made by having elephants eat the coffee beans which are mixed into a fruit mash.
2017-02-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Elephant things are all over my desk at work. I have elephant clothes and elephant kitchen tools. I was also planning on getting an elephant bamboo tattoo while I was in Thailand, which I definitely didn´t do after this experience. I went from loving elephants, to now being terrified of them.
2017-01-23 - Phuket, Thailand.
The injuries occurred when one elephant, believed to have been spooked by another, bolted during official’s inspection of the Safari elephant camp in Saiyuan, Rawai. At 11:30am on Saturday, Capt Somkiet Sarasit of the Chalong Police was informed of an incident where an elephant had bolted at the Safari elephant camp Rawai leaving two persons injured.
2017-01-04 - HUA HIN, Thailand.
A task force on wildlife trafficking has unearthed the bones of five elephants which they suspect are linked to the merging of wild animals into domestic populations. The Phaya Sua task force excavated a site in Moo Baan Chang (elephant village) after it received a tip-off that dead elephants had been buried there without the knowledge of concerned authorities.
2016-12-19 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The Wang Chang Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal in tambon Suan Phrik has a new arrival - a male calf born at 4.40am on Monday. Romthongsai Meephan, the owner of the kraal, said 30-year-old Phang Dok Sano gave birth to a calf weighing about 70 kilogrammes. The youngster was healthy and strong, with all the dominant features of a male Thai elephant.
2016-11-08 - PATTAYA, Thailand.
The Nong Nooch Pattaya Garden and Resort welcomed a new baby girl elephant into its family Tuesday, during which the garden also organised a blessing ceremony for the adorable animal, Thai News Agency (TNA) reports. Phang Took Jai was born to 19-year-old mother ´Phang Nong Porn´, an elephant performer, and 15-year-old father. ´Plai Mai Muang´, through natural mating.
2016-11-01 - Phuket, Thailand.
An Australian man who is a resident of Singapore was injured by an elephant in Thailand´s Phuket island on Monday, say local officials. The incident happened on Mai Khao beach on the northern end of the island. The injured man, who is warded at Bangkok Hospital on the resort island, is currently in a stable condition, Mr Sarawut Sisakukam, chief of Mai Khao sub-district administrative organisation, told The Straits Times on Tuesday night. Officials did not name the man.
2016-10-23 - Chanthaburi, Thailand.
Tribal villagers have rescued a baby elephant from capture by Chanthaburi animal hunters in the jungle of Khaeng Hang Maew in Thailand on Wednesday night. The calf, found with an injured leg, is now under the care of local forestry officials, according to the Bangkok Post. The rescuers have named the baby Jam and are now searching for an adoptive mother since its own mom is still missing.
2016-10-10 - Lampang, Thailand.
The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will release captive elephants into the wild on the auspicious occasion of Her Majesty the Queen’s 84th birthday anniversary, the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) said today.
2016-10-07 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Thailand has just announced a new law for all elephant owners which required them to adopt a DNA Registration System to keep track of all captive elephants. This comes in response to a number of investigations carried out by NGO Elephant Family and mounting pressure from the conservation sector.This important step will ensure that captive-bred elephants can be easily distinguished from their wild counterparts.
2016-10-03 - Lampang, Thailand.
One tusk of a pet bull elephant killed in a crash with an inter-provincial bus in Hang Chat district is missing, a senior police officer said on Sunday. The left tusk, about 70cm long and weighing 2kg, broke off after Plai Udom, 8, was killed when the bus rammed into it on late Friday night. Since the crash, the broken tusk has not been found, Pol Lt Col Somboon Yaya, deputy investigation chief at...
2016-10-01 - Lampang, Thailand.
A male elephant was killed and a man badly hurt when an inter provincial bus rammed into it in Hang Chat district late Friday night. All passengers on board the bus were unhurt.
2016-04-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Officials in Thailand say they seized 315 kilograms (695 pounds) of African elephant tusks worth an estimated $800,000 at Bangkok´s international airport. Kulit Sombatsiri, director-general of the Thai Customs Department, said Tuesday that the haul of 87 ivory tusks was found March 27 in a dozen barrels sent from Mozambique on a Kenya Airways flight. A routine X-ray at Suvarnabhumi International Airport detected the contraband.
2016-03-25 - Lampang, Thailand.
The prosthetic leg factory, just for elephants, will soon be operating at Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital in Thailand. This is a unique and wonderful facility that can make and repair custom-fit artificial limbs for elephants who need them.
2016-03-23 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A mahout was killed by an elephant yesterday at Chiang Mai Zoo. Somsak Panna was herding bull elephant Billy back to his corral to feed him breakfast Tuesday morning when the 25-year-old pachyderm gored the keeper with his tusk. “Another worker attempted to stop the elephant, but it was too late,†according to a statement from the zoo published Tuesday evening.
2016-03-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
On March 11, rescue teams and local police in Mae Taeng were called to Elephant Nature Park after a Burmese mahout who had recently visited the center in search for work and to meet with his brother, was trampled in the veterinary enclosure where a rescue elephant known as Mee Sook, was being kept. According to reports, the 10 year old female elephant known as Mee Sook, was rescued from an elephant riding camp in Krabi province.
2015-11-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Many mahouts in Tha Tum and nearby areas on Wednesday were seen registering with the Khotcha-anajak or "Elephant Kingdom" programme at Pudin village in tambon Krapho. The project, operated by the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand, has set aside 25 million baht to improve the living conditions of 200 elephants and their mahouts.
2015-11-17 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Pakkanut Bansiddhi, Preeyanat Vongchan, Achiraya Satityuenyong, Khajohnpat Boonprasert, Sittidet Mahasawangkul, Ronnachit Roongsri, Janine L. Brown and Chatchote Thitaram
The aim of this study was to examine blood compatibility in Asian elephants using the indirect antiglobulin technique, for use as a breeding management tool to reduce the risk of elephant fetal loss. Forty-four blood samples collected from 22 female and 22 male elephants were subjected to standard tube cross-matching tests and examined for macroscopic and microscopic agglutination reactions.
2015-11-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A STARTLED elephant barrelled into a crowd of tourists at Chiang Mai Night Safari on Saturday, mowing down nine, who were offered lifetime passes and Bt30,000 as compensation. The 23-year-old pachyderm named Lamduan had participated in the animal parade for the first time. Four of the injured were in a serious condition and had to stay at the hospital. The other five were allowed to go home.
2015-11-06 - Lampang, Thailand.
Thai Ambassador to Israel Angsana Sihapitak received a $1,500 donation from the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo for an elephant hospital in Lampang, Thailand. The check was delivered Thursday by an Asian elephant named Tamar, who presented it to the ambassador in her trunk.
2015-04-20 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand seized 4 tons of ivory hidden in bean sacks tracked from Congo in what authorities said was the biggest bust in the country’s history, customs officials said Monday. The 739 elephant tusks, bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival at a port in Bangkok on Saturday after the authorities received a tip and had tracked the containers from Congo, Customs Department director-general Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters.
2015-04-09 - Phuket, Thailand. Prasit Tarnsirisin and Alan Morison
Nadia, a juvenile elephant that became target of an online petition to save her from a Phuket resort, has been moved. She has a new home, a new job - and a new name. Managers at the Marina Phuket Resort in Karon told the elephants owners to move her at the weekend from the resort because of an online campaign
2015-04-06 - Phuket, Thailand. Nattha Thepbamrung
Taveesak Sawasdivej, an official with the Muang District Livestock, said that he had led a team to check three places that were accused of abusing elephants, but had found no evidence of this.“This month, we will survey every elephant camp and places that are reported to have elephants working. There will be an annual health check that will include checks on their microchips and the licenses.â€
2014-11-20 - Phuket, Thailand.
The bludgeoning to death of two elephant handlers over just three days this week in separate incidents shows how real the risk is any time that male elephants are used in the tourism industry. Two Russian tourists on board one of the out-of-control elephants were fortunate to escape injury or death.
2014-08-28 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The annual tournament, now in its thirteenth year, will take place at the Siam Polo Park at VR Sports Club in Bangkok between 28-31 August 2014.
2014-05-06 - Prachuab Khiri Khan, Thailand. Post Publishing PCL.
Ivory thieves broke into the Hutsadin Elephant Foundation in Prachuap Khiri Khan province and cut both tusks off an elderly male elephant on Sunday night, and a sacked mahout is one of the suspects. The foundation manager, Piyawut Phetchumpol, said Plai Boonmee, the male elephant, was recovering from the shock of having his ivory snatched and was being given vitamins hidden inside bananas and pineapples.
2014-01-31 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas has confirmed that the King´s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament will this year move from its original home of Hua Hin to the Thai capital of Bangkok. The annual tournament, now in its thirteenth year, will take place at the Siam Polo Park at VR Sports Club in Bangkok between 28-31 August 2014.
2013-11-16 - Surin, Thailand.
The over 200 elephants and mahoots congregate at the Elephant Stadium to the south east of the city centre. Here the main show is performed culminating in a re-enactment of the battles of a past century.
2013-11-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Royal Elephants´ Stable Museum is open to the public on weekdays during office hours, but reservations must be made in advance.The museum was visited by His Majesty the King on Nov 26 last year, officially opened by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on May 13 this year and has been welcoming the general public since last month. Under the supervision of the Royal Chitralada Projects, the museum consists of two former stables for royal elephants covering a total area of 176m2, as well ...
2013-11-03 - Sukhothai, Thailand.
"I am deeply honored to have won the People’s Choice Award. It is a very exciting opportunity to raise the profile for Thailand’s elephants and educate the public about the cruelty elephants suffer when forced to entertain tourists traveling to Thailand," she said. She hopes her work will inspire others to explore and preserve the world around them.
2013-11-03 - Sai Yok, Thailand.
Police released 28 seized elephants back to a kraal in Kanchanaburi´s Sai Yok district on Friday after their owner presented correct registration papers for the animals. The elephants were seized from the Mahawang camp in tambon Wang Kra-jae by the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division on Aug 29.
2013-10-31 - Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
Maybe we need to look at that video again. What appears to be cruel and abusive treatment of a baby elephant may just be a case of young mahouts trying to deal with an animal that was acting, well, like a baby. That´s what the two teenage mahouts involved in the incident claimed yesterday. Local authorities and wildlife officials yesterday visited the home of Sarayuth Khamkonyai, 50, the owner of the four-year-old elephant shown in the video clip which was circulated online last week.
Police have launched a hunt for two teenage mahouts who were filmed attacking a baby elephant on a street in Ubon Ratchathani province. Wildlife officials yesterday filed police complaints against the two mahouts. The video clip has been circulating online since late last week and shows two young mahouts using hooks to attack a baby elephant after it collapsed from exhaustion because of a lack of food and water.
2013-10-26 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Hundreds of mahouts gathered with their elephants yesterday at Ayutthaya´s elephant corral and called on the government not to approve the draft Wild Animals Preservation and Protection Bill, which would transfer the ownership of domesticated elephants to a state agency supervising wildlife protection.
2013-10-26 - Phuket, Thailand.
Kathu district chief officer Veera Kerdsirimongkol visited a coconut farm yesterday afternoon (October 25) in Baan Bangthong, Kathu, following a complaint. Here Mr Veera found a one-year-old baby elephant, named Sukjai, chained to a tree. The elephant is believed to have been smuggled to Phuket without any permit. At the scene was Prasop Jerkaew, 37, who is understood to have brought the elephant to Phuket from Phang Nga two days ago, and did not report it to authorities.
2013-10-22 - SURAT THANI, Thailand.
Park officials on Tuesday said they are investigating the death of a wild female elephant believed to have been electrocuted and killed on an orchard near Tai Rom Yen National Park in Kanchanadit district. The dead elephant was found by the road side adjacent to an orchard around 300 metres from one of the six national parks in Surat Thani province. A team of park officials and veterinarians found a wooden pole wrapped with a 200-Volt electric wire in a shack about five metres from the animal, p...
2013-10-04 - Lampang, Thailand.
Naetiwin Amorsin, the owner of a four-year-old female elephant, Phang Taengmo, submitted a complaint with Surapong Kongchantuk, a member of the Lawyer´s Council of Thailand’s human rights committee, on Monday. The mahout asked for legal action against the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) for unfairly confiscating his elephant, and for putting the animal at risk of "imminent death" because of poor treatment
2013-09-06 - Na Jomtien, Thailand.
Police and wildlife officials raided a Najomtien elephant camp, arresting its owners for illegal documentation seizing a wild elephant 47-year-old elephant “Phunzup,” sold as domesticated using falsified documentation. The arrest came as Thai officials launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal elephants, many of which were shipped over the border from Myanmar with falsified documents.
2013-08-21 - Phuket, Thailand.
Elephant camp owners and officials met yesterday (August 20) to hammer out a code of management for the camps, which have so far been pretty much unhampered by regulations. In addition to the excess elephants, the meeting, held at Phuket City Municipality, discussed the smuggling of elephants onto the island, unregistered sales of elephants from one camp to another, hygiene – or the lack of it – at the elephant camps and the effect of elephant ‘pollution’ on the surrounding area.
2013-08-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police said Wednesday they had seized 16 elephants from tourist destinations as part of a nationwide swoop on operators suspected of using smuggled wild pachyderms for entertainment. The animals were removed on Tuesday and Wednesday from camps in the southern and eastern resort areas of Koh Chang in Trat and Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga provinces, which are popular with holidaymakers, said Watcharin Phoosit, from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division.
2013-07-10 - Phuket, Thailand.
A 50-year-old female elephant called Wasana, died yesterday (July 9) after a long illness at the Baan Chang Safari elephant trekking camp on the Patong-Karon road. Weerasit Puthipairoj, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office, told The Phuket News, “I was told the elephant was ill last week but was revived by a veterinary team. But today she collapsed again and died.”
2013-06-28 - Phuket, Thailand.
Smugglers attempting to transport three elephants onto Phuket illegally were nabbed by livestock officials at 3am today. Phuket Livestock Director Werasit Puphipairoj told Phuketwan today that he was aghast to find the elephant smugglers were carrying fake documents in his name. Nine people on two six-wheel trucks were apprehended, together with female adult elephants Kamsan, 26, Kanoon, 13, and a two-year-old male juvenile, Noppakao.
2013-06-06 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Two men suspected of killing two elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park were arrested on Thursday, police said. Sanya Tuansap, 37, and his brother, Veerapong, 25, were caught in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan. They face charges of illegally killing the elephants inside the borders of the park in Kaeng Krachan district of Phetchaburi, police said.
2013-06-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A Fowlerville native, Ward graduated from Michigan State University’s veterinary school May 3 and was on a plane to Thailand the following Monday to start her new job at Elephant Nature Park. Ward arrived with four trunks of elephant-scaled polyflex bandages from Neogen. A shocking number of elephants — up to 60 percent, Ward said — die during training for the tourist trade.
2013-06-05 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Does anyone else, apart from Mrs Lek Chailert, believe its enough to "isolate" a TB positive elephant, in a place with a +70 elephants turnover throughout the years, 16 deaths with no public autopsy reports, and apr 100 international visitors daily, included children? ENP has a very intensive physical contact between humans and elephants, including a special kiss-an-elephant event?
2013-05-16 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
In addition to managing the Elephant Camp, GTAEF and research conducted by Think Elephants International, in his new worldwide conservation role, Roberts’ expertise and enthusiasm will benefit all Anantara properties, as well as guests.
2013-05-14 - KANCHANABURI, Thailand.
A mahout was killed by an elephant in Sai Yok district yesterday, police said. The incident took place at Mahawang elephant camp in Moo 6 of tambon Wang Krajae, Sai Yok district police station chief Pol Col Bandit Muangsukham said. Witness Rawee Wongnongphlab, 29, who also works at the camp, told police the elephant, a female called Bua Ngern, became agitated when the mahout, 19-year-old Phech Prueksa, tried to unchain it.
2013-05-11 - KAO LOOK CHANG, Thailand.
The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand sanctuary covers 25 hectares (61 acres) of jungle near the village of Kao Look Chang. It was launched 12 years ago with only a few dozen animals by Edwin Wiek, a Dutch national who left his job in the fashion industry to dedicate himself to the conservation movement. The sanctuary was raided in February and about 100 animals were seized. Wiek is charged with sheltering wildlife illegally and a verdict is expected next month.
2013-05-11 - Phuket, Thailand. Sert Tongdee
Two young elephants at Phuket camps, Dollar and Namphon, are suspected to have been poached and the legitimacy of another 61 elephants remains in question after raids yesterday. While the animals remain at the camps and further tests are to be undertaken on Phuket elephants, those found to have been poached will be confiscated.
2013-05-06 - Phang Nga, Thailand.
Officers from the regional Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division raided seven tour companies in Phang Nga this week following reports that the companies were in possession of illegal elephants. The officers found a total of 40 elephants they suspect of being acquired illegally. Col Watcharin Phusit, who headed the elephant raids in Phuket last year, also led the raids north of Phuket. “We investigated the ATV Tour Company, Pang Kaew elephant camp, Andaman Adventures ...
2013-05-05 - Kaeng Krachan, Thailand.
In early March, Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn was outraged to learn of another elephant killing in the area he oversees. A female elephant about 15 years old was discovered close to Krarang 3 Reservoir shot in the head and brutally axed, milk still flowing from her breast. Investigators reasoned that the elephant had a baby with her at the time of the killing.
2013-04-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
They are undertaking the search in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province after a photographer had reported seeing one in a herd on April 10. Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said cameras will be installed along elephant trails inside the park to help in the search. Officials would also send camera-mounted UAVs into the forest. "If it is a white elephant, we will consider how to deal with it," he said.
2013-04-28 - PHETCHABURI, Thailand.
A hunt is on for a possible white elephant in Kaeng Krachan National Park, with a reward of 5 million baht being offered to hunters who can capture the elephant – if it exists. The sighting of the white elephant was reported by Apichart Puangnoi, a photographer who visited Krarang Sam reservoir in tambon Pa Teng on April 10, where a pregnant elephant was found dead the day before. Mr Apichart spotted the calf from still photos of an elephant herd he took and then reported the sighting to ...
2013-04-26 - Bangkok, Thailand.
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, 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.
2013-04-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A Laotian-Vietnamese wildlife trafficker and influential local people are believed to be behind the slaying of wild elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. Elephant expert Dulasit Snidwongs na Ayutthaya said the alleged Laotian wildlife trafficker who has Vietnamese nationality was Roi or Doi Jantawongsa. She, and influential people, including a Thai policeman and his Vietnamese wife, who live in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, worked together and were allegedly involve...
2013-04-20 - Pattay, Thailand.
On Thursday Morning two male elephants fought to the death at a popular Elephant Park in Na-Jomtien as workers and tourists looked on, powerless to stop the two large mammals who were reportedly fighting over a female elephant who was ready to mate. The fight was between a 30 year old elephant named as “Pai Noiâ€, who had been purchased from a park in Surin Province for the purpose of mating with the female elephant at the Khao Chi Chan Elephant Park in Na-Jomtien, and “Pai Somb...
2013-03-25 - Phetchaburi, Thailand.
Provincial Police Region 7 officers backed by special units of the Royal Thai Army have seized a large quantity of hunting weapons as the investigation continues into the killing of a female elephant with a calf in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. A 375-strong force drawn from the police and the army launched raids on Monday morning in four tambons in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province, and Kaeng Krachan district, Phetchaburi province, Pol Lt Gen Harnpol Nitwibul, commiss...
2013-03-22 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Of the 28 elephants that wander the Pattaya Elephant Village, only one greets tourists and poses with pictures. And that great mammal is mastered by the area’s most-revered mahout. Ya Sukhree of Surin and his 16-year-old cow Birdy took center stage at the camp’s Thai Elephant Day ceremonies March 13.
2013-03-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was organized to limit exploitation of international trade of wild animals and plants. Their latest meeting is currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand and two PLOS ONE papers provided evidence to support the enhanced protection of two threatened species – African forest elephants and oceanic whitetip sharks.
2013-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The world´s top officials on illegal ivory trading say Thailand and other "gang of eight" countries must stop the business within a year or suffer severe trade sanctions. British newspaper the Guardian quoted the officials as identifying the other countries involved as source nations Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, "enabling" countries Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and destination countries Thailand and China. Tom de Meulenaer, a senior Cites official at the body´s conferen...
2013-03-07 - Rayong, Thailand.
At 5:30 p.m., a report of an elephant killing a Thai female tourist was received by Pol. Lt. Capt. Thawatch Norsingha, Muangrayong police station, Rayong. Rescuers from Sawangpornkusol foundation Rayong reported that a 2-year-old elephant went insane and used its tusk to gore a Thai tourist on Maerampung beach. The victim was severely injured and died in Rayong hospital. Police officers arriving at the scene found the elephant, named Plai Boonchoo, 2 years old, was being chained on his front leg...
2013-02-24 - Phuket, Thailand.
Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officers, non-governmental organizations and legal wildlife and fauna traders attended a one day meeting in Phuket as part of the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) being held in Thailand. Members of the meeting expressed their gratitude for the honor of holding the event in Thailand, as the Kingdom attempts to buff its tarnished reputation for being an international tran...
2012-12-26 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand´s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is introducing its new ivory trade control measures to protect Thailand from trade barriers imposed by member countries of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
2012-12-09 - Phuket, Thailand.
The management at Laguna Resorts & Hotels, which operates the five-hotel resort complex on Phuket’s west coast, have issued a statement about the baby elephant “Joeyâ€, which was seized in raids in Phuket in February. Ziya Birkan, Deputy Managing Director at Laguna Resorts & Hotels, wrote in the statement: “We’re very pleased the authorities have resolved the question of Joey’s parentage through DNA testing, but obviously disapp...
2012-11-29 - Lampang, Thailand.
While baby elephants Joey and Popeye are now back living with their mother in the government-owned Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) in Lampang, Somchok from Phu Thai Review Souvenir Market in Chalong and Nampetch from Laguna Excursions in Cherng Talay - who were subjected to similar DNA tests - have been found to have been acquired legally and have returned to their respective places of work today
2012-11-27 - Lampang, Thailand. Apinya Wipatayotin
Most elephants living in captivity across the country suffer from work overload, malnutrition, and poor living conditions, says the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. Sittidet Mahasawongkul, head of the Lampang-based centre´s elephant hospital yesterday said he and his team recently conducted elephant health check-ups at several elephant camps and found most of the animals were ailing due to poor care. There are about 2,000 captive elephants in shelters across the country.
2012-10-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
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 nu...
2012-10-16 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Anantara Resorts, one of the world´s most expensive resort chains, has debuted some of the world´s costliest coffee at its Maldives properties. Just one thing though: The coffee beans are harvested from elephant dung. The coffee beans, called Black Ivory and priced at $1,100 per kilogram, are digested by an elephant before you drink it. There are only 50 kilograms, or about 110 pounds, currently for sale.
2012-10-12 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Civet dung coffee? Old news. The big story these days is coffee made with beans that have been pooped out by elephants. At least that´s the claim of Thailand´s Anantara hotels, which refines its own beans at its massive elephant camp behind its Golden Triangle resort in Chiang Rai.
2012-09-06 - Phuket, Thailand.
The inspection of elephant camps in Southern Thailand, geared to ensure that all pachyderms on the premises are legal, started on Monday and will include searches of the locations in Phuket where elephants were seized earlier this year.“We received an order on Monday from National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department [DNP] Director-General Damrong Phidet to send Regional Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division [NREC] officers to investigate elephant camps ...
2012-08-26 - Lopburi, Thailand.
Early on April 17, while most Thais were recovering from their traditional Songkran celebrations, a baby elephant was born in a wilderness reserve in central Thailand. This was an important moment not just for Jarunee, a 15-year-old former tourist elephant from Surin, who had carried the baby inside her for 22 months.
2012-07-31 - Surin, Thailand.
An elephant stomped a 50year old man to death before the alms offering ceremony on elephants´ backs began yesterday at Surin. The event was being held to welcome PM Yingluck Shinawatra´s mobile cabinet meeting. The unnamed victim, who appeared drunk, reportedly sneaked into the area where the elephants were kept at Wat Jumpol Sutthawat, and played with an elephant there. It got upset, grabbed him by its trunk, threw him onto a tree, and stomped on him after he landed.
2012-05-21 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This is an International training course on the Management of the Health, reproduction and breeding of Asian elephants. The course has two components, a stand-alone distance (online-based) course that is designed to provide you with background knowledge in elephant reproduction and health so that you will be able to fully engage with the one-week practical training course in Chiang Mai in Thailand.
2012-05-03 - Pattaya, Thailand.
A 35 year old Elephant has given birth at Nong Nooch Gardens after a 24 month gestation period. We understand this is the 39th child of the father of the newborn. After a 10 hour labour, the new baby boy was born to the delight of workers at Nong Nooch who monitored the birth throughout the night.
2012-05-01 - Surin, Thailand.
Ban Ta Klang in Surin province is Thailand´s largest elephant village and where elephant raising has been passed down through generations for centuries. People here speak the Kui language and have well-preserved their ancient culture and traditions, such as the worshipping of ancestors before capturing wild elephants and the wedding and monk ordination procession on elephant-back.
2012-04-08 - Chiang Rai, Thailand. John Roberts
He’ll be kept on a long chain for a week or two until he gets used to where he is, he’ll then be put into ever increasing electrically fenced areas until, in a couple of months he’ll be put out into the 160,000 acres of protected forest and become one of the Queen’s Own Roaming Elephants.
2012-03-31 - Bangkok, Thailand.
At this time of writing, 26 elephants without registration papers have been confiscated and impounded at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC), a government-run facility and elephant hospital. TECC has confirmed that eight elephants have tested positive in the screening process for TB, two have tested positive with a tetanus, and one of those elephants with tetanus has died. At the March 13th National Elephant Day symposium in Bangkok, the DNP Chief estimated that 10% of the captive eleph...
2012-03-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Eight of them have tuberculosis, while the others had blood infections and other ailments. The elephants were seized on Feb 29 by National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department officials, who suspected the animals had been obtained illegally. A female called Sri Thong, died on March 20 and health checks on the other 18 conducted by Department of Livestock officials found 15 of them to be in poor health. Mr Sittidet, chief of the state-run Elephant Hospital at the National Elephant In...
2012-03-18 - Krabi, Thailand.
The owner of the elephant found mutilated in Krabi on Thursday has confessed to working the animal to death. Local villagers had discovered the gruesome remains, now identified as that of 49-year-old elephant Plai Boonam. The front of the head had been hacked off and the elephant’s tusk was missing. In response, Krabi Muang District Chief Yutisak Akeakkara and Wiboon Lerdwattnasombut, chief of the Krabi Livestock Office, launched an investigation into the cause of death of the pachyderm.
2012-03-18 - Phuket, Thailand.
Police from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division have confirmed that 27 out of 37 elephants seized from elephant camps in Phuket for inspection have the same identity as that stated in their official papers. Police seized the 37 elephants from four camps for inspection on February 27. Of the 27 "confirmed" elephants, nine belong to At Hill Adventure Tours 2009 camp and other 18 are owned by Siam Safari Nature Tours camp.
2012-03-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Damrong Pidech, chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, yesterday said the department backed plans to amend regulations on issuing ID cards to captive elephants to make it an effective tool to prevent poaching. Mr Damrong was speaking at a seminar to mark Thai Elephant Day yesterday. Under current regulations, an ID card is issued to a captive elephant when it is eight years old. However, Mr Damrong said the ID cards should be issued to a calf as young as thre...
2012-03-05 - Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.
Male elephant Sidor Plaiwan collapsed and died from heart failure after chasing its mahout in Nakhon Si Thammarat province on Saturday. The mahout was unhurt. The 25-year-old jumbo killed its previous owner when it went berserk last month. The bizarre incident happened in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. The 25-year-old elephant, Sidor Plaiwan, which had killed its previous owner while also in a frenzy of lust, died of heart failure on Saturday night after chasing its owner along a hill. The elepha...
2012-02-29 - Kanchanburi, Thailand.
Elephant park operators have threatened to block major roads with their jumbos if wildlife officials continue to seize animals from private shelters. Rangsri Paisa-ard, who said he was a representative of elephant parks, made the threat after officials from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department confiscated 19 elephants at Saiyok Elephant Park in Kanchanaburi´s Sai Yok district yesterday. Mr Rangsri is also president of Tambon Lumsum Administration Organisation in S...
2012-02-28 - Phuket, Thailand.
The owners of the Kinnari Elephant Camp in Rawai this morning announced the birth of a baby elephant at the camp. Pang Saifon, born at 1:49am, is the second elephant to be born at the camp. The newborn weighs 75 kilograms and is in perfect health, said Jirayu Nirunwiroj, a veterinarian from the Phuket Livestock Office’s Animal Health Development division.
The legal status of 37 elephants is currently under investigation in Phuket, following official raids on four elephant trekking camps on the island on Monday. Nine elephants were seized from AT Hill Adventure Tour, eight from ATV Seaview Tour, two from Laguna Excursions in Cherng Talay and 18 from Siam Safari. All elephants are allowed to keep working, but cannot be moved from the camps until the investigation, which aims to determine the elephant’s legality, has been completed.
2012-02-27 - Phuket, Thailand.
Two of the three young elephants “seized†from elephant trekking camps in Phuket on February 10, have been confirmed as being linked to 19 elephants confiscated in Sai Yoke, Kanchanaburi Province, on January. The two animals, Popeye and Joey, were officially seized on February 10 but were left in place while authorities carried out checks to see whether they were related to the illegally held animals discovered in Sai Yoke.
2012-02-25 - Pattaya, Thailand.
It was indeed happy news announced on Friday at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Na-Jomtien, when management proclaimed that one of their female elephants, Pangubon had successfully given birth to a baby elephant. Both mother and baby are in good health.
2012-02-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police arrested Manoon Ruengworraset, his son Withoon, and Panya Samranphis for possessing carcasses of protected animals without permission, after a raid at their homes turned up several organs of elephants, including penises, and ivory. While in police custody, the three suspects implicated Lookkaew Uppatham and Jan Kuafoo for allegedly killing a number of elephants and butchering them for meat and ivory. Police are also on the hunt for Somphorn Jorkai, who has been implicated in poaching.
2012-02-15 - Phuket, Thailand.
Three elephant camps in Phuket are being investigated after concerns were raised about the origins of the baby elephants in their possession. Officers of Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok investigated Phuthai Souvenir Market in Chalong, ATV Elephant Camp near the Big Buddha image in Karon and Sheraton Camp in Cheng Talay to determine if the baby elephants were born in the wild or not. “We came down to examine the elephant camps in Phuket as part of our investigat...
2012-02-14 - Surin, Thailand.
The provincial administrative organization in Surin will hold the sixth “Wedding on the back of an Elephant” event on Valentine’s Day on 14th February 2012. About 55 local and foreign couples are expected to take part in the wedding. Mr. Thongchai Mungcharoenphorn, president of the Surin provincial administrative organization, said the event will take place at Ban Ta Klang Elephant Village in Tambon Krapoh of Thatoom district, Surin province. The event is aimed at promoting warmth, family ...
2012-02-11 - Phuket, Thailand.
Representatives of the three camps, the Sheraton Elephant Camp in Cherng Talay, and the Phu Thai Review Souvenir Market and ATV Review Elephant Trekking Camp, both in Chalong, admitted they had rented the young elephants, which were being used to attract tourists, from an elephant camp in Sai Yoke District, Kanjanaburi Province.
2012-02-08 - , Thailand.
When two Bangkok cops spotted a man on a street last Saturday whose hands were caked in blood, they decided some tough questioning was in order. The man led them to a nearby house where they found a group of men cutting up two tiger carcasses, over 400 kilos of tiger meat, and bodies and body parts of zebras, crocodiles, wild buffaloes and an elephant. Police arrested seven men and a few days later apprehended the house owner and alleged ring leader, who is denying all charges.
2012-02-02 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A new type of identity card should be issued for elephants, which should have embedded microchips, an updated photograph every six months and an updated record of every unique change, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said yesterday. The proposal will be taken to the Interior Ministry, and if it is okayed, permission for the movement of every elephant will have to come from provincial governors. This should make illegal movement or getting the pachyderms to beg more difficult, perma...
2012-01-31 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Authorities in Kanchanaburi and from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department have seized 51 elephants from three elephant camps in Sai Yok district for inspection. Two more camps will be inspected this week in an effort to stop people taking the identity papers of dead elephants and passing the documents off as those of elephants taken from the wild.
2012-01-30 - Phuket, Thailand.
Jaruwan Wathanapumchoo and her brother Prasit yesterday publicly refuted all allegations that they were in any way involved in the trafficking of elephant meat to Phuket to serve as “exotic food” in selected restaurants. The public joint-statement, made at a press conference at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday, follows allegations of elephant meat trading made against them by two national newspapers. According to Ms Jaruwan, both the Daily News and Thai Rath Today published articles stating ...
2012-01-30 - Buri Ram, Thailand.
Local authorities in Thailand´s northeastern Buri Ram province urge elephant owners to register their animals in order to prevent abuse or fake registration. In the effort to prevent slaughter and cruelty acts to elephants, regarded Thai national symbol, District Chief of Satuek district Damrongchai Neramit-takapong elephant owners to file registration of their animals with the District Administration and report status in such cases as sale and death.
2012-01-30 - Lampang, Thailand.
Preecha planned to build a DNA database on 4,000 or so domesticated elephants in order to stop people taking over identity papers of deceased pachyderms and replacing them with elephants taken in the wild. After a Wednesday press conference to discuss the February 35 elephant fair at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang´s Hang Chat district, Preecha said he would contact the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of issuing elephant identification papers, for information about the be...
2012-01-18 - PHETCHABURI, Thailand.
An assistant to the chief of the Kaeng Krachan National Park wanted by police in connection with the burning of a wild elephant carcass early this month has turned himself in. Suriyon Pothibandit, assistant to Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Chaiwat Limlikit-auksorn, surrendered to Kaeng Krachan police, who are investigating the elephant killing and burning case. Five elephants were recently found shot dead and their carcasses burnt in the park. Police have laid charges against five park staff...
2012-01-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The declaration was signed yesterday by eight state agencies, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand, the Kui Buri Wild Elephant Conservation and Environment and Tambon Hat Kham Administrative Organisation. It originated from His Majesty the King´s idea - expressed on July 5, 1999 - for a conservation strategy to rehabilitate the 18,000 rai of agriculture lands, deemed the Kui Buri Forest encroachment, to be the home and food source for elephants and other wildlife.
2012-01-15 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Accusations fly between Kaeng Krachan park chief and local villagers over who killed five jumbos. The brutal slaying of wild elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park has taken a nasty turn with five officials suspected of being involved.
2012-01-05 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai wildlife officials on Thursday said body parts from a dead wild elephant found without its tusks, tail and penis were likely destined for restaurants in tourist areas. The creature, which was discovered in Kaeng Krachan National Park near the Myanmar border in central Thailand on Monday, is believed to have died at the hands of a local gang of poachers.
2011-11-25 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
A 50-year-old British man has dragged a piano up a mountain in Thailand - so he could play Beethoven for blind elephants. Paul Barton achieved a long-held ambition as he sat behind his piano, just a few metres away for the graceful giants, calmly playing his instrument. He decided to do the challenge to help fund raising for the blind elephants, which live in a sanctuary on the mountains of Kanchanaburi, north-east of Bangkok.
2011-11-23 - Ban Ta Klang, Thailand. Dan Koehl
Mew Salangam, was born 1926 in the village of Ban Ta Klang. Altogether he has caught 50-60 elephants, the last catch was about 1970, 40 years ago. Now 85 years, he is one of the five oldest Mor Chang (highranked elephant trainers) of Kui tribe, having the rank Sadam. His father had 5 elephants, which he started to work with, when he was 10 years old. After his fathers death, being the only son, he inherited those elephants, and caught another 5 for himself. His last two elephants were passed to ...
2011-11-21 - Surin, Thailand. Dan Koehl
King Naresuan´s elephant is now standing out on the stadium field, prepared to battle. The black color also has a reason; Naresuan (then known as Prince Naret) was also known as the Black Prince (Thai: พระà¸à¸‡à¸„์ดำ). His younger brother Ekathotsarot was known as the White Prince, and his elder sister Suphankanlaya was known as the Golden Princess.
2011-11-15 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Elephant Kraal or Wangchang Ayutthaya corral, a major tourist attraction in the central province of Ayutthaya, will reopen Nov 15 as the severe flooding has eased, according to owner Laithongrien Meepan.
2011-11-01 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
A group of elephants is facing a second month cut off by floods in this submerged Thai city, stranded on a small concrete island at an animal shelter just a few yards (meters) wide. The group of 17 includes seven pachyderms under 4 years old who were too small to flee when the rest of their nearly 90-strong herd escaped approaching floodwaters that engulfed this historic city north of Bangkok more than a month ago.
2011-10-26 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Residents help ´Phungbunma´, female elephant that had fallen in the eucalyptus jungle and could not get up on her own, she is a tour elephant that the mahout had tied from being ill in an area vegetated with Eucalyptus not far from the Maaprachan reservoir.
2011-09-30 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Thailand’s most-famous living elephant nearly went to the big pachyderm park in the sky after a veterinarian’s injection prompted a stagger and fall into a muddy pool at the Pattaya Floating Market. Somrak, whose handler claims is a record-shattering 115 years old, was rescued by staff and residents near the market’s elephant camp Sept. 21.
2011-09-23 - Phuket, Thailand. Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian
A rogue elephant responsible for two terrifying rampages on Phuket in which the legs of tourists were broken could already be back making elephant treks on Phuket. Captain, a 22-year-old male, attacked another elephant on a trek on September 12, leaving Ukrainian honeymooner Tetiana Meia, 26, still recovering today in a Phuket hospital from a compound leg fracture. Swedish tourist Gustav Karlsson, 31, suffered similar breaks when he leapt from the back of Captain in full rampage early last year.
2011-09-19 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Tell most Americans you spent Sunday watching some large creatures chasing a ball around a field and they will assume you went to an NFL football game. But say that to someone in Thailand and they might assume you attended the King´s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament in the town of Hua Hin. The annual event raises money for the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand, which cares for more than 60 elephants and their "mahouts," the people who drive the lumbering giants.
2011-09-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai veterinarians say a 22-year-old elephant was wounded when he wandered into neighboring Myanmar and stepped on a land mine. Soraida Salwala of the Friends of the Asian Elephant conservation group in northern Thailand says the pachyderm´s left foot was severely hurt in Sunday´s blast in Myanmar´s Kayin state.
2011-09-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A new film that highlights the plight of Asian Elephant landmine survivors.
2011-07-31 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is on Sept. 5-11 in the seaside town of Hua Hin. Returning to its original venue, the annual charity tournament has become one of the country’s largest tourist events. It has raised more than $300,000, primarily for the National Elephant Institute, which provides medical care, sustenance, employment and mahout training for Thailand’s elephant population
2011-06-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The scientists from the Northeastern Research Institute of Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University found seven pieces of fossil tooth in Nakhon Ratchasima´s Chalerm Phrakiat district about 10 years ago. "The fossils are different from other ancient elephants found in Egypt, Kenya, Europe and China," said Chavalit Vidthayanon, deputy director of the institute. "This is the first time we have found such a species in Thailand," he said, adding the discove...
2011-05-16 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
2011-04-12 - Surin, Thailand.
The submissions of some 180 elephants from Ban Ta Klang in Surin, Thailand, made the database tip over 7000 elephants. The elephant database now includes 7081 elephants from 1980 location facilities in 110 countries.
2011-04-03 - Surat Thani, Thailand.
In January 2011, Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp situated in the centre of Cheow Larn Lake in Khao Sok National Park, was added to the already successful nature tours offered by Elephant Hills Safaris. As well as elephant trekking, the new luxury floating camp on Cheow Larn Lake in Khao Sok National Park is now on offer, a unique rainforest experience.
2011-03-27 - Surat Thani, Thailand.
TWO MALE elephants fought over a female on a trekking ride through Khao Sok National Park, north of Phuket, trampling one tourist to death and leaving several others with injuries. A Swiss woman has been killed, and an Australian woman and two other victims are being treated for injuries in Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket City. One person remains in intensive care after the incident, which occurred yesterday, Phuketwan reporters learned at the hospital
2011-03-13 - , Thailand.
In May 1998, the Cabinet approved the designation of March 13 as Thai Elephants Day to raise and sustain public awareness of the importance of elephants. Elephant are recognzied as the national animal of Thailand. National Elephant Day is an occasion when people show their love for elephants and many of the elephant parks hold special events where visitors can look after the animals and help with the feeding.
2011-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The more than 1,600 tusks seized since the beginning of 2009 by Thai customs indicate that more than 800 elephants were slaughtered to feed a murky and voracious international market. "Thailand is still ranked number one" in the ivory traffic rankings, said Chris Shepherd, deputy manager for Southeast Asia at wildlife protection group Traffic.
2011-02-15 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ewa Narkiewicz
Galaget decided to drop her bundle so her little boy could be called Valentine! A big strapping boy with long tail and excellent structure, this is Galaget´s third baby and with same father Junboon as Angpow so they are officially related. As usual mother and baby are doing extremely well!
2011-01-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The weekend of the 15th and 16th of January 2011 we invite you to join our ‘Bike for Elephants’ tour in Northern Thailand. Two days of adventure and fun biking through the Mae Tang valley, in Chiang Mai province. This event will raise much needed funds for the Elephant Nature Park and create awareness about the plight of Thai elephants.
2010-12-09 - Kandy, Thailand. Asela KURULUWANSA and Indika POLKOTUWA
Sri Lankan Veterinary Scientists are far ahead of their counterparts in other Asian countries such as India, Thailand and Myanmar, said Peradeniya University Veterinary Science Senior Lecturer Ashoka Dangolla addressing the media at Kandy Sinhala Traders´ Front auditorium Monday. he said that only two percent of elephants in Sri Lanka die when being transferred from one forest to another, whereas in other Asian countries the corresponding figure is about 10 percent.
2010-10-21 - Kui Buri National Park , Thailand.
Poachers have shot dead a male elephant and hacked its face to dig out its tusks. Kui Buri National Park chief Boonlue Poonnil said yesterday that forest rangers saw two men slashing something in deep jungle in Sam Roi Yot district on Wednesday night. The men fled after spotting the rangers.Authorities investigating the scene found the carcass of a male elephant aged from five to 10 years.
2010-10-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand evacuated dozens of elephants from a popular tourist attraction Monday after they were threatened by floods that submerged homes and paralyzed transportation in parts of the country. The rescue operation in Ayutthaya province, north of the capital, had 92 of the endangered beasts moved from a site known as Elephant Village, said manager Ittiporn Kaolamai.
2010-09-15 - Lampang, Thailand.
An eight-month-old elephant injured by a landmine is receiving treatment at an elephant hospital in Northern Thailand. The male calf, Pangboon, stepped on a landmine in Myanmar on Monday. It has been following its logging elephant mother to work in the forest along the Thai-Burmese border. With its right front foot shredded, Pangboon is the 14th landmine casualty to be treated at Thailand´s Friends of the Asian Elephants Hospital in Lampang this year.
2010-09-13 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Taiwan donated US$10,000 to a Thai wildlife conservation group Monday as part of its efforts to help protect elephants and their natural habitat in the southwestern. It marked the third consecutive year that Taiwan has given funding to the Elephant Conservation Network (ECN) , which works to secure the future of elepha
2010-08-10 - Krabi, Thailand.
Krabi has been chosen for the first elephant hospital in the country´s South to treat animals which have been injured while working in plantations and in the tourism industry. More than 800 elephants work in rubber plantations and at tourist sites in the southern provinces, but there are limited veterinary services in the area to treat the animals, National Elephant Institute director Worrawit Rothjanaphaithoon said.
2010-08-05 - Lampang, Thailand.
Veterinarians were treating the latest land mine victim from the embattled Thai-Myanmar border Thursday, a 22-year-old female elephant whose foot was blown off by the explosion. "We have now monitored her condition for 48 hours after we cleaned the wound and injected pain killers. We will give her a tetanus shot later today. Overall, she is a good condition. She is obedient and can eat normally," said Dr. Preecha Phuangkam, a veterinarian and the hospital director.
2010-07-21 - Trat, Thailand.
A rare elephant round-up ritual has been performed in Trat to return a stray wild elephant to its natural habitat. The ritual, which took place yesterday, is usually only seen in shows for tourists in Surin, a province long renowned for the skill of its elephant handlers in capturing and training wild elephants.
2010-07-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A large shipment of illicit ivory has been seized in Thailand after the elephant tusks were smuggled from Africa in pallets labeled as plywood furniture or notepads. Customs authorities said Friday the 765 kilograms (1,683 pounds) of elephant tusks seized Tuesday was Thailand´s third big ivory seizure this year.
2010-07-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
You can still feed elephants in Thailand´s bustling capital — but it could cost you. Bangkok authorities said Monday anyone caught handing bunches of bananas or sugar cane to the hulking beasts — proffered by their handlers in a ruse to make money — faces a $320 (10,000 baht) fine.
2010-05-31 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
A new little bundle of joy has brought a token of good luck to the delight of the on-site Elephant Camp at Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The baby elephant was born at 4.10 am on the 23rd of May 2010, and was welcomed into the world with the nickname Nong Phil.
2010-05-31 - The Imperial Maeping Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This symposium has been organised in the context of the ASIA Link project ‘Elephant Health and Reproduction’, a project subsidised by the EU involving Utrecht University, Chiang Mai University (Thailand), Peradeniya University (Sri Lanka) and The Zoological Society of London (UK), among other partners. The results of the project are discussed each year during an annual conference, and are relevant for the ASIA Link Project partners, zoo owners and wildlife preservationists.
2010-05-24 - Lampang, Thailand.
At the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand with practical training and field work at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, National Elephant Institute Forest Industry Organization and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, Doi Pha Muang Wildlife Sanctuary, Lampang, Thailand. Distance learning: 26 April – 10 May 2010 (Home country: Internet-based) 2) Lectures & Practical training: 24 – 28 May 2010 (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
2010-04-21 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ayinde O. Chase
Thai authorities announced Wednesday they had seized 1.4 tons of ivory tusks. The illegal ivory haul is worth nearly $2.2 million. The 296 tusks were confiscated at Bangkok International airport and originated from Qatar. Acting on a tip, customs officials found the tusks Saturday in a shipment declared as “printing metal.” The shipment was slated for a Thai company based in the capital. According to officials, the elephant tusks weighed 3,058 pounds and most likely originated from southern ...
2010-03-22 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Milk from three elephants in Ayutthaya is being extracted to feed an injured newborn calf in the southern province of Chumphon. Nopporn Kawkanitharak, of the Chumphon livestock office, travelled to the Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya yesterday to pick up the milk to be taken back to Chumphon to feed Plai Huay Yai. Plai Huay Yai, aged 15 days old, strayed from the wild herd and fell into the Huay Yai ravine in Phato district of Chumphon recently.
2010-03-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
"Was I shocked? No. But I grieved for the grisly fate of those elephants," says Tanat Suvattanametakul. The director of the Clearance Customs Bureau at Suvarnabhumi airport recounted his feelings after opening two large pallets at a cargo building of the airport on the night of Feb24. He found 239 pieces of elephant tusk weighing two tonnes. The contraband was valued at 120 million baht.
2010-03-01 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
All the happiness of this world lies on his back - the elephant! At least in northern Thailand, where more and more tourists on holiday to live with pachyderms, riding under the expert guidance through the jungle, while exploring the nature and the lives of mountain peoples. Ironically a former keeper of the Berlin Friedrichsfelde Zoo in Thailand is now one of the most respected leaders and elephant trainer. The animals also need urgent assistance. Because the number of elephants in Asia is gett...
2010-02-26 - Koh Lanta, Thailand.
A new female baby elephant was born on February 17th at a safari at Klong Jak village of Lanta Yai island. The baby drew vast attention from residents and tourists alike. The owner, 26 year- old Pimonrat Insamran, said the new baby was born from a 30 year- old mother which had been relocated from Samui Island just two months ago. The baby is, however, 1 month premature, but the vet has confirmed that she is normal and healthy. Pimonrat told reporters that she usually works with the elephant on t...
2010-02-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand has seized two tons of elephant tusks from Africa hidden in pallets labeled as mobile phone parts in the country's largest ivory seizure. Thai Customs officials valued Wednesday night's haul at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 120 million baht ($3.6 million). It is further sign that Thailand is emerging as a hub for the illicit trade.
2010-02-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand is trying to persuade a UN wildlife trade watchdog to remove it from the blacklist of countries involved in the illegal ivory trade. The director-general of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Jatuporn Burutpat, yesterday said Thailand was preparing a report to submit to a meeting of the Conference of the Parties to Cites in Qatar's Doha from March 13 to 25.
2010-01-17 - Phuket, Thailand. Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison
AN AUSTRALIAN tourist is dead and eight other Australians have been injured after a tour jeep ran off the Big Buddha road in southern Phuket today and toppled down a steep embankment. The vehicle came to rest after crashing into an adventure park and injuring a young elephant, tethered to a stake. The dead Australian, married in Sydney a week ago, was honeymooning on Phuket. His wife is among those in hospital, and she is now in a satisfactory condition.
2009-12-13 - Phrae, Thailand. Subin Kheunkaew
When elephant meat becomes available at a small village in Phrae province, fanciers of the rare meal are quick to buy up the treat. ''On a day that elephant meat is available in the village, it is eagerly snapped up and sells out in no time,'' said Uncle Pao, 73, from Wiang Thong village in Sung Men district where elephant meat costs 100 baht a kilogramme. Nobody wants to buy other kinds of meat.
2009-12-10 - Si Satchanalai, Thailand. KATHERINE CONNOR
I sold my house and used some of the money to buy a round-the-world ticket. At first all went to plan. It was a dream holiday, and by the time I arrived in Thailand, I was in good spirits. Then one day I decided to join some other tourists I'd met on a visit to an elephant conservation centre in northern Thailand. Within a month of our sanctuary opening we had four elephants, Sumai, Pang Tong and two others who had been abused by their owners which we had managed to buy.
2009-12-07 - Surin, Thailand.
On November 19th, 2009, the night before the start of the annual Surin Elephant Round-up (20-22), Award-winning environmentalist Sangduen (Lek) Chailert and Surin Project Manager Jeff Smith met with Wichian Chawalit, the appointed governor of Surin, and Thongchai Mungcharoenporn, the Chief Executive of the Surin Provincial Administration Organization, to discuss their plans to bring elephants back to Surin.
2009-11-23 - Lampang, Thailand. Lindsay Barnett
Thailand's new Pang La Elephant Rehabilitation Center officially opened over the weekend, becoming the first facility of its kind in the country known for its love affair with elephants. The center, in Thailand's Lampang province, plans to care for up to 200 elderly and disabled Asian elephants; currently, about 30 elephants call it home, including several that are partially or completely blind, according to the Bangkok Post.
2009-11-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police have arrested two Thai nationals for trafficking in African ivory, a crime that carries a maximum four-year jail sentence, police said Tuesday. Samat Chokechoima and Kanok Wongsarot were arrested Monday in a sting operation in which Thai police posed as buyers of carved African ivory items, Police Lieutenant Colonel Thanayos Gengkasrikit, spokesman of the Natural Resource and Environmental Crime Division said. The suspects face a maximum of four years in prison and fines of up to 40,000 b...
2009-10-28 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Deputy Bangkok Governor Theerachon Manomaipiboon Wednesday handed out a Bt2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of men apprehended with an elephant in Lat Phrao and said that from November 6 the city would be getting tough on such animal abuse.
2009-10-21 - Pattaya, Thailand.
a 3-year-old boy was gored by an apparently rogue elephant during an elephant show at Pattaya Floating Market, sustaining serious injuries. When the boy’s father later approached the market management for recompense he was callously kept waiting for six hours before they deigned to see him. Mayor Ittipon Khunpleum says there will be no more elephant shows at the market.
2009-10-20 - Lampang, Thailand.
Thailand has set up its first nursing home for elderly elephants in Lampang province, already the home of two elephant hospitals, media reports said Tuesday. The Pang-La Nursing Home for Aged Elephants will be officially opened Nov 21, in Ngao district of Lampang, 490 km north of Bangkok, the Bangkok Post reported. Situated on a 153-hectare plot with its own small river for elephant bathing, the shelter will be operated by the Forest Industry Organization (FIO), which also runs the Elephant Hosp...
2009-10-20 - Phayao, Thailand.
The preserved teeth and molars of Hoe tusker, an elephant species that lived 13 million years ago, have won the first best fossil award given by the Mineral Resources Department. The award was inaugurated to raise public awareness of fossils and to educate people about history in the hope of encouraging more discoveries. A cattle raiser discovered the Hoe tusker, known scientifically as Dienotherium, by accident on a mountain in Phayao's Pong district a year ago.
2009-10-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Yvonne Bohwongprasert
Tucked away in a corner of the Dusit Palace compound is an historically significant depository of the long traditions and beliefs associated with white elephants in the Kingdom - the Royal Elephant National Museum. Some of the most prominent fixtures include huge elephant tusks that date back to the reigns of King Rama V and King Rama VII. Located at the exit of the Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, the edifice is built in a beautiful Thai architectural style and encircled with thick vegetation that ha...
2009-10-03 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Ferocious killer elephants have been capturing headlines--and public wonder--in Thailand’s local news, but the reasons for the mounting numbers of elephants with an attitude–just why they have become ferocious, is not clear. However, in Thailand’s central Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, there is an ancient sanctuary founded long ago dedicated solely to provide shelter to calm the spirits of disturbed elephants and to provide them a grounding place to live quietly.
2009-10-03 - Phuket, Thailand. Chutima Sidasathian
PHUKET'S elephant population is growing larger but then, when you're as popular as elephants are, everyone follows the herd. More camps and rides are springing up. The island now has 177 elephants, and all except the youngest one, born on January 1, have microchips under their ears. In theory, that makes them all carefully tabbed so that nothing strange or unforeseen can happen to them. This is a wise move because ivory remains a desirable commodity among poachers.
2009-09-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Today I met up with a group of elephants on the outskirts of Bangkok that have been on a 250km trek through Thailand organised by Greenpeace, tcktcktck and a number of wildlife, animal welfare and human rights organisations. The elephant caravan has travelled from Khao Yai National Park to Bangkok arriving in time for the climate negotiations.
2009-09-27 - Lampang, Thailand.
It's very sad to know that " Loong min" has about three day left staying at Thai Elephant Conservation Center. His eyes looked very sad that he told me that he has to retire from his job after devotedly works with elephant over 42 years. I remember his last elephant was Pang Mee who died many year ago and Loong Min was assigned to work as the baby elephant trainer. He trained many elephant in the past such as Nau Oon, Areena, Poopan, Ai and many more. I think If I were him I could not make my mi...
2009-09-23 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Gardens was informed of the birth of a baby elephant, born at the gardens the previous evening around 11.45pm. This was excellent news for the venue and an excellent edition to their existing troop of 43 elephants. In the early hours of the 4th of September, the Director of the Nongnooch Tropical. The young elephant’s mother, 16 year old Phang Sombat, has been entertaining the crowds at the Tropical Gardens for many years showing off her skills with bowling, basketball and carrying visitors ar...
2009-09-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok and Tokyo will hold talks over a plan to send a pair of Thai elephants to a state zoo in Osaka, Industry Minister Charnchai Chairungruang said yesterday. The minister, who is in Japan to promote trade cooperation, said the jumbos would be a "present to mark close trade ties between the two countries". Japan had expressed strong interest in raising a pair of Thai elephants at its zoo in Osaka, which already has one Thai jumbo, Mr Charnchai said ahead of a meeting with the Japanese environ...
2009-09-10 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will propose to the government long-term solutions to roaming elephants, hoping to receive support on City Hall’s Chang Yim (Smiling Elephant) Project, according to Deputy Bangkok Governor Teerachon Manomaiphibul. Chang Yim aims to take Bangkok’s roaming elephants off the capital’s streets within a year, and get them back to their natural environment, or something almost like their real homes.
2009-09-08 - Phuket, Thailand.
As you expected, your family is the first team to arrive at Phuket. Congratulations! No time to hit the beach yet, however. You must first make your way to an elephant farm. Too bad you don’t speak Thai. However, as you cleverly take out your pad of paper and draw an elephant for the shuttle driver, he laughs so loud that it draws a large crowd, some of whom happen to speak English. In a flash, you are on your way.
2009-09-04 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
It is a desperate cry - or rather a very loud trumpet - for attention. These elephants were painted black and white to look like the pandas who have stolen all their fans. The elephant is Thailand's national symbol, but the country has gone panda-crazy since the birth of a female panda cub to pandas Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang at Chiang Mai zoo in Bangkok.
2009-08-20 - lam, Thailand.
Thai elephant damages newly fitted artificial limb An elephant fitted with an artificial limb 10 years after stepping on a land mine has had a minor setback, damaging the device attached to her left front leg. Soraida Salwala of the private group Friends of the Asian Elephant said today that 48-year-old Motola bent the prothesis when she lay down on it. Motola, who weighs three tons, was fitted with the custom-made device Sunday at the Elephant Hospital in Lampang, northern Thailan...
2009-08-15 - Lampang, Thailand. APICHART WEERAWONG
Motola, a female elephant who stepped on a land mine 10 years ago and endured painful operations, was fitted Saturday in Thailand for a permanent artificial leg. The 48-year-old pachyderm became a symbol of the plight of today's elephants, and her injury sparked international sympathy and donations. Experts were making a cast of her injured left front leg for a plastic prosthetic limb which will be attached later Saturday.
2009-08-14 - Bangkok, Thailand. Rhishja Larson
Current laws in Thailand make it easy for live elephants - including infant elephants stolen from their mothers in the wild - to be traded unscrupulously for “entertainment” purposes. For many people, thoughts of Thailand conjure up romantic notions of being transported to various tourist attractions on the back of an elephant. But tragically, many of the captive elephants used for the Thai tourist trade, and as zoo and circus exports, are the victims of an insidious, illegal market that thr...
2009-08-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
As the elephant dragged its feet towards city hall, the chains draped from its neck swung like twin pendulums. The animal’s dusty skin fit loose on its 30-year-old body. Where a right eye belonged, there was only a crusty socket. Such sorry condition is typical of Thailand’s street elephants. This particular pachyderm, named Pang Buakam by its owner, has squeezed along the city’s narrow lanes for more than ten years. Like other urban elephants, Pang Buakam and its guide would ply to...
2009-08-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. SUPOJ WANCHAROEN
Public donations have allowed City Hall to buy a partially blind 30-year-old elephant found begging for food on Bangkok's streets. Pang Bua Kham will be sent to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang as part of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's "Smiling Elephants" project. The project is aimed at rescuing all elephants roaming the streets of Bangkok within one year. Donations are being collected from the public to buy the beasts from their owners and transport them to the state...
2009-08-09 - Lampang, Thailand.
Thailand's National Elephant Institute on Sunday launched a training programme for mahouts across the country in an attempt to raise elephant quality of life and help preserve the decreasing population of the huge animal. The training is co-sponsored by the National Elephant Institute, the Forest Industry Organization (FIO) and Asia House Foundation and is being held at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang province
2009-07-29 - Ta Phraya, Thailand.
Pang Kamlai, a female elephant seriously injured in a road accident in Sa Kaeo two months ago, died on Wednesday despite extensive efforts to save her. The medical team tried in vain to revive her with cardio pulmonary respiration for 30 minutes, but could not fight off death. One of the veterinarians broke down, sobbing and placing Plang Kamlai's trunk on his shoulder after he learned that she was gone. The 10-year-old female elephant suffered severe injuries to her front legs and head when hit...
2009-06-26 - Bangkok, Thailand. SUNTHORN PONGPAO
The Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal has painted Plai Panlan, a 5-year-old male elephant, in the panda colours of black and white to remind the public that elephants have needs, too. The watercolour is harmless, and the elephant did not seem to mind. Kraal staff are gently mocking the national craze over the female panda cub born to Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang at Chiang Mai zoo.
2009-03-25 - Chieng Mai, Thailand.
The elephant population in Thailand has decreased to less than 5,000 as they have been abandoned and left uncared. Concern authorities have made efforts to increase the huge animal’s population through artificial insemination projects. Research into frozen elephant semen has also been carried out. The frozen semen can be kept for about 20 years for artificial insemination. Phang Sao was given frozen semen and now she is pregnant, with delivery of her baby expected in September. Phang Sommai i...
2009-03-23 - Golden Triangle, Thailand.
It will kick off with a colorful opening parade and blessing ceremony which will take place in the nearby village of Chiang Saen. The parade is a wonderful example of Northern Thai culture with traditional dancers, hill-tribe villagers, elephant spirit men (Khru Ba Yai), and of course the stars of the parade - the elephants.
2009-03-10 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
An elephant in Thailand has been fitted with a new false leg, after outgrowing her original prosthetic. Mosha, 3, lost part of her right front leg as a seven-month-old when she stepped on a landmine. She was taken to an elephant orphanage where staff initially thought she might die, but an amputation expert fitted her first leg and she recovered well. Now eating 90kg (200lb) of food a day, Mosha was doing so well she needed the upgrade, and may live for many years. When Mosha was brought to the ...
2009-02-26 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Tibor Krausz
Dok Mak is old enough to be Goh’s great-grandma and her head alone dwarfs the boy. She eats his weight for breakfast and can easily lift a tree trunk many times his size. Right now, though, on the pint-size boy’s command, the matronly pachyderm obediently lifts a leg – with Goh standing on it. Goh grabs Dok Mak’s droopy ear and hoists himself astride her bulky neck. He rides the elephant down a well-trodden dirt path to the nearby river for her afternoon bath.
2009-02-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. Desmond Morris
Is it true that elephants are artists? Can they really paint pictures of flowers, trees and even other elephants? Are they the only animals on Earth, apart from human beings, that can create pictorial images? Last summer my friend, the scientist Richard Dawkins, asked me to look at a video clip on the internet, taken in Thailand, that showed a young female elephant called Hong painting a picture of an elephant running along, holding a flower in its trunk. He wanted to know if I thought it was a ...
2009-02-02 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Andrew Davis
The non-profit sanctuary, in the forests of Mae Taeng Valley in northern Thailand, doesn’t offer rides or show the animals swinging hula hoops on their trunks -- standard fare at many Thai elephant camps. Founded in 1996 by Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, 47, who sold her car and other possessions to open the park, the area also tries to educate tourists about the fate of Thailand’s “tamed” and wild elephants.
2009-01-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thais are donning scarves, farmers are scrambling to save their rice crops and snakes are freezing to death. That is all because temperatures in this normally balmy country have dipped to their coldest in a decade. The country has been gripped in a cold spell that blew down from China earlier this month and is likely to last until February, the Thai Meteorological Department said Saturday. Chukiat Thaijaratsathian, an official in the department's forecasting office, said temperatures in the coun...
2008-11-24 - Pattaya, Thailand. Dr. Harald M. Schwammer
The International Elephant Foundation and Mahidol University are pleased to announce the International Elephant Research Symposium November 24-26, 2008 (New Date) at the Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens, Pattaya, Thailand, to match with the Surin Elephant Round-Up. This will make the Surin Elephant Round-Up the pre-tour to the 2008 International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium. This important symposium will concentrate on the research and conservation needs of captive and wild pop...
2008-11-22 - Surin, Thailand. Veronica Matheson
FOUR old men with weather-beaten faces stand by their ancestral spirit house in the small village of Ban Ta Klang in northeastern Thailand to make offerings to protect the village elephants, who are off to the annual elephant festival in the nearby city of Surin. Offerings -- including a bottle of beer, some home-brewed whisky and a pig's head -- sit on a table as one of the old men chants incantations while another lights incense sticks, and another plays droning music on a horn that looks like...
2008-11-22 - Surin, Thailand.
Surin, the northeastern province known as ''the Land of Elephants'', has been holding the annual Elephant Round-up for nearly half a century. This year, the exciting spectacle is scheduled to take place November 22-23 in the compound of the Elephant Study Centre. Surin natives are naturally skilled in rounding up wild elephants as well as taming them. This upcoming 48th edition will boast seven eye-catching performances with no less than 200 trained elephants showcasing their extraordinary talen...
2008-11-20 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A Thai elephant has become pregnant after IVF treatment, boosting hopes in the species' fight against extinction. Vets confirmed that Phang Sao, a 26-year-old elephant, responded well to the procedure which involved injecting her with frozen sperm. An elephant is pregnant for a 22-month period and Phang Sao is expected to deliver her artificially-bred calf between August and September next year. She is being given special care by the vets in Mae Sa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai to avoid a miscarri...
2008-11-05 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Samrit Jeamjaruanpornkul, Wannapa Phetdee
Severe flooding yesterday forced the evacuation of more than 80 elephants from a sanctuary in Ayutthaya's Suanprik tambon. The pachyderms are being given temporary shelter at Si Suriyothai Park and other nonflooded areas in Suanprik. Meanwhile, the elephant camp's owner, Laitongrian Meepan, who has about 100 of the beasts under his care, is threatening to bring the entire herd to Bangkok and demand that the Royal Irrigation Department compensate him for the damages the floods have done to his fi...
2008-11-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A wildlife sanctuary in Thailand has come up with an innovative way of keeping elephants away from farmer's crops – unwanted CDs. The Elephant Conservation Network (ECN), working alongside the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is the first to use the CDs as light reflectors to deter the elephants from destroying Thailand's crops. Ecologists in the country claim that "crop-raiding" commonly occurs on traditional elephant forest routes with the large animals devouring crops and destroying tree...
2008-09-16 - Lampang, Thailand. PICHAYA SVASTI
At the Elephant Hospital in Lampang, 31-month-old Mo Cha, who stepped on a landmine in Burma and lost her front right leg two years ago, walks and plays in a pool of sand after being fitted with the world's first artificial leg for pachyderms. She lifts and curls her trunk as if to thank Dr Therdchai.
2008-09-02 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Antoinette van de Water
The end of the rainy season is coming near and after a couple of weeks of non-stop tree planting, Trees for Elephants 2008 has also accomplished her final goal! The idea to plant 100,000 trees for Thai elephants was born in august 2007. Yesterday, exactly one year later, the 100,000th tree has been planted. The planting of this tree was an unforgettable moment! Of course I wanted to experience this moment in the Elephant Nature Park, together with Douk Ngern, Sri Nuan and Faa Sai. We planted a p...
2008-08-30 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hilary Smith
After an eye-opening, palette-pleasing trip through Vietnam, three couples — Barry and Pat Brown of Mendon, Jim Kurtz and Jan Kellner of Webster and Paul and Sue Wilkens of Ontario — journeyed through Chiang Mai, Thailand, to reach a pachyderm sanctuary known simply as the Elephant Nature Park. It is home to about 30 elephants, all of whom were rescued from circuses or logging camps or injured by poachers, land mines, trucks or other human causes. Created through the efforts of one Thai woma...
2008-08-26 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Researchers from Chiang Mai University (CMU) have a new means of fighting phobias and depression _ elephants. CMU had previously studied the effects of ''elephant therapy'' on autistic children and, having noted promising results, are now proposing a similar programme for people suffering from depression or phobias. Audomsark Haesungcharern, dean of CMU's associated medical sciences faculty, believes the animals' voice may have therapeutic qualities.
2008-08-18 - Surin, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
Trudging the city streets with a hungry four-tonne elephant at your heels is not a job for everyone. But add a cute baby, and tourists flock to pet and feed the grey-brown giants, making the plodding pachyderms more of an investment than a curse for modern mahouts working in Thailand, one of Asia's top holiday destinations. With logging banned in 1989, more babies are hitting streets and trekking camps to meet tourism-driven demand for docile, good-looking animals, said the director of the Thai ...
2008-07-28 - NONG NUCH , Thailand.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Sattahip district and Nong Nuch Village organized a "Larb Cooking" competition in Northern and Northeastern style. Two intelligent female elephants, "Pang Morakot" and "Pang Christmas", also joined in to show how to do Larb Cooking. On July 27th, 2008, Mr. Kampol Tansatja, Director of Nong Nuch Village, Na-Jomtien, assigned Mr.Manit Narinrak, Deputy General Manager, to organize a competition of Larb Cooking to promote traditional foods and tourism.
2008-06-22 - Hangchatr, Thailand.
Mosha was only seven months old when she trod on a landmine in Thailand in 2006. The explosion severed her right foreleg, which later had to be amputated. Now the two-year-old has been fitted with a prosthetic leg at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital in Hangchatr, northern Thailand.
2008-06-05 - Lampang, Thailand. Mohit Joshi
"Hey, little one, come to mama," chirps Soraida Salwala. The "little one" is a female elephant calf named Mosha, and she knows that Soraida never visits her empty-handed. She approaches Soraida to find a treat of bananas. Soraida has cared for the calf for the past 18 months after Mosha tripped on a landmine in the jungle near Thailand's border with Myanmar. The explosion almost severed her right foreleg, and she was brought to Soraida's elephant clinic when she was 7 months old.
2008-05-18 - Chiang Rai, Thailand. Lisa Young
A HEAVY morning mist lingers over the mighty Mekong river and spills on to the lush jungle foothills of Thailand and Laos. I am at the confluence of the great Ruak and Mae Nam Khong (Mekong) rivers, home to the Anantara Resort and Elephant Camp in northern Thailand's Golden Triangle. My day begins in luxury at this exclusive rural hideaway overlooking the rugged hillsides, but I pull on my old clothes. They may be inviting, but I have no intention of visiting the spa or the infinity pool.
2008-05-17 - Lampang, Thailand. Supat Sutti
Nau Oon is very cute baby elephant of greatest mother Singha Khon as she has very high possibility of pregnancy as told by the mahout.. Nau Oon was born at Thai Elephant Conservation Center on 12 of June 2004, its about 4 years ago in the forest. I remember that Singha Khon she gave birth of her second baby by her own self and the day before she still worked in our mahout training course and we brought the elephant into the forest with the tourists and next day the Mahout Berm he just knocked my...
2008-05-12 - Lampang, Thailand. Pridiyathorn Devakula
I have concentrated on economic issues for many weeks. Today, I would prefer to write a non-economic story about nature that I encountered recently, an occasion that deserves praise. Last Monday, I had a chance to visit the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation's camp at Ban Hua Thung in Lampang's Hang Chat district. There, I witnessed the way that elephants are being trained to live in the wild, eating the plants available to them in the forest. Feeding by humans is not allowed. These elephants we...
2008-04-03 - Bangkok, Thailand. Matt Hunziker /The Daily Cardinal
At the Academy for Elephants in Thailand, they are teaching elephants to paint. In a video titled “Elephant Paints Own Self-Portrait,” you can see one of the elephants hard at work with a paintbrush in its trunk. As the shocked spectators in the background attest, the elephant paintings have become a major tourist attraction for Thailand. (Human) art critics have sung their praises. But while some artists are actively trying to cultivate these animals’ creative talents, scientists and othe...
2008-04-02 - Khao Yai , Thailand. Antoinette van der Water
Trees for Elephants in Khao Yai has made it’s start! The trees for elephants are groing. Looking at those cute little trees I fantasize what they would look like ten years from now. Alongkot on the other hand is thinking more about here and now. These are just 2.400 trees, the current nursery will not be able to hold 25.000 trees like we expected. Well… then we just hit some extra poles into the ground and extend it a little.
2008-04-01 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
According to government figures, there are 40 elephant camps in Thailand, employing up to 650 pachyderms, catering to tourists in the northern provinces of Tak, Sukhotai, Phitsanulok, Nan, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. I would estimate that about 65 per cent of the tourists who come here visit an elephant attraction, said Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Chiang Mai office director Junnaporn Salanart. 'Elephants are big business.'
2008-03-17 - , Thailand. Thongtip N, Saikhun J, Mahasawangkul S, Kornkaewrat K, Pongsopavijitr P, Songsasen N, Pinyopummin A.
One of the major obstacles in using artificial insemination to manage genetics of elephant population in captivity is the large variations in semen quality among ejaculates within the same and among individuals. The objectives of this study were to determine the influences of (1) age (2) seasonality (3) and circulating testosterone (SrTest), triiodothyronine (SrT3) and tetraiodothyronine (SrT4), as well as seminal (4) testosterone (SpTest), zinc (SpZn) and protein (SpTP) on semen quality in the ...
2008-03-16 - Bangkok, Thailand. gill murdoch
Standing ten feet tall and weighing up to five tonnes, you’d think an Asian elephant would be hard to miss. But the giants that range across 13 Asian states are so at home in the dense forests and jungles they live in they’re often hard to spot. Conservation experts rarely expect to see the wild elephants they spend their time devising management strategies for. Head counts are mostly based on dung samples rather than fleeting sightings. It’s tourists who typically get the clearest view.
2008-03-15 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Jetjaras Na Ranong
After undergoing hard training and working away to entertain tourists all year round, elephants at a shelter in Ayutthaya were given a one-day break on Thursday _ Thai Elephant Day. Besides 69 ''fruit platters'' for the elephants, the shelter operator also allowed the normally hard-working animals to play around in the water splashing each other for as long as they wanted. The elephants looked to be extremely happy with their day off as they relaxed, playing around and eating. However, while the...
2008-03-14 - Chiang Mai , Thailand.
Doung, an11-year-old autistic boy, enjoys playing and touching an elephant’s trunk. The occupational therapists said it was miraculous because he used to isolate himself from others. Doung was among four autistic children who participated in a three-week elephant therapy programme, created by the Occupation Therapy department of Chiang Mai University and the Elephant Conservation Centre in northern Lampang province.
2008-03-13 - Bangkok, Thailand. Karen Emmons
The Kingdom of Thailand – a country that has long revered the elephant for its royal and religious significance – is home to some 4,000 of the fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) still surviving. Compared to the relatively enduring population of African elephants (currently estimated to number about 500,000), the rapidly dwindling Asian population was a major cause of concern. In 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)...
2008-03-13 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Elephants enjoy a "buffet" of fruit and vegetables during Thailand's National Elephant Day in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok, March 13, 2008. Thais honoured the elephant on Wednesday with special fruit and Buddhist ceremonies across the country to pay homage to their national animal.
2008-03-13 - Lampang, Thailand. BARBARA WALTON
Sampran,6, a wild bull elephant who was caught in a poachers snare has his badly infected foot x-rayed by Thai vets trying to save his life, at the Lampang National Elephant Institute hospital in Lampang, northern Thailand, 06 March 2008. Badly dehydrated and thin, the young elephant has about a 50 percent chance of survival and was bought into the hospital for emergency care after the infection, monitored over the past two years by Thai rangers in the Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary where h...
2008-03-13 - Lampang, Thailand.
Veterinarians on Thursday ruled out surgery for Sampran, the 6-year-old elephant whose forefoot has swollen to a monstrous size after being injured in a hunter's trap two years ago. "We can't operate on the foot because there would be too much blood loss," said Dr Sittidej Mahasawangkul after taking an x-ray of Sampran's damaged foot at Lampang National Elephant Institute hospital in the North. Sampran, a wild elephant, was finally brought to the hospital for treatment Thursday after suffering f...
2008-03-10 - Chiang Mai , Thailand. Antoinette van de Water
Organization: Foundation Bring the Elephant Home is looking for a Thai freelance campaigner who shares our passion for creating a positive change for the environment and elephants. Date vacancy: 10/03/2008. Starting date job: a.s.a.p. Hours: Freelance, for approx 2 days a week. Period: until the end of 2008
2008-03-10 - Naklua, Thailand.
On Sunday Afternoon, Police and rescue workers were called to a beach in Naklua after receiving reports of an out-of-control elephant which had attacked and injured someone. Arriving at the scene, rescue workers attended to Khun Ponoomar aged 25 who had sustained suspected spinal injuries. She explained that she was in the process of feeding the 2 year old male elephant outside the Jeyjook Restaurant when she dropped some of the food and was kicked by the elephant.
2008-03-06 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A Bangkok restaurant is treating its biggest spenders to a 300,000-dollar meal prepared by Michelin-starred chefs, but only after they have jetted to an elephant camp to see how the other half live. "We're taking these people to Surin, to see how the poor people actually are living and are managing their elephants. They cannot even manage themselves and they cannot manage their elephants," he told AFP. After seeing the dwindling number of pachyderms and the impoverished lives of their handlers, ...
2008-03-04 - Bangkok, Thailand. KRITTIYA WONGTAVAVIMARN
It took Pattarapol Maneeorn five days trekking through the jungle in Chanthaburi province to find a 65-year-old wild elephant stuck in mud. By the time the wildlife vet arrived, the animal was breathing slowly, his eyes showing his fatigue; his heart, left lung and kidney were being pressed down on by his six-tonne body.
2008-02-28 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Jocelyn Ford
Tomorrow's going to be a big day in Thailand. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to return to Bangkok from exile. He was ousted in a coup two years ago, amid accusations of corruption. Out in the Thai jungles, a business tycoon is trying to bring back domesticated elephants. For generations they were used to haul timber, but they were left essentially unemployed when Thailand banned logging twenty years ago. Jocelyn Ford reports on how to make elephants relevant in a modern-day...
2008-02-23 - Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.
Plai Khai Heed, an elephant that injured a villager in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Phrom Khiri district on Wednesday, died yesterday from multiple gunshot wounds, prompting criticism of the villagers' excessive use of firearms. Meanwhile the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department warned the public to be cautious when travelling through Tab Lan, Khao Yai, Khao Ang Reu Nai, Kaeng Krajan and Kui Buri national parks, where they were likely to encounter wild elephants.
2008-02-22 - Pattaya, Thailand.
A nice story now from the Million Year Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm located on the Eastern Outskirts of Pattaya. On Thursday Afternoon, staff at the farm welcomed a new arrival in the form of a newly born male elephant. The dramatic birth involved Gaesorn a 16 year old elephant who gave birth to her new son after a 21 month gestation period. We understand that the elephant park will run a competition involving Tourists, who will decide the name of the new-born.
2008-02-22 - Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Wild elephants killed one Buddhist monk and seriously injured another in Thap Lan national park in Nakhon Ratchasima province yesterday. The two were members of a group of 11 monks who had gone to meditate in Khon Buri forest reserve, within the park boundaries. Phra Natthaporn Kittiyano, 38, was trampled to death and Phra Wichian Khemmako, 43, sustained multiple broken bones and was rushed to a local hospital. The other monks in the group were unharmed.
2008-02-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Of all the illegal activities that animate the streets of Bangkok - the vendors who hawk pirated DVDs and fake watches, the brothels that call themselves saunas one stands out more than others. Elephants are not supposed to saunter down the city's streets as they do almost every night. For at least two decades the giant grey beasts have plodded through this giant grey city, stopping off at red-light districts and tourist areas where their handlers peddle elephant snacks of sugar cane and bananas...
2008-02-16 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Patti Flynn
Yesterday, we went back to the mae sa elephant camp, about 40 mins out of chiang mai. we visited there 6 years ago and could hardly believe how the place has changed. the first indication was the piles of enormous chinese tourist buses lined up outside....six years ago, it was a rough little camp with maybe 20 elephants. nobody spoke a word of english. there were a few thatched raised platforms here and there for alighting onto elephants. you got onto an elephant and you were taken for a 60 minu...
2008-02-13 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The proprietor of an elephant camp in Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai has purchased insurance for her elephants to show to the kind and clever animals on Valentine's Day. Wassana Thongsuk, owner of the Maetaeng Elephant Camp, bought insurance coverage from the Thai Insurance Public Company Limited for his camp's 48 elephants. Thai Insurance Pcl is the first insurance company in Thailand which offers coverage for pachyderms. If elephants sicken, or die from an accident or during a perf...
2008-02-12 - Phuket, Thailand.
Sixteen decorated elephants parading together on one theatre stage is all part of FantaSea, a spectacular night's entertainment in Phuket. Thailand's national animal, a vehicle of war in olden times and still a beast of burden in the logging industry, is better known today in the tourism and showbiz industries. Elephant rides figure in most visitors' itineraries, and they're also on show at places such as the Maesa Camp near Chang Mai in the north where the jumbos frolic with each other in a riv...
2008-02-10 - Lampang, Thailand.
With a fantastic performance about to start, local and foreign tourists were waiting to view the elephant show and give the stars their favorite food as rewards. The elephants greet the audience and gather things for the mahouts. They might sometimes be lazy but they never go on a rampage and disappoint new mahouts because these friendly animals have been well trained since they were young.
2008-01-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Sir, you can't beg for coins here, put your trunk away! The New York Times reports on the phenomenon of domesticated elephants begging on the streets of Bangkok. It's technically illegal to sell elephant treats to tourists, but the rewards are great: In four nights of begging an elephant handler can make the same amount of money the typical Thai worker makes in a month.
2008-01-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. THOMAS FULLER
Of all the illegal activities that animate the streets of Bangkok — the vendors who hawk pirated DVDs and fake watches, the brothels that call themselves saunas — one stands out more than others. Elephants are not supposed to saunter down the city’s streets as they do almost every night. For at least two decades the giant gray beasts have plodded through this giant gray city, stopping off at red-light districts and tourist areas where their handlers peddle elephant snacks of sugar cane and...
2008-01-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Thitaram C, Brown JL, Pongsopawijit P, Chansitthiwet S, Wongkalasin W, Daram P, Roongsri R, Kalmapijit A, Mahasawangkul S, Rojansthien S, Colenbrander B, van der Weijden GC, van Eerdenburg FJ. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University
Better breeding strategies for captive Asian elephants in range countries are needed to increase populations; this requires a thorough understanding of their reproductive physiology and factors affecting ovarian activity. Weekly blood samples were collected for 3.9 years from 22 semi-captive female Asian elephants in Thai elephant camps to characterize LH and progestin patterns throughout the estrous cycle. The duration of the estrous cycle was 14.6+/-0.2 weeks (mean+/-S.E.M.; n=71), with follic...
2008-01-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Despite government efforts, mahouts continue to illegally bring elephants into the Thai capital Bangkok. Though elephant owners face fines for bringing their animals into the city, the International Herald Tribune reported that large numbers of them continue to do so due to problems of enforcement and the potential earnings from tourists. Since 2006 Bangkok has operated a Stray Elephant Task Force, but a member of the group told the newspaper that the role offered numerous problems, making it un...
2008-01-05 - Jomtien, Thailand.
Thai people hold Elephants in high regard and there comes a time in an Elephants life when its health begins to fail. Wassana, a female elephant aged 80 fell to the floor on Saturday Morning, just off the Tepprasit Road in Jomtien, where the animal and its keepers live. They refuse to accept that her time to depart this world may have come. They brought in a JCB Digger and managed to life the Elephant to its feet so it was able to feed. A Vet was called in who confirmed that the Elephant is clos...
2007-12-31 - Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
A herd of wild elephants trampled a Karen man to death and injured his friend near a road in Hua Hin district yesterday. The dead man was identified only as Bird. He died of head injuries and multiple broken bones. Haepo, 19, also a Karen, was treated in hospital for less serious hand and leg injuries. Mr Haepo told police he was driving a motorcycle with Bird riding pillion. They were on their way home after a night out when they came across the elephants, which were blocking the Hua Hin-Ban Hu...
2007-12-24 - Surin, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
Sucking up sugarcane with their trunks and circling busy traffic roundabouts, the elephants that roam Thai towns at festival time seem as much at home in the city as in the forest. Shows that feature elephants painting pictures, playing polo and whirling hoola hoops on their trunks have become an economic lifeline for more than a thousand domesticated elephants, who lost their incomes when Thailand banned logging in 1989. But entertaining locals and tourists has become a life or death business f...
2007-12-24 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Sangduen "Lek" Chailert plays with ex-working elephants at her rescue centre for domesticated elephants in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on November 19. 2007. Elephant conservationists such as Chailert worry that captive elephants, considered beasts of burden in Thailand, have little protection from abuse if their owners work them all day to bring in more tourist dollars.
Sucking up sugarcane with their trunks and circling busy traffic roundabouts, the elephants that roam Thai towns at festival time seem as much at home in the city as in the forest. Shows that feature elephants painting pictures, playing polo and whirling hoola hoops on their trunks have become an economic lifeline for more than a thousand domesticated elephants, who lost their incomes when Thailand banned logging in 1989.
2007-12-21 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
An elephant entertains children at a school in Ayutthaya province in northern Bangkok
2007-12-17 - Surin, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
2007-12-16 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
Lily is an ex-drug addict, BK's tusks were sawed off by poachers and Max was a streetwalker. The wrinkled residents of Thailand's Elephant Nature Park make Babar and Dumbo look like lightweights. While they may sound like the cast of a soap opera, the trio are some of the 30 stars of an elephant conservation project that draws thousands of visitors, curious to hear their stories and see the world's largest land mammals up close. Unlike other tourist attractions involving elephants, the Nature Pa...
2007-12-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
The Thai Elephant Orchestra is about to release a third CD and, like all real artists, the world's only non-human musical ensemble doesn't give a thump about the critics or the charts. The 14-member group at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampung, northern Thailand, plays simple woodwinds, harmonicas, a few string instruments and drums under the guidance of maestro Dave Soldier, the orchestra's composer and co-founder.
2007-12-04 - Surin, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
Trudging the city streets with a hungry four-tonne elephant at your heels is not a job for everyone. But add a cute baby, and tourists flock to pet and feed the grey-brown giants, making the plodding pachyderms more of an investment than a curse for modern mahouts working in Thailand, one of Asia's top holiday destination. With logging banned in 1989, more babies are hitting streets and trekking camps to meet tourism-driven demand for docile, good-looking animals, said the director of the Thai E...
2007-11-26 - Surin, Thailand. Gillian Murdoch
2007-11-26 - Surin, Thailand. Antoinette van de Water
Only a few minutes after we sent out the urgent call for help last week, the responses came in. Thank you so much for all your support and sympathy! It is special to notice how much involved everyone is. Together we were able to rescue Faa Sai! I’m so proud of Bring the Elephant Home. Beneath you will find a report about the rescue of Faa Sai.
2007-11-20 - Surin, Thailand.
A mahout, or elephant keeper, sits on the back of his elephant while waiting for the show to start during the 47th annual Elephant Roundup in Surin province, northeastern Thailand, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007. The festival, which attracts thousands of tourists to the small city of Surin, celebrates the elephant as both a noble patriotic symbol and a longtime companion of local tribal minorities.
2007-11-19 - Lampang, Thailand.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has named the King’s Cup Elephant Polo as one of Thailand’s “Seven Amazing Wonders” in a new promotional campaign aimed at capturing the nation’s unique attractions. The King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is the sixth largest event on the TAT calendar. Organised by Anantara Resorts, the tournament was first introduced in 2001 as a charitable endeavour to assist country’s National Elephant Institute in Lampang, Northern Thailand. The event has rais...
2007-10-21 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ronna Sweeney, KUAM News
The national symbol of Thailand is proudly the elephant. In fact, a strong bond exists between the Thai people and the gentle creatures. And this special union was evident as we had the chance to visit the Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai. Having been open for nearly 30 years, the camp is home to one of the largest herds in the Northern Thailand. The organization's philosophy is to create a natural and healthy environment for the elephants, while working to conserve and breed them due to the dw...
2007-10-21 - Khao Sok National Park, Thailand. Cindy Loose
Its a risky business, choosing a no-brand, family-owned lodging in Thailand a tent lodging, no less based solely on pictures on the Internet. I decide to take a chance, though, because it seems a potential solution to my trip-planning dilemma: I want the sandy white beaches of southern Thailand but also yearn to see the jungle-like rain forest and elephants for which northern Thailand is famous. And I don't want to be rushing and spending limited time flying between the two.
2007-10-19 - Bangkok, Thailand. PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR
The Siam flag, featuring an image of a white elephant on red-coloured cloth, will fly at the top of the Siam Flag Museum from Tuesday. Decades after it was decommissioned and disappeared from public sight, the flag of Siam or thong chang _ a red flag with the image of a white elephant at the centre _ will be flown permanently at a private museum in Lat Phrao district from Tuesday onwards.
2007-10-10 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Two elephants at Chiang Mai's Night Safari died last month, while three others have fallen ill due to bad digestion resulting from eating the wrong kind of grass, resident veterinarians said Tuesday. Suphoj Maythaphirat, a senior official, said Night Safari animal keepers were partly at fault for not screening the feed bought from villagers, adding that elephants should not eat too much old grass in a single sitting. Phang Joi and Phang Grandma died late last month after succumbing to extremely ...
2007-10-08 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The restoration of Ayutthaya's ancient kraal, the elephant-trapping pen, began yesterday. All 980 ageing logs in the fence surrounding the enclosure are due for replacement. The sao talung are the major component of the pen, or paniad klong chang, which wild elephants were driven into for elephant-trapping ceremonies in the Ayutthaya period. All the old timber is to be replaced under the 16-million-baht restoration project, which was launched to mark His Majesty the King's 80th birthday in Decem...
2007-10-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The symposium on the managing of health and reproduction of elephant populations in Asia will be held at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand from 8th to 10th October 2007. The members of the local organizing committee are pleased to welcome everyone interested in the scientific programs organized for the participants. The purpose of this international congress is to develop and up to date the understanding of health care and reproductive system management of A...
2007-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Sometimes I am a sucker for animal tricks and here is a perfect example. At night in Bangkok, there are baby to large-size elephants that roam the streets with a handler. There are never large groups of elephants on the streets, but rather one elephant here, another there. For a dollar, you can feed the elephant baby cucumbers, baby bananas or sugarcane and it is fantastic. The elephants trunk comes right up to you and grabs the food. They have a very strong trunk, it is truly impressive. When y...
2007-09-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Animal Planets Kingdom of the Elephants is a 60-minute documentary special filmed entirely on location in Southeast Asia that explores the complex bond between elephants and the people of Thailand. Catch the trumpeting on 9th September at 8pm, on ASTRO Channel 51.
2007-09-08 - Bangkok, Thailand. ZACK YUSOF
There’s a well-known saying among film directors that one should never work with children or animals, let alone on the same project. But that’s exactly what director, producer and cinematographer Joseph Pontecorvo has had to do on his documentary, Kingdom of the Elephants, which premières tomorrow on Animal Planet at 8pm. Kingdom of the Elephants is an hour-long documentary filmed entirely on location in South-East Asia. It explores the complex bond between the elephants and the people of T...
2007-08-18 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
A new regulation on the export of live elephants and body parts will be put into force soon to protect Thai pachyderms from illegal trading. Drafted by the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, the regulation is aimed at strengthening control on the export of elephants, particularly for entertainment purposes at foreign zoos. The new regulation follows last years controversial animal exchange programme under which the government sent eight elephants to Taronga zoo in Austral...
2007-08-08 - Lampang, Thailand.
Her Majesty the Queen has donated Bt300,000 from her personal fund to assist a month-old elephant whose mother cannot produce milk at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) in Lampang's Hang Chat district. Her Majesty granted Bt300,000 to buy milk powder for the baby elephant. Donations for the baby elephant from the public had reached about Bt400,000. The TECC will hold a ceremony to receive the donation on Friday.
2007-07-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
An angry circus elephant in eastern Thailand grabbed a man who had provoked him and then stomped on him until he was fatally injured, police said Saturday. Surat Kaenthip, a 30-year-old air conditioner repairman, had hit the six-year-old elephant while he was resting in an open field Friday in Rayong province, 140 kilometers (90 miles) east of Bangkok, said police Lt. Col. Thanit Saeniwong na Ayuddhaya. "The elephant then grabbed the man's body with his trunk and hurled him on to the ground befo...
2007-07-13 - Chiang Rai, Thailand. Jane Levere
A mahout course course takes place at the elephant camp at Anantara Resort Golden Triangle, near Chiang Rai, Thailand. Students are instructed by a qualified Thai mahout and English-speaking guide, and learn basic commands, daily care of an elephant, and how to mount an elephant—either up its side or by leap-frogging over its bowed head—among other other skills.
2007-07-13 - Surin, Thailand. Phoowadon Duangmee
The northeastern province of Surin pays homage to its traditional beasts of burden in celebrating the Buddhist Lent this year, with 80 elephants coming to town to take part in parades and spiritual ceremonies on July 28 and 29. The celebrations are being held two days before the start of the Buddhist Lent on July 30 to allow visitors to head to Ubon Ratchathani for the Candle Festival. "Eighty elephants will be joining a total of six processions," says Surin Governor, Pornsak Panuthonraphan.
2007-05-25 - Pattaya, Thailand.
On 24th May 2007, just after midnight, a truck driver had to run for his life after his pickup truck was viciously attacked by a rampaging pregnant elephant in a field in Huay Yai. His truck was stomped on and wrecked. The mahout, Mr. Loon Jongjai-gnarm, (27) from Surin, told the police that he regularly brought the pregnant elephant from Nong Nooch village to eat the grass in the area, but she had never acted like this before. He assumed that “Phang Dao Rueng” was frightened and moody as sh...
2007-05-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Authorities are preparing to stop 99 elephants and thousands of villagers from entering Thailand's capital to protest the possible dissolution of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's political party, the military said on Wednesday. We have to use all means to stop the elephants from joining the political rally," said Prayuth Chanocha, commander of the 1st Army, which is responsible for peacekeeping in Bangkok.
2007-05-22 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
So far, it's been a jumbo good year in Thailand. The Royal Elephant Camp has been blessed with nine calves since January and recently threw a huge party to celebrate. The camp, in the ancient city of Ayutthaya 75 km (45 miles) north of Bangkok, is one of the largest conservation centers in Thailand, a country whose elephant population is dwindling. Environmentalists estimate that only 5,000 Asian elephants are left in the wild, making the baby boom at Ayutthaya crucial to ensuring the future of ...
2007-05-20 - Sublangka, Thailand. Pasara Puthamat
After two years of careful training to prepare Pang Kham Mool Yai for life in the wild, the 35-year-old elephant was yesterday released into the Sublangka Wildlife Sanctuary. Kham Mool Yai is the first domesticated elephant to be introduced to the wild under a programme that will see a further 80 released over time by the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation. However, many fear the animals may not be able to adjust.
2007-05-01 - Bangkok, Thailand. Itamar Eichner
An Israeli tourist, Yoram Ben-Hamo, was convicted last Saturday for kidnapping a baby elephant in Thailand and holding it hostage. During his getaway, he picked up a knife from a merchant, grabbed a baby elephant from a yard in the neighborhood and warned the police that if they did not leave him alone he would harm the elephant. Having called in a hostage-negotiation team, the police eventually offered Ben-Hamo a cigarette and he was then captured while lighting it. The elephant was returned ho...
2007-05-01 - Bangkok, Thailand.
All eight Thai elephants now living at two Australian zoos are being treated well by zoo officials, Thailand's envoy down under said Tuesday. Ambassador Bundit Sothipalarit said five Thai elephants are now at Sydney's Taronga Zoo and another three at Melbourne Zoo. Zoo officials have been treating them tenderly, the envoy said, and are hard at work encouraging the large Thai guests to serve as unofficial Thai ambassadors.
2007-05-01 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Michelle Reedy and Ewa Narkiewicz
The Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya celebrated its third elephant birth in three weeks this morning May 1st 2007. A baby boy born to Kamliphet. Her third baby and the Kraal's 28th baby elephant birth since February 2000.
2007-04-28 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Phootson made sure everyone was kept awake while she groaned with labour pains. And no wonder her baby was a big one! The Royal Elephant Kraal is committed to breeding as many babies as possible. As of 28th April 2007 we have had 28 successful births since 2000. With more on the way. In the nursery right now we have 8 mothers and their babies that you can play with and care for.
2007-04-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Hundreds of Buddhist monks led by at least nine elephants marched to parliament Wednesday to demand that Thailand's new post-coup constitution enshrine Buddhism as the national religion. "Buddhism is increasingly coming under threat," Thongchai Kuasakul, head of the Buddhists' Network of Thailand who led the march, said in a statement.
2007-04-21 - Anantara, Thailand. Tricia Welsh
The camp at the Anantara is the northern extension of the TECC and offers visitors a range of activities with the elephants. These include bathing, driving lessons and adventure treks of various lengths, which combine to create a one, two or three-day mahout course. Director of elephants at the camp is Englishman John Roberts, who has been working with elephants for five years. He's passionate about his jumbo charges, and they seem to appreciate his concern, as do the six mahouts under his care....
2007-04-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai National Elephant Institute (TNEI) plans to offer the country's elephant born as a result of artificial insemination to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a gift on his 80th birthday on December 5 this year. The female baby elephant – which is going to celebrate her one-month birthday this Saturday, was separated from her mother, because the mother showed some hostile signs against her first baby.
2007-04-02 - Phuket, Thailand. ROBIN PASH
A real elephant ride! And that's after a day-long speedboat sojourn, unlimited pool play, and thrice-daily bouncing, breezy tuk-tuk trips. We enjoyed boating and snorkelling around the gorgeous Phi-Phi islands and the hour-long ride through a rubber plantation on graceful Mali, the 27-year-old elephant, was enjoyed as much by father as it was by son.
2007-03-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In Kanchanaburi province, Pinan Chotiroseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, blamed a mass exodus of wild elephants into the outside world on human encroachment on their natural habitat in the Salak Phra wildlife sanctuary, which is currently experiencing a serious shortage of water. In Surin, around 87 pachyderms kept at an elephant centre in Tha Tum district are facing a severe shortage of water, as a result of the drought which ravaged 1,594 villages in eleven districts a...
2007-03-14 - CHIANG MAI, Thailand.
More than 70 elephants took part in the festivities, held at the Maesa Elephant Camp sanctuary in Chiang Mai since 1998, when the government declared March 13 National Thai Elephant Day.The elephant is Thailand's national animal and government officials hope events like National Elephant Day will make people revere them as it tries to conserve its elephant population, now around 4,500.
2007-03-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Five men were arrested after being caught smuggling two elephants into Thailand from neighboring Myanmar, authorities said Monday. The men and beasts, a 1-year-old calf and a female adult, entered Thailand by boat Thursday after a trip across the Salween River from Myanmar. The suspects, identified as three Thais and two men from Myanmar, face up to 15 years in prison on charges of elephant trafficking said Preecha Chalermpichai, the head forest ranger in the border district of Mae Sariang, wher...
2007-03-08 - Lampang, Thailand.
The 100-kilogram male baby Asian elephant was born late Wednesday at the Elephant Hospital at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in the northern town of Lampang, said Sittidej Mahasawangkul, head of the hospital. This is the first time that artificial insemination is successfully carried out in Thailand and in Asia, and first time ever with frozen sperma.
2007-03-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
At least five Thai baby elephants have recently been smuggled to Germany, a senior official at the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department revealed yesterday. The transportation was carried out at the beginning of the year by people claming to represent officials in high places, said Dulasit Sanitwongsa na Ayuthaya, a wildlife expert at the department. In other incidents, 20 elephants, all younger than nine, were smuggled to China and another eight were shipped to Australia, Du...
2007-03-01 - LAMPANG, Thailand. Evan Osnos
Kod, a pioneering elephant, is not a born leader. The 3-ton, 25-year-old is known for neither bravery nor cleverness; she recoils from dogs and chickens. Her paintings are generously described as abstract. But if all goes well, Kod will make Thai history next month when she gives birth to the nation's first elephant produced by artificial insemination. A successful birth would be a milestone for a country scrambling to save its most treasured animals from an alarming decline.
2007-02-24 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
New Yorker Ashrita Furman looked around for a record he could break, and settled on doing the most squat thrusts in one minute. Then he decided on a place the back of an elephant in northern Thailand. He achieved both goals as he climbed onto a platform on the back of an obliging pachyderm in blazing heat and powered through 40 of the vigorous kicks in a minute.
2007-02-14 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
Thai couples marked Valentine's Day with weddings on elephant back and hanging off cliffs, while authorities warned young singles not to let the celebration of love lead them too far down the path of temptation. Twenty-eight couples — 22 of them including a foreign partner — celebrated their love by getting married on the backs of elephants in Surin province in northeastern Thailand.
2007-02-04 - Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. The Nation
Thailand Sunday saw the first ever birth of an African elephant in captivity at state-owned Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo. The male baby, whose name is pending a naming contest result, is the only third African elephant in Thailand. Born to his African elephant parents exactly at 4.09 am Sunday morning, he is fathered by Ap and mothered by Jaew, both 17 years old, which were brought to Thailand from Kruger National Park in South Africa in 1998.
2007-01-30 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Forest rangers in Thailand have a new assignment, they're charged with patrolling a major highway to stop looters from attacking trucks carrying sugar cane. The robbers, wild elephants that live in the areas around the highway. Officials have imposed a night-time curfew on the highway used to transport sugar cane because of recent looting. Elephants have broken into dozens of trucks that have stopped along the route to eat the truck's sweat cargo.
2007-01-24 - Lampang, Thailand. Musings
But the best part about this leg of the trip was the elephants! We chose the hotel we did because they work in conjunction with the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, and have a dozen elephants on their grounds. Frederick and I took a one-day "Mahout Training Course" where we were each given an elephant and taught some basic commands. We learned a couple of different ways to get on and off the critters, got to ride the elephants around the camp, and at the end of the day, we (along with the maho...
2007-01-22 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Stephhef
An elephant was walking through the round about directly in front of me. Now I have seen elephants before, but one in the city, walking down a road a block from my “home” was quite a new experience. The two men were trying to get people to give the young elephant food. (I say young but the elephant still toward over me as well as everyone else in the area.) I did feel rather sorry for the animal, but realize that elephants are work animals here in Thailand, much like a mule, or a horse. I wa...
2007-01-17 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Antoinette van de Water
For years the Elephant Nature Park has been searching for possibilities to expand the Park. Bring the Elephant HOME so far has been able only to buy a number of separate parcels of land close to the park to grow food for the elephants. To buy land adjacent to the current park to really expand it seemed impossible at a reasonable price. But now there’s a possibility!
2007-01-12 - Chachoengsao, Thailand. MANIT SNUBBOON
The chief of Khao Ang Rue Nai wants the road through the wildlife sanctuary closed at night after a herd of elephants held up and looted a string of cargo trucks. About midnight last Saturday a herd of 20 elephants blocked route No.3259 (the Ban Nong Kog-Ban Wang Nam Phon road) holding up 10 trucks, Yoo Senatham said.
2006-12-22 - AYUTTHAYA, Thailand.
Santa Claus got some big helpers in Thailand this week, as pachyderm elves passed out gifts to school children. The elephants, dressed in Santa outfits complete with hats, lumbered through the streets of Ayutthaya, Thailand, and used their trunks to hand out stuffed toys and balloons to the children.
2006-12-19 - Kuiburi National Park, Thailand. Chariya SENPONG
I have lost my crops due to elephants coming down to feed, hundreds of thousands of pineapples each night for the past ten years. It’s stressful, but if we hurt the elephants, it is our loss; we may forfeit the property our livelihood depends on; a much bigger loss than having the elephants feed on the crops.” Sing Suepsutta, a grey-haired, pineapple farmer expresses sadness about his experiences on his 30 rai farm and his encounters with the Kuiburi wild elephants.
2006-11-22 - Surin, Thailand. Bart
I took this one when I was myself riding an elephant! It's important to mention that these elephants are in the streets because of the Annual Round-Up Show. Else, Surin is a lot more quiet.
2006-11-18 - Surin, Thailand.
The Surin Elephant Round-up Show has been organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand since 1960 and has been well-received internationally. The everyday life of the Thai elephant and its keeper is the central theme of the world-famous Surin elephant round-up held annually. Tickets for The "Elephant Show": 500 Baht and 200 Baht.
2006-11-18 - Lampang, Thailand.
The Mission of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation is to realize the Vision of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, to solve the problems facing all elephants in Thailand through returning domestic elephants to the wild and restoration of the habitat of wild elephants, as well as promoting appropriate management of all elephants in Thailand.
2006-11-09 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai mahout practice elephant fighting in Bangkok November 9, 2006. The practice was held in preparation for celebrations for Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadejs 60th anniversary on the throne. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
2006-10-28 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. thailandrox.
ok so moving along, we go down to the elephants. we get on the back of a tempermental bitch. our elephant didnt listen to shit the trainer was saying lol. i guess when your five tons you do whatever the hell you want. so our elephant would go the wrong direction, stop and eat some grass.
2006-10-16 - Chiang Saen, Thailand. Jonathan Thompson
It started life on the back of a beer mat. But 25 years on, elephant polo boasts corporate sponsorship and competitions that draw teams from across the globe. This is the sixth year of the Cup, which takes place annually with royal consent - a valuable commodity in Thailand - organised by the Anantara resort group. This year it has relocated to the elephants' natural habitat, the Golden Triangle, having transferred from its usual home, the southern beach resort of Hua Hin.
2006-10-13 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Continuing floods in Ayutthaya have made life difficult for elephants. The management of the Ayutthaya Elephant Park has had to move over 12 elephants under its care onto a road near Wat Maheyong in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district as the site has been submerged since early this month. ''We have never faced such a crisis before. Water came very fast and the current was so strong that we had to move the jumbos from the park,'' manager Kannapoj Tipwong said yesterday.
2006-10-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In Ayutthaya province, gradually rising waters forced mahouts to relocate all elephants in the ancient royal elephant corral to higher ground after barriers installed by the labour of the elephants themselves failed to withstand the strong currents. Most residents have been forced to travel by boats or have evacuated to other areas.
2006-09-29 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The Royal Kraal celebrated their 25th elephant birth just after midnight on the 29th September 2006 with Princess MC Rangsinoppadol Ukol present to witness the extraordinary event.
2006-09-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Thitaram C, Pongsopawijit P, Thongtip N, Angkavanich T, Chansittivej S, Wongkalasin W, Somgird C, Suwankong N, Prachsilpchai W, Suchit K, Clausen B, Boonthong P, Nimtrakul K, Niponkit C, Siritepsongklod S, Roongsri R, Mahasavankul S. Chiang Mai University
A 32-year-old nulliparous female Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) showed signs of parturition 8 months later than predicted from the breeding records. However, while serosanguineous fluid, necrotic tissue and pieces of amnion were expelled, second-stage labor did not progress. It is suggested that serum progestagens concentrations should be monitored regularly in mated elephant cows to verify the establishment of pregnancy and to better estimate the expected timing, and the onset of calving.
2006-09-10 - CHIANG SAEN, Thailand. Anthony Faiola
During America's debut in the extra-wide world of elephant polo last week, frustrated U.S. captain Kimberly Zenz nearly screamed herself hoarse. Zenz overcame the Thong Kao curse and scored, almost upsetting one of the top British teams with a riveting 5-3 finish. "This year, we're here to learn," Zenz said. "But look out in Sri Lanka. We won't be the rookies anymore."
2006-09-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ashleigh Sim
I am in Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary for rescued jumbos where there are no rides, performances or work for the wrinkly ones in the 30ha grassy valley. It is the start of my 10-day stay as a volunteer at the park founded by Sangduen Chailert, 44, in 1996. Deep in the mountains 60km north of Chiang Mai, dawn breaks with not the cockerel's crow but the trumpeting of elephants.
2006-09-04 - Chiang Saen, Thailand.
The tournament takes place at the Anantara Resort, located approximately an hour from Chiang Rai where guests can lodge in comfort with private balconies overlooking scenic mountains. Sept. 1-3 are practice days leading up to a 30-elephant parade through Chiang Saen on Sept. 4. The tournament ground is a school play yard in town. Entry to the tournament is free; donations go to the National Elephant Institute which provides medical care, sustenance, employment and welfare to Thailands elephant p...
2006-08-29 - Lampang, Thailand.
Thai veterinarians have succeeded in impregnating an elephant by artificial insemination for the first time in Thailand. The baby elephant is expected to be born in March next year. The artificial insemination was carried out by implanting fresh sperm into a female elephant named "Pangkod". Dr Sitthidej Mahasawangkul, head of the Elephant Hospital at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre said that the Thai veterinary team is attempting to develop an artificial insemination technique usin...
2006-08-22 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyut Tiyapairat is checking the details on sending five Thai elephants and chimpanzees to China. According to the deal, Thailand will deliver five Thai elephants and chimpanzees, while China will bring in white tigers and 14 other species of animals to the Night Safari in Chiang Mai Province
2006-08-19 - Bangkok, Thailand. ROGER CRUTCHLEY
The popular King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is moving north to the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai this year and promises to be the most entertaining and competitive contest so far. After being held the past five years in Hua Hin, chief organiser of the tournament and vice president of Anantara, Christopher Stafford, felt the time had come to hold the event on the northern border in Chiang Rai ''the home of elephants''.
2006-08-09 - Bangkok, Thailand. Jutarat Tongpiam
Leading academic and animal rights activists yesterday called for educational, social and legal reform to protect Thai elephants and return them to their former dignity. Their demands came at a seminar titled The Future of Thai Elephants: Nearing the End? organized by the Thai Environment Network following the controversial export of eight Thai elephants to Australia last month.
2006-08-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Lek Chailert
By Medo has been at the park since July 2006 and the young female elephant took a time to find her feet and adjust herself to her new home. Medo was familiar with loneliness for more than ten years and she will often walk away from the herd and long periods alone by the river. Some times she lets herself float and sleep in the river for many hours.
In January 2005 we rescued two mature elephants. Mae Mai arrived at the park on the 25th and, on the 30th,we welcomed Thong Bai. Thong Bai became seriously ill in July with a sickness lasting for over two weeks. Mae Mai never left her side. Mae Mai snatched the grass and placed it in front of Thong Bai. Thong Bai passed away on 12 August. Mae Mai was devastated. She became nervous, agitated and confused. A moment before Thong Bai passed away Thong Bai urinated a very dark and unusual colour.
2006-08-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
We rescued Thong Bai from a trekking camp in January 2005. She was more than 90 year old and had no teeth. When she arrived the park she could hardly eat the grass we provided and she was so tiny. We started to make new food recipes for this old elephant, recipes she loves.
2006-08-05 - KHAO ANG RUE-NI, Thailand.
Judging from the fresh dung on the jungle floor, the tracker knows his prey can't be far away, maybe 12 miles. This is no hunt, though. It's a mission of mercy. The tracker is Suriya Pongsuwong, a veterinarian who has been curing wild elephants for 22 years. He's hot on the trail of a five-ton male elephant that at age 50 has only one tusk and is partly lame.
2006-08-03 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
A group of activists opposing the government's export of eight elephants to Australia plans to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for transporting elephants overseas in alleged breach of the law. Pinan Chotiroseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, said the suit, to be filed with the Administrative Court, will name as defendants the ministry, the Department of Natural Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and the Zoological Park Organisat...
2006-07-31 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand. PIYARAT CHONGCHAROEN
Eight elephants were finally flown out of the country to Australia yesterday, despite ongoing protests by animal rights activists demanding proof they were not caught in the wild. They left the naval airport at U-tapao, in Chon Buri, aboard a huge Russian-made Antonov transport plane yesterday on a five-hour flight to Australia's Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. They will be quarantined there before going to Melbourne Zoo or Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
2006-07-23 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Phichaiyong Mayerkoo
Thai scientists are one step closer to being able to breed elephants from frozen sperm, and if an artificial insemination project continues its success, the Thai elephant will be saved from possible extinction, a researcher said yesterday. "If we are successful, Thailand will be the first country ever do artificial breeding from frozen sperm," he said.
2006-07-15 - Chanthaburi, Thailand.
An elderly wild elephant that became a Thai media star after being stuck in the mud for a week died today despite the best rescue efforts of scores of volunteers, an official said. The 50-year-old pachyderm called Plai Khun Song was rescued yesterday from a mud hole in a sanctuary in Chanthaburi province, east of Bangkok, but could not stand up due to his lame leg. "He died peacefully at 4am. We will conduct a Buddhist ceremony to pray for him," district chief Viwat Chantanurak said.
2006-07-13 - KHUN SONG, Thailand. APICHART WEERAWONG
An animal medical rescue team succeeded Thursday in hauling a partially lame elephant out of a mud hole in which he was stuck, but the five-ton beast was unable to stand up or be moved further. The medical team, unsure what to do next, decided to construct a care station around the beast, and called for some elephant trainers, or mahouts, to come survey the situation on Friday.
2006-07-10 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A senior Thai veterinarian said every elephant in the country should be implanted with a microchip to help protect the troubled pachyderm population. The Bangkok City authority wants to crack down on the hundreds of elephants and their panhandling mahouts who descend on the capital every year. The effort will be quickly abandoned because the authorities will soon despair of dealing with the heavyweight vagrants, predicted Alongkorn Mahannop, a vet sponsored by the Royal Household.
Claims by international animal rights groups that there is widespread opposition to the export of eight Thai elephants to state-owned zoos in Australia are a “breathtaking exaggeration,” one of the Australian zoo directors said yesterday. Taronga Zoo Director Guy Cooper said the claims were just a publicity stunt and insisted Australian zoos remain committed to elephant conservation.
2006-07-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Vet Alongkorn Mahannop said Friday the government should amend laws to control movement of the animals to prevent them from being exploited by their mahouts, and criticised authorities related to the issue for failing to permanently prevent mahouts and elephants from roaming streets of Bangkok to beg. He estimated over 350 baby elephants have been made to roam streets to beg nationwide, and each year some 175 street elephants were reported injured in Bangkok.
2006-07-06 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Australia has postponed the delivery of koalas to Thailand until disputes over the true origins of eight Thai elephants to be sent to that country are settled. Sopon Damnui, director of the Zoological Park Organization, said four koalas were earlier scheduled to arrive in Bangkok yesterday but Australia has postponed the shipment until problems concerning the eight elephants can be solved.
Officials in the Thai capital Bangkok rolled out big trucks today as they prepared to seize elephants brought in from the countryside to illegally roam the citys streets at night. The crackdown was the latest effort to keep the animals from blocking traffic, as well as to keep them and pedestrians safe as they wander the unfamiliar urban surroundings.
2006-07-05 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Kenya and Australia have halted controversial wildlife deals with Thailand amid protests here and abroad. A Nairobi court has put a stop on the Kenyan Government's plan to export animals to Thailand pending the hearing of a case filed by a local non-government group. And Australian zoos have held up delivery of four koalas here after the transfer of eight Thai elephants to the country was blocked by protesters.
World Wildlife Fund Thailand (WWFT) warns Thailand can be boycotted by other countries if it fails to make things clear about the status of eight elephants set to be shipped to an Australian zoo. The shipment has been suspended in the wake of protests by conservation groups which suspect the elephants are not domesticated but are from the wild. They demand the examination of DNA of those elephants but so far no action has been taken.
2006-07-04 - Bangkok, Thailand. KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Protesters yesterday urged the Australian government to respect the right of Thai people to know the origin of eight Thai elephants being transferred to Australian zoos. About 50 conservationists and students from Kanchanaburi province, where the elephants have been kept, rallied at the Australian embassy in Bangkok to protest the export of the animals to Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Melbourne Zoo.
2006-07-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand's National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department on Monday reconfirmed its earlier rejection of requests for DNA testing to verify the demographic status of eight Thai elephants earmarked for Australian zoos, saying it will carry out the export of the pachyderms as planned. The elephants have certificates issued by Interior Ministry to prove they were bred in captivity and did not come from the wild.
2006-07-02 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai non-governmental organization Friends of the Asian Elephant, working to protect elephants plans to petition the Australian embassy in Bangkok Monday, asking for its suspension of importing eight Thai elephants on an exchange programme until it can be proved that the Australia-bound elephants are home-bred, not from the wild.
2006-06-30 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand. PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
The Australian government will speed up the export of eight Thai elephants to Australian zoos, without DNA testing to prove the animals' origin as demanded by conservation groups, an embassy official said yesterday. Australian officials have been preparing a new air freight schedule to transfer the elephants to Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Melbourne Zoo after protests stopped them airlifting the animals earlier this month, said the source.
2006-06-28 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
A Kanchanaburi wildlife conservation group announced that it won't negotiate with the government and waits for the result of DNA testing to verify whether the Australia-bound elephants are home-bred or from the wild. The Kan Conservation Group has blocked the shipment of eight elephants to Australia on the grounds that the elephants may have been captured from the wild and may have difficulties adjusting to life in captivity.
2006-06-26 - Chiang Rai, Thailand. TEERAWAT KHAMTHITA
The craze for the animated film Khan Kluay, about the adventures ofa young elephant searching for his father,has led to mahouts bringing more baby elephants onto the streets of Chiang Raiprovince, where they beg for food and money.
2006-06-24 - Bangkok, Thailand. Connie Levett
OLE, a two-year-old Thai elephant, stands side-on to traffic in the middle of a four-lane street in central Bangkok, trunk swinging erratically as buses, taxis and motorbikes whiz past on either flank. For eight hours each night he walks through choking fumes, stopping only when a customer, Thai or tourist, buys a 20 baht (60 cent) bag of sugarcane to feed him and snap a photo. For the next few months, this will be his life.
2006-06-22 - AYUTTHAYA, Thailand.
It was Man vs. Elephant on a soccer pitch in Thailand on Thursday, as World Cup fever took on a decidedly local flair. Eleven elephants, each one's back painted with different national flags and carrying a rider, faced off against 11 human players for an afternoon designed to convince fans that soccer is about fun and not gambling. Sports gambling is illegal in Thailand but widespread nonetheless.
2006-06-20 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Eight Asian elephants earmarked for Australian zoos are in good condition at a quarantine station in Thailand, but there is still no firm date for their arrival. The elephants remain in quarantine at Kanchanaburi, in western Thailand, after an attempt to transport them to Bangkok Airport on June 6 was blocked by animal rights protesters.
2006-06-11 - Lampang, Thailand. Soraida Salwala, Friends of the Asian Elephant, FAE's Elephant Hospital
Mogae-Grey, a thirty-year-old cow was hired to haul logs across the Thai border. She walked with her baby alongside her when the baby stepped on a landmine. Her injuries are quite severe.
2006-06-08 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Animal rights protesters who blocked the transfer of eight Asian elephants from Thailand to Australia placed the animals under "horrific stress," Environment Minister Ian Campbell said yesterday. He said it could be some weeks before the animals are brought to Australia. A group of protesters stopped trucks carrying the elephants from leaving a quarantine station in the western Thai province of Kanchanaburi late Monday, bound for Bangkok's airport.
2006-05-29 - Lampang, Thailand. Soraida Salwala, Friends of the Asian Elephant. FAE's Elephant Hospital
Manguay-low, who shared tragic injuries from landmines in 2003, collapsed Tuesday 23rd May at 5.30. We tried to help her get up but she had lost all her strength. I had to decide to let her go peacefully
2006-01-23 - Lampang, Thailand.
Elephants at an elephant sanctuary in Maetang district in Chiang Mai have fallen sick with bloated stomachs, and veterinarians suspect the cause to be from changing of their diet. Veterinarians at "elephant friend" foundation in Lampang province have evacuated the bowels of 30-year-old Khamdee to help him excrete waste after the elephant had not eaten for days due to constipation. Prior to Khamdee, the foundation had treated 6 elephants all from the same elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai's Maetan...
2006-01-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai government plans to publish a handbook on elephant care in collaboration with a UN agency, the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA) disclosed. The guide, which will initially be published in Thai and English, aims at instructing mahouts (elephant minders) and zoos how to better diagnose pachyderm diseases and quickly seek appropriate veterinarian treatment for problems such as stomach aches. The project, a joint effort of Thailand's Forest Industry Organisation and the United Nations Food a...
2006-01-04 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR
The profitability of the Night Safari is still in doubt without the wild animals from Kenya, but the government is already embarking on a 700-million-baht elephant park as the second stage of its multi-billion-baht Chiang Mai World megaproject. The park, tipped as the biggest of its kind with more than 200 elephants, will cover 6,000 rai of land in the Doi Suthep-Pui national park, which already houses the 1.2-billion-baht Night Safari park.
2005-12-31 - Surin, Thailand.
Bring the Elephant HOME, a Dutch organization founded by Antoinette van de Water has started her education tour. Together with two elephants the "elephant rescue team," which consists of 8 people, will make their way through the heart of Thailand (including Ayuthaya, Lopburi and Sukhothai). The group will stay at temples and hold workshops at local primary schools. Showing the beauty of the elephants and the Thai culture the team hopes to raise awareness about the importance of nature conservati...
2005-12-23 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
In the northern province of Chiang Mai, the MAE SA (à¹à¸¡à¹ˆà¸ªà¸²) elephant home has acquired a new member; a male baby elephant. The baby elephant is the 2nd to be born this year to the elephant home, and the 13th to be born in the MAE SA elephant nursery project initiated in 1998.
2005-12-09 - Mae Ping, Thailand. Jan McGirk
They are scarred by years of abuse. Their forest domain has shrunk, and their numbers along with it. But one woman has taken on the task of protecting the animals Thailand once held sacred. Lek flings slices of sweet white bread into the maw of a frisky five-year-old male elephant she calls Hope, whom she has hand-reared from babyhood. Hope loudly kisses her cheeks and lips with his trunk.
They are scarred by years of abuse. Their forest domain has shrunk, and their numbers along with it. But one woman has taken on the task of protecting the animals Thailand once held sacred. Lek Chailert flings slices of sweet white bread into the maw of a frisky five-year-old male elephant she calls Hope, whom she has hand-reared from babyhood. Hope loudly kisses her cheeks and lips with his trunk.
2005-10-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In a strategic move to address the persistent criminal activity targeting South-east Asia's unique biological diversity, representatives from the 10 Member Countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed last week to form a regional law enforcement network to combat the illegal trade in animals and plants.
2005-10-12 - Lampang, Thailand.
Two young female elephants, aged six and two years, were admitted to Lampang Elephant Hospital yesterday morning, a week after triggering a landmine in Burma. The explosion on Oct 5 mutilated six year-old Mojay's right hind leg and Motoo's left front leg. At the time they were following their mother to haul logs in the Burmese forest opposite Tak's Tha Song Yang district, said Soraida Salwala, founder of Friends of the Asian Elephant, which runs the hospital. The mother was not injured.
2005-09-26 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Three recreation projects with a combined investment of Bt3 billion are being developed in Chiang Mai under theme “Chiang Mai World”, designed to compete with man-made tourist destinations in Hong Kong and Singapore and to establish Chiang Mai as a new regional tourism hub. The projects are the Chiang Mai Night Safari, the Elephant Park and Bird Tunnel and the Cable Line.
2005-09-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand's forests are among the most biologically diverse on earth, and such biodiversity is the origin of many of our foods and medicines. In fact, the interaction between flora and fauna, and the conservation of this interaction, is of the utmost importance for the social well-being of Thailand. So believes senator Kraisak Choonhavan, renowned throughout Thailand as the often candid senator for foreign affairs, and a well-known advocate of conservation and the protection of wildlife.
2005-09-19 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
They don't have to be housebroken because these pets won't fit in your home. But not just anyone can own an elephant, says Laithongrian Meephan, 47, owner of the Ayutthaya Elephant Farm, 45 miles north of Bangkok, who is selling about 20 elephants between the ages of 1 1/2 to 3 years. Prices start at $48,700 apiece for the beasts, which he promises are well-bred, well-trained, well-behaved and a source of luck.
2005-09-11 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
The 5th King's Cup Elephant Polo came to a dramatic end on the 11th as the Chivas Regal Scotland team clinched the title from Mullis Capital after a sudden death play-off. The final match of this colourful tournament, hosted by the Anantara Resort and Spa, was played before the representative of His Majesty the King. Both teams fought hard in the first half, with Mullis taking advantage of a two-goal lead from handicap and soon extended the score to 4-1 with two goals from Khun Tat, playing for ...
2005-08-25 - Khao Yai, Thailand. ALONGKOT CHUKAEW & PHILIPPA MITCHELL
Take the elephant for example. Nobody can call it a fussy eater _ its feeds on grass, leaves, fruits, vines, bark, roots and young shoots. The Wild Elephant Research and Rescue Fund (WERF) in Khao Yai has found that elephants eat at least 103 different species of plants, although they are known to have a preference for bamboo, most plants of the ginger family, banana trees and rattan. Finding enough food to feed an animal this large is no easy task _ about 300kg per day for a fully grown pachyde...
2005-07-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A SHOWCASE of work by young Thai artists - and elephants - will be unveiled in Edinburgh today. Vicky Khunapramot, a business graduate from Napier University, is pioneering the launch of the Capital's first Thai art exhibition. It will feature extraordinary abstract paintings by elephants from Northern Thailand's conservation parks. Ms Khunapramot said the elephants' contributions would reflect a "unique" aspect of Thai culture.
Eight elephants will stay in Thailand for at least another week while their fate is decided in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal(AAT). The AAT granted an interim order preventing the importation of the animals earmarked for Sydney's Taronga and Melbourne's zoos. The federal government gave the go-ahead for the beasts, who have been held in quarantine in Thailand for nine months, to be brought to Australia.
2005-05-08 - Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
For years, the sight of mahouts taking their elephants through urban areas in search of food and money has exasperated successive governments. But the solution to this and the illegal trade in elephants, according to the Wildlife Fund Thailand, could lie in new technology: DNA testing.
2005-04-26 - SURAT THANI, Thailand.
National park officials in Thailand's southern province of Surat Thani today voiced fears that wild elephants might be shot by irate local farmers if they continued to encroach on agricultural land. Mr. Nattaphol Rattanaphan, head of the Tai Rom Yen National Park, expressed his concerns during a meeting of national park officials, noting that a herd of six elephants had recently encroached on land in tambon Klon Sa in a desperate search for food and water.
2005-04-17 - Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
Local officials in Prachuab Khiri Khan today made a desperate appeal to the government, urging them to permit the construction of low-voltage electric fences to prevent herds of elephants from encroaching on local pineapple fields. In a continuation of the long-running battle between man and beast in Kuiburi district, Mr. Chaliew Jermwongrattanachai, a member of the Hat Kham tambon administrative organization, told reporters that around 130 elephants living in the Kuiburi National Park we...
2005-04-14 - Khao Yai, Thailand.
19 teenage bulls are the focus of this article. The researchers' observations show that they are currently forging out their personal home ranges _ each bull will need an area of about 120 square kilometres and herein lies the first issue. Is Khao Yai big enough for all of these boys? If each of the 23 identified bulls requires an area of 120 square kilometres, they will need a total area of 2,760 square kilometres. Khao Yai is only 2,168 square kilometres. And don't forget the bu...
2005-03-28 - Bangkok, Thailand. Connie Levett
Thailand's Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been accused of elephant diplomacy in the war of words over nine elephants destined for export to Australian zoos. "Our Prime Minister promised the Australian government to give nine elephants; he has promised many countries," said Soraida Salwala, founder of Friends of the Asian Elephant.
2005-03-24 - Sukhothai, Thailand. JARUNEE TAEMSAMRAN
Sukhothai province, where two historical ruins that have been declared World Heritage sites by Unesco are located, is inviting visitors who want to witness and participate in a centuries-old tradition scheduled to take place next month. From April 7-12, the usually quiet Si Satchanalai historical park in Tambon Had Siao, Si Satchanalai district will be transformed into a festive venue where ancient religious and cultural ceremonies of the local Thai Phuan people will be staged.
2005-02-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. Sapa-AFP
It's rare enough when living artists fetch outrageous fortune for their work. When those modern-day Matisses are Thai elephants, however, they charge into the record books. Eight elephants in northern Thailand have painted their way into the Guinness Book of World Records after an art lover living in the United States shelled out a jumbo 1,5 million baht (about R240 000) for their canvas creation - the highest price ever paid for elephant art. The four-legged artist...
2005-01-26 - Lampang, Thailand.
The National Elephant Institute, patronage of Her Royal Highness princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra, with the Forest Industry Organization, Lampang, in co-operation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Lanpang Tourism Association, presents the Valantine's Day Wedding Ceremony on Elephant-Back.
2005-01-21 - Phuket, Thailand. WASSANA NANUAM
More than 100 elephants and their mahouts have been put out of work by the Dec 26 tsunami. Elephant camp owners say they can not afford to keep the animals on the payroll because there are too few tourists paying to see the shows. Ten elephants and their handlers were laid off at the Phuket Elephant Ride camp alone. Before the tragedy the camp paid each mahout 12,000 baht per month.
2005-01-20 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. JARUNEE TAEMSAMRAN
Elephant painting is not new in Thailand but it is still amaziang to see the paintings by the pachyderms of Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai. Instead of the usual, abstract-style paintings that you may have seen or imagine from elephant artists, the well-trained elephants at this camp astonish visitors with paintings of beautiful flowers and motifs that look so realistic that you wouldn't believe it's the work of elephants. Elephant painting is part of the elephant...
2005-01-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. The Daily Telegraph
Visitors to a Thai elephant camp were treated to a call of nature with a difference yesterday, as five-year-old Diew demonstrated how to use and flush an oversized toilet. The massive but immodest beast had no problem posing for the cameras as he went about his business. Handlers at the camp, in northern Thailand's Chiang Mai province, have previously taught their elephants to paint, dance and play musical instruments. But their latest feat is guaranteed to m...
2005-01-18 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. CHEEWIN SATTHA
The Chiang Mai night safari park will definitely open on April 13 as planned, Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop said. Construction work at the park was about 80% complete and some sections of the new zoo would be open to visitors during the Songkran festival, starting on April 13, as scheduled, he said. Mr Suwit, who oversees tourism, yesterday visited the safari park site at tambon Mae Hia in Chiang Mai's Muang district. He said Kenya had agree...
2005-01-16 - CHIANG MAI, Thailand.
The world’s largest night safari is scheduled to open in the northern province of Chiang Mai in April, following top level negotiations between the Thai and Kenyan governments on the exchange of Thai elephant mahouts for Kenyan wildlife. The national importance of the Chiang Mai Night Safari project, which the government hopes will prove a massive tourist draw, was highlighted today when Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop led a government delegation to the construction site...
2005-01-06 - Khao Lak, Thailand.
Agitated and crying elephants in the Thai resort of Khao Lak reportedly felt the tsunami approaching, and in the process saved about a dozen lives. The elephants, who were giving rides to foreign tourists, began trumpeting around the time the earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, according to their mahout. "I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," said Dang Salangam, who operates an eight-elephant business on Khao Lak beach. ...
2005-01-06 - KHAO LAK, Thailand. Mark Bendeich
Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves. "I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," mahout Dang Salangam said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach at the eight-elephant business offering rides to tourists. The elephants started trumpeting -- in a way Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying -- at first ligh...
2005-01-04 - Khao Lak, Thailand. Peter Alford
ALMOST a kilometre inland from the Khao Lak beachfront, where the shells of smashed tourist resorts have been meticulously combed by earthmovers and mechanical shovels, two elephants are helping the search for the overlooked victims. Sood Lho (Handsome) and Phrai Wang (Jungle Palace) are working the banks of a fetid, junk-filled swamp that until Boxing Day was an irrigation dam for surrounding vegetable gardens and rubber trees.
2005-01-03 - KHAO LAK, Thailand.
Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen tourists in Thailand from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves. "I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," mahout Dang Salangam said yesterday on Khao Lak beach of the eight elephants who give rides to tourists.
2005-01-03 - Fang Nga, Thailand.
A year ago, they were filming battle scenes for the movie Alexander. Now six elephants are pitching in to help with the massive cleanup from the tsunami that devastated many of Thailand's prime tourist destinations. The massive waves, which killed 5,000 and left nearly 4,000 others missing, dumped debris up to two kilometres from the popular beaches of Aphotic island and Fang Nga province a week ago. While heavy machinery works on the tangled wreckage that used to be posh seafront resorts, some ...
2005-01-02 - PHUKET, Thailand. Karishma Vyas
Elephants joined the search for bodies in Thailand's tsunami-devastated coastal region on Sunday, clearing debris-strewn forests for rescue teams to retrieve rotting corpses. Six jumbos, who featured in Oliver Stone's recent blockbuster "Alexander", were trucked in from an elephant camp in the ancient capital Ayuthaya, 800 km (500 miles) north of shattered Phuket island, to help speed up the search operation.
2005-01-01 - Phuket, Thailand. UPI
Thai officials are using elephants to retrieve the bodies of the people who died in this week's deadly tsunamis, Sky News reported Saturday. Two dozen elephants are moving through the resort island of Phuket and the mainland beaches of Khao Lak in a search for bodies, many of which are buried beneath the rubble of buildings and tons of sand and debris.
2004-12-18 - Bangkok, Thailand. The Associated Press
Elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand are using their oversize bodies as road blocks, ambushing vehicles transporting sugar cane, tapioca and fruit, the sanctuary's chief says. The estimated 200 elephants in the Khao-Ang Rue-Ni sanctuary turn desperate and wily in the dry season, when water and food supplies shrink. It's then that the animals stage their heists, Yuo Senatham said.
2004-11-22 - PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN, Thailand. MCOT News
National park officials in Thailand's southern province of Prachuab Khiri Khan Province are seeking urgent measures to ensure that wild elephants living in the Kuiburi National Park are not harmed by local pineapple farmers during the coming dry season. Mr. Boonlue Phoonnil, the park's head, warned today that the current drought conditions were likely to push the 150-plus elephants out of the jungle and into local pineapple fields in a desperate search for food.
2004-10-23 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Sonny Inbaraj
Every creature, from a louse to a lyrebird, is a marvel of nature. But some marvels are just more marvellous than others - and none more so than an elephant. Consider this animal again and all it shares with us. Elephants live sixty to eighty years, the same span as humans.
2004-10-23 - SURIN, Thailand.
Thailand's northeastern province of Surin plans to feed more than 300 elephants at the 44th annual elephant fair next month, the provincial governor, Kasemsak Sanpoj, told TNA on Friday. The elephant performance at the fair is aimed at attracting more tourists, he said. This year's elephant fair is scheduled to run from 12-23 November.
2004-10-15 - San Francisco, Thailand. Karen Pierce Gonzalez, San Fransisco Chronicle
After a vacation in Thailand, Santa Rosa couple work to save domestic elephants they could never forget. Blind at 38, Jokia had spent much of her life in Thailand's illegal logging operations. Forced to work long hours every day, the Asian elephant had been drugged with amphetamines to keep her productive. Today, thanks to the work of a Santa Rosa nonprofit called All for Elephants, Jokia lives near the town of Janghai in northern Thailand on land owned by elephant rescuer Lek Chailart of Thaila...
2004-10-14 - Bangkok, Thailand. CITES
A two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will close here today after agreeing decisions to strengthen wildlife management, combat illegal trafficking and update the trade rules for a wide range of plant and animal species.
2004-10-14 - CHIANG MAI, Thailand. Ed Johnson, Canadian Press
Hand-feeding a hungry elephant is an unnerving experience. At the first whiff of a banana, its leathery grey trunk snakes out, probes the air and sucks it from your hand with a squelch, much like shoving fruit into a wet vacuum cleaner nozzle.
2004-10-14 - BANGKOK, Thailand. AP
If a toothache is bad, just imagine what a tusk ache must feel like. So pity the poor three-ton bull elephant Kamsaen, whose four months of agony finally came to an end when veterinarians extracted a partially cut tusk which had become infected.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Business Day
Southafrica, along with the rest of the southern African countries at a global wildlife conference in Thailand, voted against Kenya's proposal to place a 20 year moratorium on ivory trading yesterday.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ranjit Devraj
The world's 'flagship species' on land and sea, whales and elephants, won a reprieve on Tuesday from commercial exploitation at a major conservation conference in Thailand's capital.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Sasithorn Simaporn, Reuters
Elephants kicking soccer balls, painting flowers with their trunks, or twirling a hula-hoop are a common sight in Thailand, where the sacred warrior beasts perform in tourist shows or peddle fruits on the streets of Bangkok.
2004-10-11 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Booming demand in China is the biggest driver of the illegal ivory market and there is no clear link between allowing regulated legal trade and a rise in black market supplies, a report to a U.N. conference said on Monday.
2004-10-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Species Survival Network
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted in a late night session to deny Namibia an annual quota of 2,000kg of raw ivory and an unlimited quantity of worked ivory jewelry, known as “ekipas.” The decision could have serious, long-term, and positive implications for elephant conservation across Africa.
2004-10-09 - Chiang mai, Thailand. Pamela Phang Kooi Yoong
THE first stroke went from the left to the middle, then straight down. The second stroke came from the right, and went down the middle of the paper as well. They were confident, sure strokes that eventually yielded something that looked like a tree. Then came the yellow patches, followed by red ones at the end of each branch. A painting of a tree with buttercup-like flowers soon emerged. It was simple, beautiful . . . and amazing. The artist: an elephant.
2004-10-08 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Jan Vertefeuille, Sarah Janicke - WWF
World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC applaud African countries who today announced a continent-wide action plan to crack down on their domestic ivory markets, calling it a major victory for elephant conservation.
2004-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Kenya is on the front line of the "wildlife wars" and says its men in the trenches will be at risk if a U.N. conference approves a Namibian bid to sell more ivory.
2004-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
Khao Yai National Park is to become home to the first training centre for wildlife protection officials in Southeast Asia, the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment announced, Suwit Khunkitti, today.
2004-10-06 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Ivory from the tusks of extinct mammoths is being used as a legal substitute for the stuff provided by its living elephant kin, but poor quality and a finite supply means it will never replace it, experts say.
2004-10-05 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
The European Union looked set on Tuesday to harpoon a Japanese bid to resume commercial trade in whale products, but has yet to take a stand on a Namibian attempt to loosen restrictions on ivory sales.
2004-10-05 - Hua Hin, Thailand. AP
With the crack of clashing mallets and the thump of jumbo feet shaking the earth, the game is under way. Tense commands are shouted by pith-helmeted players tied firmly to their two-ton mounts. Soon there is a muddle in the middle. The beasts collide and the ball disappears in a forest of elephantine legs, raising some dust and much laughter. It’s a classic scrum in the whacky sport of elephant polo.
2004-10-02 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
The 13th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES kicked off in Bangkok today. It is the first time that a CITES meetng is held in the Southeast Asian region.
2004-10-01 - BANGKOK, Thailand. AFP
In the heart of Bangkok's bustling Chinatown, shops filled with tourist trinkets and antiques hide an illegal multi-million dollar ivory trade that environmentalists warn is destroying global elephant populations. Inside a cluttered tourist gift shop, an AFP reporter posing as a buyer asked to see banned African ivory and after a heated debate between the shop's two owners was shown smuggled tusks apparently hacked from the head of a slaughtered elephant.
2004-10-01 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Conservationists yesterday took a stab at the Thai government, accusing senior national politicians of involvement in the illegal trade in endangered species, while calling for a ban on Thai elephant exports.
2004-09-27 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
The north-eastern province of Surin, famed for its annual elephant round-ups, is to conduct its second elephant rally this year to help raise funds for Thai elephants.
2004-09-23 - Thailand, Thailand.
Jennifer Ellison saved a young girl from being crushed by an elephant in Thailand. She dashed to pick up four-year-old Stacey Young after she fell during an elephant ride, reports the Daily Star.
2004-01-18 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Pornprapa Rattanadang, The Nation
The inventor of a denture fitted to an 80-year-old elephant, allowing it to eat normally, has applied for a patent for the device. "It has been a great success," said Somsak Jitniyom of the Mount Chayarat Centre for Research and Technology Transfer.
2004-01-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok Post
A toothless old elephant who was slowly starving to death has been fitted with a set of specially made dentures in what could be the first in the world. The U-shaped denture, 15cm wide and 15cm long, is made of stainless steel, silicone and plastic. It was developed especially for Morakot, an 80-year-old cow elephant at the Chang Phuan Kaeo elephant ground in Kanchanaburi province.
2003-12-16 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai researchers will try to artificially inseminate a group of Asian elephants next month in a bid to boost numbers, a scientist working on the project said Tuesday. They will use samples stored at an experimental elephant sperm bank and are monitoring the beasts to work out the right time for conception in the northern towns of Lampang and Chiang Mai, said Mungkorn Damyang of Kasetsart University.
2003-10-02 - Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sangduen Chailert
The Elephant Nature Park received two bulls in need of urgent medical treatment. Pookaew 18, had very serious foot problems, and Khum-min 46, a big abscess on his back.
2003-09-21 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
The Scottish Chivas Regal squad and Germany's Mercedes Benz met in the King's Cup in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Sunday. The Chivas side disposed of local team Nokia Thailand 8-2 in the semi-final, while the Germans beat Australia's Sandalford Winery. Money raised from the tournament is being used for a new elephant conservation centre in Lampang.
2003-09-12 - Pattaya, Thailand. Dr. Iain Corness
Martin Smith is Mein Host at the Old Speckled Hen Pub in Jomtien, and a man who has spent more than half his working life working with elephants. He was sent around the world by Aspinalls to study elephant management. This took him to the US, Singapore and Thailand to study handling methods and enclosures. The answer was total zero handling, with studies showing that male elephants would look upon the ‘keepers’ as rivals and would therefore eventually attack their adversary one day to gain s...
2002-10-17 - Chiang mai, Thailand. Jennifer Hile
Jennifer Hile spent two and a half months in Northern Thailand investigating the plight of domestic elephants and elephant orphans and "Elephant Heaven", a sanctuary for abused elephants founded by Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. Chailert is a well-known Chiang Mai–based activist who runs Jumbo Express, a program bringing free veterinary care to elephants.
2002-09-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Prentiss Riddle
BoingBoing links to the website of the allegedly musical Thai Elephant Orchestra and says, "The elephants not only play with the instruments, they play together on them, jamming in what is clearly recognizable as music." Of course, if we accept John Cage's assertion that noise can be music, the question is not whether elephants can play music but whether elephants can play music that shows signs of (non-random) musical thought.
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
2024-01-11 - Mysore, India.
In response to the escalating threat posed by leopards, elephants and other wild animals in the Mysuru region, specialised task forces have been established to address the situation. A dedicated Leopa...
2024-01-04 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Los Angeles Zoo is grieving the death of 53-year-old Asian elephant Shaunzi. Zoo staff observed that Shaunzi was unable to stand up in her exhibit at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, according t...
