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On the annual celebration of National Elephant Day on 13 March, it is fitting to remember the important, even pivotal, role which the Asian elephant has played in the unfolding of the modern Thai nation. Since time immemorial, the elephant has permeated the iconography and symbolism of not just Buddhism, but also of Brahmanism, which Thai Buddhism readily embraces. In warfare, elephants have played an important part, not just as the 'tanks' of the ancient battlefield but more spectacularly as the mounts of royal figures engaged in one-on-one duels, most notably individual combats fought against Burmese royals by King Ramkamhaeng, Queen Suriyothai, and King Naresuan. In culture, elephants permeate Thai literature and the visual arts, nearly always as beneficent figures. In economics, beyond playing an essential function in transporting goods and people, elephants logged all of the teak which indisputably earned much of the early foreign exchange which fuelled Thailand's industrialization and modernization.
Having stated all of the above - the usual paeans of praise - it is also fitting on National Elephant Day to consider some daunting questions: What exactly are the problems facing Thai elephants in 2004? What is the future of the Thai elephant?
As for elephants in the wild, Thailand still has about 1,500 Asian elephants. While these numbers are very low compared to the past, with good protection the population seems to have stabilised and the future is reasonably secure.
With domesticated elephants what we find, as with so many other sectors of traditional Thai society, is a world turned upside down. Numbers of domesticated elephants have plummeted from perhaps 100,000 in 1850, when Thailand had about six million people, to approximately 2,700 domesticated elephants, today, when there are 64 million Thais. Whereas there used to be an elephant for about every 60 Thais, now there is only one elephant for every 23,000 Thais. (An even more staggering juxtaposition is that in 2002, Thailand hosted 10,800,000 foreign tourists - or about 4,000 tourists for every single elephant.)
Beyond the diminished numbers, there has also been a huge change in the work which elephants do. Transporting goods and people has not been a major employer for over fifty years. Dragging logs has ceased to be a source of work since 1989 when the Thai government quite rightly and wisely banned logging. (A flurry of illegal logging which followed that ban has since been successfully curtailed, so even illicit dragging now employs but few elephants.)
Talk about 'work' raises a very interesting question: Why, in these enlightened times, should elephants have to work at all? The answer is that keeping a single elephant demands exhaustive human care and supervision. Whereas a single person might be able to care for many tens, even hundreds, of cows or goats, for example, each elephant requires one and more often two full-time mahouts. Providing food, shade, and water for elephants is a demanding job.
In turn, the mahouts, virtually all poor villagers, need to care for their families and thus the need for the elephants to do some work that generates money. One simple alternative to work often suggested would be to release all elephants back into the wild but the sad fact remains that while many domesticated elephants would probably survive quite well in nature, in Thailand (and throughout Asia) there is nowhere near enough safe, suitable habitat into which to release them.
With the loss of virtually all traditional forms of work, tourism and cultural activities have emerged as the only viable legal jobs. Today Thailand has about 50 tourist camps of various sizes holding perhaps 1,400 elephants; in fact the numbers in commercial camps are probably higher since at any time some elephants are at home, allowing the animals and their owners to rest. Beyond the many elephants catering to foreign tourists, a sizable number of animals also partakes in purely Thai activities including religious processions, blessing new houses, and historical recreations at local festivals. Clearly, over half of Thailand's elephants, maybe even 70%, are engaged in tourism and culture.
The major attraction of tourist camps is offering performances, usually quiet modest, and giving the tourists rides (including overnight treks in some places in the north). Visitors are always encouraged to buy food for the elephants, mostly bananas and sugarcane, and to many people the highlight of their visit is just the thrill of touching a real elephant.
The entertainments provided have become more diversified and sophisticated in recent years. On the dark side, for the past 25 years or so elephants have panhandled the streets of Bangkok, selling trinkets and food, though thankfully several recent confiscations have shown that the authorities have finally cracked down hard.
On the bright side, the first striking innovation came in 1998 when five elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center were taught to paint pictures, paintings which many connoisseurs consider to be fine art. Elephant paintings sold at an auction at Christies in New York in 2000 raised over US$50,000 and featured in a favourite American television show, 60 Minutes. Today several other camps also produce paintings, including the Mae Sa camp and the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal.
The Thai Elephant Conservation Center has given birth to an even more startling invention, the Thai Elephant Orchestra, the world's first animal musicians dedicated to making serious music. The orchestra's first CD gained great praise from critics and appeared in media as diverse as CBS Evening News, People magazine, New York Times, The Economist, and many others.
Thai elephants have featured in major films, including Walt Disney's Operation Dumbo Drop and Oliver Stone's work in progress, Alexander . Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol's spectacular historical epic The Legend of Suriyothai has achieved worldwide acclaim and distribution. Numerous other events have captured international media attention including elephant-back weddings on Valentine's Day and the annual King's Cup elephant polo tournament in Hua Hin.
The Thai elephant has clearly secured a prominent place on the world stage, but where do Thailand's elephants stand at home in 2004? Numbers are undoubtedly low but they are probably sustainable through captive breeding. Concrete actions continue to expand. Veterinary care has greatly improved and through the auspices of several NGOs and government agencies virtually all Thai elephants now receive world-class treatment, often for free. The National Elephant Institute has been founded by the Forest Industry Organization to serve as a centre for ideas and actions, including drafting a new national law. Further, many provinces and regions have established organizations to help their own local elephants. A leading NGO, the Royal Forest Department, and a commercial sponsor have joined forces to launch an innovative effort to employ privately-owned elephants in national parks, both in assisting patrolling and offering rides to visitors. Despite some teething problems, such cooperative ventures are ripe with promise.
A lot of the controversy which surrounds the welfare and conservation of domesticated elephants, both in Thailand and internationally, centers around the unstated, underlying and highly emotive question: Should elephants be kept in captivity? Personally, I strongly feel that they should not; Asian elephants have never been bred selectively and thus both genetically and behaviourally, they are wild animals pure and simple. Having stated the theory, however, the fact remains that as a legacy of many centuries of both capture and breeding, Thailand has nearly 3,000 elephants in domesticity. Realistic solutions to the problems facing these animals can only come when people of good will, tolerant to the opinions of others, reflect on theory - conscience, if you like - but reject it when it contravenes common sense.
Perhaps the most hopeful sign is that the Thai public, once blissfully unaware of the elephant's plight, is now highly motivated in helping to protect their beloved elephants. Most Thai elephant owners have always extended humane treatment, but now more than ever they are made aware that are caretakers for a national treasure, not just their own private property. While constant vigilance is called for, the future of the Asian elephant in Thailand is looking brighter.
Visitors wishing to find more information, or to offer assistance, can visit the following websites:
National Elephant Institute
(Thai Elephant Conservation Center)
www.thailandelephant.org
Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand
www.aeft.org
Friends of the Asian Elephant
www.elephant.tnet.co.th
Elephant Help Project
www.elephanthelp.org
Treasure Our Elephants Fund
Foundation for the Conservation of Northern Elephants www.treasurethaielephants.org
ECO-TOURISM ACTIVITIES OFFERED BY THE NATIONAL ELEPHANT INSTITUTE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD LAIR
Richard Lair, from San Francisco, California, has intensively studied the Asian elephant for 27 years and is presently Advisor and International Relations Officer at the National Elephant Institute of Thailand, based at the Forest Industry Organization's Thai Elephant Conservation Center, in Lampang province. Initially he was interested only in wild elephants and thus began his work in Thailand with Dr. Bonsoong Lekagul at the Association for the Conservation of Wildlife, the Kingdom's first conservation NGO.
He is a member of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AESG) and wrote Gone Astray: The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). His latest publication is The Elephant In Thai Life , published by Asia Books. He is co-founder of the Thai Elephant Orchestra. |
