BANGKOK: Baby elephants are being illegally captured in horrific conditions to supply Thailand's lucrative tourism industry, prompting calls for Thai authorities to tighten animal trafficking laws.
Before reaching tourist centres, juvenile elephants caught in neighboring Burma (Myanmar) are being subjected to torture rituals to ''break'' their spirit ahead of training to entertain tourists, according to a new report.
After being smuggled across the border into Thailand, young elephants are paired with surrogate mothers that are forced to accept them, according to the report by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
TRAFFIC identified 108 tourist camps, government elephant facilities and hotels in Thailand where there were 1565 elephants.
''There is strong argument to consider either developing robust systems that prevent poaching and illegal trade or phasing out elephant tourism in Thailand altogether as a mechanism for safeguarding the wild populations of an already endangered species,'' the report said.
Thai authorities announced a clampdown against the illegal elephant trade in 2012 after environmentalist Edwin Wiek warned that baby elephants were being taken out of the jungle at any cost. A video sponsored by Mr Wiek's Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand showing the mistreatment of elephants went viral on the internet.
But under a myriad of Thai laws and regulations, only female domesticated elephants are required to be registered with the government and then only when a calf turns eight. Owners are not asked to prove an animal was born in captivity.
''There are gaping holes in the current legislation which do little to deter unscrupulous operators passing off wild-caught young animals as being of captive origin and falsifying birth and ownership documentation,'' said Joanna Cary-Elwes, campaign manager for Elephant Family UK, an organisation that sponsored the TRAFFIC investigation.
TRAFFIC recommends urgent reforms so wild and domesticated elephants are governed under one law and that authorities use microchips and DNA tests to register them.
The report said existing penalties were ''woefully insufficient'' to act as a deterrent to elephant traffickers.
There are estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000 Asian elephants in 13 countries which the International Union for Conservation and Nature considers endangered.
Burma's government acknowledged after the report's release that elephants were being illegally traded across the border into Thailand, but said smugglers were well organised and that no arrests had been made.
Thai authorities have not yet responded publicly to the report.
Fairfax Media
Before reaching tourist centres, juvenile elephants caught in neighboring Burma (Myanmar) are being subjected to torture rituals to ''break'' their spirit ahead of training to entertain tourists, according to a new report.
After being smuggled across the border into Thailand, young elephants are paired with surrogate mothers that are forced to accept them, according to the report by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
TRAFFIC identified 108 tourist camps, government elephant facilities and hotels in Thailand where there were 1565 elephants.
''There is strong argument to consider either developing robust systems that prevent poaching and illegal trade or phasing out elephant tourism in Thailand altogether as a mechanism for safeguarding the wild populations of an already endangered species,'' the report said.
Thai authorities announced a clampdown against the illegal elephant trade in 2012 after environmentalist Edwin Wiek warned that baby elephants were being taken out of the jungle at any cost. A video sponsored by Mr Wiek's Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand showing the mistreatment of elephants went viral on the internet.
But under a myriad of Thai laws and regulations, only female domesticated elephants are required to be registered with the government and then only when a calf turns eight. Owners are not asked to prove an animal was born in captivity.
''There are gaping holes in the current legislation which do little to deter unscrupulous operators passing off wild-caught young animals as being of captive origin and falsifying birth and ownership documentation,'' said Joanna Cary-Elwes, campaign manager for Elephant Family UK, an organisation that sponsored the TRAFFIC investigation.
TRAFFIC recommends urgent reforms so wild and domesticated elephants are governed under one law and that authorities use microchips and DNA tests to register them.
The report said existing penalties were ''woefully insufficient'' to act as a deterrent to elephant traffickers.
There are estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000 Asian elephants in 13 countries which the International Union for Conservation and Nature considers endangered.
Burma's government acknowledged after the report's release that elephants were being illegally traded across the border into Thailand, but said smugglers were well organised and that no arrests had been made.
Thai authorities have not yet responded publicly to the report.
Fairfax Media
One wonders just how often these laws can be tightened, we see this type of story so often, it seems that although we are told they will "tighten", I would say at least enforce, existing laws, NOTHING is actually ever done.
Posted by Laurie Howells on July 11, 2014 11:23