PHUKET: ''Nadia,'' a juvenile elephant that has become the target of a misguided campaign by Australian animal activists, has been moved on Phuket to a camp where she appears to be likely to be taught new tricks soon.
Three-year-old ''Nadia,'' real name Choojai, was tethered near a four-year-old named Somjai when Phuketwan identified her at an elephant camp in the Phuket jungle at the weekend.
While we watched, a group of tourists were ushered in to a Baby Elephant Show. Soon after, Somjai performed for the group, touching children and adults with her trunk, spinning a hoop, scoring goals with a football and standing up on hind legs.
Nearby, Nadia-Choojai trumpeted and appeared to be keen to join Somjai with the tourists.
More than 70,000 people have signed a petition aimed at freeing Nadia-Choojai at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. But the campaign has been poorly researched and largely aimed at a Phuket resort that no longer has any connection to the young elephant.
There are more than 200 elephants used for trekking and tourism on Phuket, with 26 of those under the age of five years, according to official figures.
Just why the protest petition organisers continue to target Nadia-Chooijai and a resort that no longer has any involvement with her is a mystery.
At the jungle elephant camp, Phuketwan was to interview one of Nadia-Choojai's owners, but the appointment was not kept.
The camp is typical of many on Phuket, with tourists charged 500 baht for the Baby Elephant Show (350 baht for children.)
A monkey show (500/350 baht) a snake show (500/350 baht) an orchid garden and mini-zoo (500/350 baht) are also available. Four adult elephants were tethered under cover, awaiting customers for trekking. Various packages are available, ranging up to 3600/2600 baht for two-and-a-half hours of ''entertainment.''
Phuketwan does not support using animals in this way but has suggested the Nadia-Choojai protesters need to do more research and use their time and energy more constructively in a campaign aimed at changing the laws in Thailand.
Elephants are privately owned - Nadia-Choojai is one of 26 belonging to a Phuket-based couple. Demanding that one elephant be gifted to a sanctuary makes no sense.
The resort targetted by the campaign used ''Nadia'' and others before her to entertain children for two hours at the Dino Park restaurant each evening.
A succession of young elephants used in this role are thought to have moved into tourism trekking.
A team of officials and vets on Phuket supervise the health of registered elephants on Phuket.
As long as there are tourists willing to support these kinds of shows, online protest petitions targetting a no-longer-relevant resort or one elephant are bound to miss their mark.
Three-year-old ''Nadia,'' real name Choojai, was tethered near a four-year-old named Somjai when Phuketwan identified her at an elephant camp in the Phuket jungle at the weekend.
While we watched, a group of tourists were ushered in to a Baby Elephant Show. Soon after, Somjai performed for the group, touching children and adults with her trunk, spinning a hoop, scoring goals with a football and standing up on hind legs.
Nearby, Nadia-Choojai trumpeted and appeared to be keen to join Somjai with the tourists.
More than 70,000 people have signed a petition aimed at freeing Nadia-Choojai at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. But the campaign has been poorly researched and largely aimed at a Phuket resort that no longer has any connection to the young elephant.
There are more than 200 elephants used for trekking and tourism on Phuket, with 26 of those under the age of five years, according to official figures.
Just why the protest petition organisers continue to target Nadia-Chooijai and a resort that no longer has any involvement with her is a mystery.
At the jungle elephant camp, Phuketwan was to interview one of Nadia-Choojai's owners, but the appointment was not kept.
The camp is typical of many on Phuket, with tourists charged 500 baht for the Baby Elephant Show (350 baht for children.)
A monkey show (500/350 baht) a snake show (500/350 baht) an orchid garden and mini-zoo (500/350 baht) are also available. Four adult elephants were tethered under cover, awaiting customers for trekking. Various packages are available, ranging up to 3600/2600 baht for two-and-a-half hours of ''entertainment.''
Phuketwan does not support using animals in this way but has suggested the Nadia-Choojai protesters need to do more research and use their time and energy more constructively in a campaign aimed at changing the laws in Thailand.
Elephants are privately owned - Nadia-Choojai is one of 26 belonging to a Phuket-based couple. Demanding that one elephant be gifted to a sanctuary makes no sense.
The resort targetted by the campaign used ''Nadia'' and others before her to entertain children for two hours at the Dino Park restaurant each evening.
A succession of young elephants used in this role are thought to have moved into tourism trekking.
A team of officials and vets on Phuket supervise the health of registered elephants on Phuket.
As long as there are tourists willing to support these kinds of shows, online protest petitions targetting a no-longer-relevant resort or one elephant are bound to miss their mark.
70 000 people have a neurosis condition, that is nothing unusual, and simply looking for an occasion to cry or other ways to vent out their psychological stress , similar like millions of people took an occasion of a death of Princss Diana (or other similar events) to fall profoundly into tears to release a stress - those tears have connection with a cause if event, but only with a triggering psychological process .
One college of mine along with her father once slipped of a glacier at Aoraki, NZ, to reincarnation.
There were thousands people in a church who had a first hearing of them, desperately crying etc.m at the same her mother , who lost two family members and BF, were quite calm, if almost relaxed - giving understanding of finality of what happened, and that they indeed reached the summit before slipping - and that without any medication. That illustrates well a phenomena of triggering tears of a neurotic part of the public who use such occasions to release accumulated internal stress.
Posted by Sue on April 29, 2015 09:29