Elephant Consumption in Northern Thailand

The Bangkok Post features an unusual story today about a village near Phrae in northern Thailand where folks specialize in the slaughter and consumption of elephants which have died of natural causes. It all sounds grisly, but the rational is solid. What else could you do with a dead elephant?

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.''

Despite the cultural cringe of the national symbol finding its way on to the dinner plates of villagers, the people of Wiang Thong have no remorse about consuming elephant meat when they can.

Their ancestors had a close relationship with the animals which were used for logging, and the consumption of a carcass is simply viewed as the elephant providing sustenance for the villagers. The local governor believes it can become a tourist attraction, and the practice of eating elephant meat is already attracting curious onlookers from neighbouring provinces.

Wiang Thong village was once a vibrant logging area before the government ordered the closure of forests across the country in 1988 to prevent illegal logging.

Wilaiwan Chindamanee, 55, a female kamnan or sub-district chief of Wiang Thong district, said there were about 400 elephants in the village about 27 years ago. At that time, elephants and their owners worked for the Forest Industry Organisation and logging provided most of the villagers with a livelihood. Sanan Chindamanee, 55, a former kamnan of Wiang Thong, and husband of Mrs Wilaiwan, said: "Many logging companies paid us to transport logs using elephants. Sometimes we went to work as far away as Burma."

Elephant owners and mahouts in the village grouped together as an association. When an elephant died, each member would chip in 400 baht and the money was given to the owner of the dead elephant to buy a new one. But when the logging ban was enforced the villagers were made jobless and many had to sell their elephants to survive.

Mr Sanan said that after a foreign reporter visited Wiang Thong village eight years ago to cover the practice of elephant eating, untrue stories emerged that they were killing the elephants. "We only eat meat from dead elephants," said Mr Sanan. "It's impossible for us to kill elephants. They are very expensive. Even back then, they cost between 50,000 baht and 100,000 baht."

Mr Sanan said villagers develop a close bond with their elephants from childhood and always feel grateful to the pachyderms for their usefulness. The death of an elephant is always mourned by villagers. When it comes to the meat, a team of men skilled in cutting up an elephant carcass is called in.

Before cutting up the carcass, a rite is performed to apologise to the elephant for what they will do. The reputation of the team preparing the carcass has spread to elephant owners in Surin, the northeastern province famous for capturing, taming and training wild elephants. When elephants die there, elephant owners in Surin contact Wiang Thong villagers to come and buy the elephant carcass. Mr Sanan said some elephant owners in Surin give away carcasses for free and came to the village to witness for themselves the practice of eating elephant meat.

Chamlong Sanpapao, 46, who heads the team that cuts and prepares elephant meat, said in the past people believed that eating elephant meat could boost physical strength and promote longevity. Mr Chamlong said villagers pay a lot of money to buy elephants. "When they die, their owners don't want to get rid of their carcass. They still can make money selling their carcass," Mr Chamlong said. An elephant carcass can fetch between 10,000 and 30,000 baht, he said.

Mr Chamlong said practically every part of an elephant body is valuable, particularly its tusks. Even its bones are made into decorative items or talismans. Of the body parts, an elephant penis is considered a delicacy which requires a complicated cooking procedure, said Mr Chamlong.

In the past, if an elephant died in the forest, a "hunting" team would be sent to find the carcass and then the cutting would follow. But such teams no longer exist because most elephants die in cities, said Mr Sanan. Phrae governor Somchai Hatayatanti said the practice of eating elephant meat in Wiang Thong village had attracted curiosity from outside.

The Elephant Doctor of Phuket

Everyone loves elephants, so it's great news that a medical team watches over the large elephant population on Phuket, as reported today in Phuket Wan.

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.

From all reports, last month's visiting US sailors loved the elephants and that's probably as it should be. Phuket's ''heffalumps'' are mostly entering middle age, perhaps 40 years old or more, enjoying a reasonably comfortable existence compared to others living in destitution on the streets of Bangkok.

Are they happy? Who can say. As humans, we like to imagine they are just like us. We watch cartoons. We transfer emotions and feelings. At least, some people do. Should elephants be tamed and trained? Who cay say. Humans have been using them in peace and war since man first mounted a beast. In Thailand, they are a national icon.

TODAY Dr Jirayu Niranwiroj is visiting Siam Safari in the island's south, not far from the Big Buddha, to attend to an injury on Pedpee, a five-year-old, who was born on New Years' Eve. Pedpee has an injury that has stopped her walking properly for 10 days. The injury was inflicted by her mahout, her trainer.

''It was to stop her running wild,'' said the veterinarian from the Department of Livestock Development. ''Elephants need to be controlled and when they are young, that can be quite difficult.

''Elephants can't just be left to run free. They're too big.''

So the wound inflicted by Pedpee's trainer needs to be treated by the elephant doctor. Siam Safari, Dr Jirayu said, was quick to report injuries to its herd of 23 elephants and among the best elephant owners on the island. Elephants are just part of the call-outs for Dr Jirayu. He and his seven-person team seem to be working constantly

.

Thailand's Elephant Capital to get Pachyderm Park

Good news for lovers of elephants in Thailand. Surin, the elephant capital of the country, will soon set aside a large amount of land for the care and upkeep of these magnificent creatures, and also create an irresistible tourist attraction. An excellent idea. The Bangkok Post reports.

Surin is to be home to a new elephant park to shelter jumbos rescued from city streets.

A number of elephants have died or been seriously injured in accidents in Bangkok and other cities after being hit by cars, falling into potholes or suffering an electrical shock.

In the latest bid to solve the seemingly insurmountable problem, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will set up an elephant shelter on 6,000 rai owned by the Royal Forest Department and the Forestry Industry Organisation, permanent secretary Saksit Tridech said yesterday.

Initially, about 100 stray elephants were expected to be relocated to the shelter, which could become another tourist attraction in Surin, dubbed "elephant city" because of the number of captive elephants in the province.

"We are going to invite all related parties such as the Interior Ministry and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and elephant owners to discuss how to operate the shelter in a way that will help solve the elephant problem," Mr Saksit said.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation believes there are about 2,000 elephants living in the wild and about 3,000 in captivity. Officials estimate about half of the captive elephants have been forced to roam city streets and tourists sites at some stage.

Mattana Srikrachang, the wildlife department's elephant expert, said more needed to be done to stop elephant owners from bringing the animals into the major cities and putting their lives at risk. That included overhauling the captive elephant registration system so the authorities could get an accurate count of the number of captive elephants as well as information about their ownership and working places.

Elephant Rescue in Thailand

Elephant walks down a sidewalk in Rayong, Thailand, and steps on a concrete cover over the public water system, and it collapses. Help arrives quickly and the very scared pachyderm is freed with the help of a backhoe that widens the hole and hauls the animal out with the use of a harness. Daily Mail has the details.

His startled expression and pleading eyes say it all. Left stranded in a rather undignified position, this poor baby elephant was in need of some urgent help after he managed to wedge himself in a manhole in Thailand.

After missing his footing and falling down the gaping manhole of a drainage ditch the poor animal was left well and truly stuck. The unfortunate accident took place while the elephant was out walking in the street with its owner in Rayong province, in the east of the country. The baby had been taken out to work in the street by a mahout - the men who drive the elephants - but must not have been looking where he was going.

Rescuers spent three hours freeing the elephant, who was unharmed, by using a bulldozer to widen the hole. While elephants are used to move large heavy objects in Thailand, many of the animals in Rayong province are trained to carry tourists on elephant treks through the jungle. Mahouts also use elephants to beg on the streets of many large Thai cities and baby elephants, with their cute eyes and hairy heads, are among the most sought after.

Baby elephants are often taught tricks to appeal to tourists and, although it is illegal in many cities, work the streets with their owners from early in the morning to late at night. Mahouts control the elephants using a small number of commands and a sharp hook, known as an angkus. Last month a 14-year-old female elephant was electrocuted in Rayong when she accidentally brushed against a naked electrical cable.