Hunted in the wild

Our national symbol is losing the freedom to roam the nation's forests

By: Tunya Sukpanich, Photos Pornprom Sarttarbhaya and Tunya Sukpanich

After two months at the Mahidol University livestock and wild animal hospital in Sai Yok district of Kanchanaburi province, most of the deep wounds on Pang Kanjana's body were healed, but the adult elephant still had a deformed and crippled left hind leg from a broken bone suffered long ago. While at the hospital Pang Kanjana was found to be three to four months pregnant following an ultrasound check-up. (Pang is used for female elephants, while Plai is used for male elephants.)

The owner, Boontham Sala-gharm, had successfully registered Pang Kanjana at the Muang district office in Kanchanaburi and obtained an identity certificate for her on Dec 22, 2008. The next day, however, when Mr Boontham sought a travel permit at the provincial Livestock Department office so he could take the elephant to Phetchaburi province, her condition raised a red flag with officials, who ordered him to take her to the animal hospital in Sai Yok. Mr Boontham , from Surin province, claims that he bought the jumbo for 400,000 baht at Ban Nam Pu Ron along the Thai-Burma border out of compassion, using money borrowed from the Bank of Agriculture and Cooperatives (BAAC) and ''loansharks' in Surin.. The elephant's wounds, as well as her demeanor, made veterinarians and livestock officials wonder if she might have been captured from the wild, strictly prohibited under Thai law. When she arrived at the hospital she appeared frightened and depressed, and avoided people.

Her diet was also a tip-off that she might be a wild elephant. She eats only banana trees and bamboo trees and refuses fruits, which are the primary food for captive elephants, said veterinarian Chaovalit Nakthong, the director of the hospital.

The situation was reported to local conservation groups and the Department of National park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP). Observing the jumbo since shortly after her arrival at the hospital, DNP officials were certain that she was from the wild.

IN RECOVERY: Pang Kanjana was suffering from numerous injuries when she first came to the Mahidol University animal hospital in Kanchanaburi’s Sai Yok district.

The DNP's Wildlife Conservation Division (WCD) then confiscated the animal and filed a lawsuit at the local police station to take control of her, and filed a opinion opposing the issuance of the elephant identity certification at the provincial criminal court.

Normally it is quite difficult to differentiate wild elephants after they have been kept with domesticated ones for a while, but Pang Kanjana is obviously not easily tamed, as evidenced by her wounds.

Animal rights activists have long claimed that some wild elephants, after being captured, are beaten continuously for three days and nights to frighten them into submission. Veterinarian Sarawut Taksinoros, who is responsible for Pang Kanjana's medical treatment, expects that the poor animal will fully recover within a month, but said an abscess on her hip still needs intensive care.

LUCRATIVE BUSINESS

RESTING PLACE: After they make their nightly rounds elephants can be found in empty fields throughout the city.

Conservationists say Pang Kanjana's story serves as an example of the illegal hunting of wild elephants to supply the big business of providing elephants for tourism-related operations. These include the elephants seen roaming the streets of Bangkok and other big cities with their mahouts looking to sell tourists sugar cane to feed the animals, as well as elephants for local and international zoos and wildlife parks.

Mr Boontham insisted in several interviews with local press that he was not involved in the wild elephant trade as alleged by conservation groups. Is it just a coincidence, ask the conservationists, that many persons with the same last name in Surin and Buri Ram provinces are believed to be engaged in the illegal trade of elephants? At least four persons with the surname Sala-gharm were involved in the sale of elephants to the Zoological Park of Thailand, which amid much controversy sent eight elephants to zoos in Australia.

LOVING CARE: Veterinarian Sarawut Taksinoros looks in on his patient.

Pinan Chotirossereni, chairman of a Kanchanaburi conservation group, joined other conservationists in a protest that aimed to block the sending of the elephants to Australia. She took the case to the Administrative Court after failing to stop their departure. The case is still under court proceedings.

Ms Pinan said wild elephants are often caught and registered as domestic ones, and added that the problems for domesticated and wild elephants are closely related.

ELEPHANTS IN THE CITY: A familiar site in Bangkok, mahouts take their animals into entertaiment districts to sell tourists sugar cane for them to feed to the elephants.

Over the past 20 years, she explained, domesticated elephants have been increasingly engaged in profitable tourism- and entertainment-related businesses. Consequently the demand for elephants has increased, along with the prices offered for them.With a diminishing supply of domesticated elephants, more and more wild elephants are being hunted, contributing greatly to their decline.

A study by Mattana Srikrachang, an elephant expert and researcher from the WCD, Wildlife Conservation Division, affirms that the number of elephants in the country's national parks and wildlife sanctuaries is declining rapidly. The present population is 2,000 to 2,500.

There are no records of how many wild elephants have been taken from the wild in recent years, but some evidence shows that the hunting is more active along the Thai-Burma border than anywhere else.

An official remarked that ethnic peoples along the Thai-Burma border have long hunted and raised elephants as part of their traditional way of life. Some of them capture and tame the elephants to sell to elephant parks, he said.

The most common ways of capturing wild elephants are through nooses and pits dug in the earth, both of which can cause severe injury and even death.

Another more humane strategy, said one conservation official, is to raise domesticated elephants in the forest, where they have a high chance to meet wild elephants. At the least there is a good opportunity for breeding and raising the newborns, and in some cases the wild elephants become part of the domesticated herd.

Young elephants are most sought after for elephant shows because they are easily trained and they are lovely. According to research undertaken by the Parliament s environment commission, capturing young elephants in the wild occurs mainly along the Thai-Burma border, especially from Umphang in Tak province down to Sangkhlaburi in Kanchanaburi province, and from Muang district of Prachuab Khiri Khan province to Ranong province. It also happens along the Thai-Malaysia border in Srisakorn district of Narathiwat province.

Haruthai Kongkuan, a Karen member of a conservation group in Kanchanaburi, accepts that some of his fellow Karen capture and sell wild elephants. They normally use their domestic elephants to lure the wild elephants, he said, adding that he totally disagrees with the trade in wild elephants. However, he pointed out, capturing and raising elephants as a way of life is not so easy to change. Mr Haruthai said that expertise from Karen groups can be useful in conserving the wild herds, for example in catching injured elephants for medical treatment.

He urged Karen villagers to turn to ecotourism, and commented that at the edges of the forest there are often large salt fields where elephants come in large numbers to get needed minerals. He suggested that tourists could observe them from scaffolds in nearby trees.

He also advocated cooperation between the Thai and Burmese governments in protecting the wild herds which roam freely across the border. From his observations, the rapid decline in wild elephants is due to the activities of people from both countries.

ELEPHANTS AND THE LAW

Pang Kanjana was registered as a domestic elephant last Dec 22, only one day before she was sent to the hospital. She does not have a microchip implant as most captive elephants do. The provincial official who was responsible for issuing the identity certificate which verifies that an elephant is domesticated said that Mr Boontham gave a purchasing document as evidence, and that was enough to issue the certificate.

The identity certificate has long been a big problem because of the many loopholes, said Ms Pinan. Those captured from the wild are registered as domestic and obtain the identity certificate easily.

Under the Beasts of Burden Act (1939), captive or domestic elephants need to be registered and to obtain an identity certificate at a district office when they are eight years old. They also need a travel permit from the local Livestock Department office when they are relocated out of the province.

Consequently, young elephants aged from two to seven years are commonly captured from the wild and trained, then registered and certified when they turn eight years old with the claim that they were born in captivity.

One conservationist said that hunters often kill the mother in order to get to the babies. Naturally, the young elephants are under protection of their mothers and other grown ups in the herd.

Conservationists and several wildlife protection-related government agencies have therefore long requested for a change of regulations on identity certificates to stop exploitation of young wild elephants.

One proposal from various conservation groups and wildlife experts a few years ago was that owners be required to register 30-day old elephants within 15 days, and produce the identity certificates of the parents to prove that the baby elephant was born in captivity.

Moreover, the owner would be required to report the death of an elephant to authorities and return its identity certificate to prevent illegal use of the certificate.

However, so far nothing has been changed and the hunters continue to use this loophole to earn huge amounts of money from selling the jumbos, leading to fears of the elephants' disappearance from the wild in Thailand soon.

According to records, 40 elephants were registered and obtained identity certificates in Surin province last year. It is very doubtful that so many captive elephants are born in the province, said Ms Pinan.

Domestic and wild elephants in Thailand are covered under 18 laws and four ministerial regulations, leading to confusion and contradiction in their application. For instance, elephants are normally considered a protected species under the wildlife conservation law, but they are allowed to be used for transportation under the Beasts of Burden Act.

Consequently, in recent years both government agencies and conservation groups have proposed a new bill to clarify the status of the elephant in Thailand and to protect both wild and domestic animals.

The bill has met opposition from certain businesses that have the support of local and national politicians, as well as villagers who raise elephants.