Thai Elephants Dying of Starvation Due to the Pandemic and its Impact on the Tourism Sector5/19/2022
The pandemic has negatively impacted Thailand’s tourism sector. With the exception of elephant sanctuaries or rehabilitation centres, captive elephants in Thailand are often exploited for financial gain and depend heavily on tourism for funding. Captive elephants may be forced to provide rides for visitors, play soccer for spectators, or other tricks to generate income. However, the pandemic has also negatively affected elephant sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres that rely on tourists who volunteer to care for the elephants, donate money or pay for admission to view elephants in their natural habitat free from chains. Many camps and sanctuaries have struggled to provide the proper care and food for their animals. Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was originally established in 1976 as an elephant camp for tourism, which introduced elephant riding, elephant shows, and tricks. However, in 2019, Maesa Elephant Camp underwent significant change when the ownership was transferred to Mrs. Anchalee Kalmapijit, who believed that elephants should live a more natural life, free of chains. She eliminated riding and other exploitative activities with assistance from Elephant Nature Park. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding and the decrease in tourism, 22 elephants at Maesa Elephant Camp died during the pandemic as a result of starvation. The most recent death was a 50-year-old male elephant named Krung Rattana. He died while staff were working hard to transport him to Elephant Conservation Centre for urgent medical care. Krung Rattana had been chronically ill and had previously received medical treatment from the camp’s veterinary team. However, as a result of not receiving a proper diet for two years, he did not survive. Mrs. Anchalee Kalmapijit stated that elephants are expensive to feed considering they eat 10 tonnes of food every day. In addition, Maesa Elephant Camp currently only has 110 employees, a third of the 330 employees the camp had two years ago. The elephant crisis in Thailand has been receiving international coverage in the media. An article was written by Mongabay.com in 2021 and explores the topic of the feeding crisis and the difficulty in providing care to elephants without sufficient funding. It states: “An interesting development we’ve seen in the last few years, right up to the start of the pandemic, is more travel companies – not only in Western countries but also in China – dropping conventional elephant activities, such as elephant riding, in favour of observation only and more humane alternatives,” said Jan Schmidt-Burbach of World Animal Protection, an organization that has studied elephant welfare in Thailand for more than a decade. “I really hope that the travel industry will pick up where they left off at the start of the pandemic and not fall back into greed-driven profit-maximization.” It is my hope that the pandemic will change Thailand’s exploitative elephant tourism sector and provide a chance to reconsider the relationship between humans and elephants. Donations have provided emergency funds to aid 1,826 elephants in 226 camps in Thailand, according to World Animal News reported in 2021. However, this crisis continues to persist and more help is required to ensure the survival of these beautiful, social, and intelligent creatures. The elephants at Maesa Elephant Camp are in need of financial support to care for their elephants. Please consider sponsoring an elephant at: maesaelephantcamp.com/sponsor-an-elephant/ Comments are closed.
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AuthorKatrina Sriranpong is a philanthropist with a passion for aiding disadvantaged children, advocating for refugees from war-torn countries as well as promoting animal rights and protection. Archives
April 2024
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