T - animal abuse, BEGGING ELEPHANTS 1

26-6-2009: Thai elephants just have to grin and bear it
By: SUNTHORN PONGPAO
“The government was showering money on the Chinese pandas, while ignoring its own national symbol, the elephant.
A case in point? The 20 million baht snow house being built for the panda family at the zoo.”
Read the whole story in Bangkok Post!


ELEPHANTS OFF THE ROADS!

More photos:

2. ELEPHANT ABUSE
since the death of PLAI BOON MEE 16-10-2008
ELEPHANT ABUSE
the arrest of a mahout


SEE A VIDEO OF 5 MINUTES OF THE LIFE OFA BEGGING STREET-ELEPHANT IN BANGKOK: "Giants in a strange world".

Read list 1 of the TOP TEN OF THE DEADLIEST ANIMALS (nr. 7 at the list)

and list 2 of the TOP TEN OF THE DEADLIEST ANIMALS (nr. 9 at the list)

and you can understand the risks to bring such animals into the cities!!


"I will NOT remain silent. I will speak for those who cannot, or will not speak, and it will hurt."

Daharja

Let’s NEVER forget the very touching “Elephant Song”!

I didn’t hear Kamahl’s song for a decade or more anymore but never forgot it!

LISTEN TO THE ELEPHANT SONG

please DO something against this shame and read THIS

Mistifarang's Blogs

see also the arrest of a mahout

The begging elephants are getting in the street-scene of Bangkok (and other towns) again more and more common unfortunately. This abuse is against the Thai law but this law has not been enforced in a proper way. One of the reasons is that, when the authorities are coming into action the mahouts are getting berserk, going very far in that.
The poor Elephants are suffering day-in-day-out under abnormal circumstances, sometimes they are not fed well resulting in food-poisening, stress of noises and all kinds of light, dust and exhaust-gases from the (almost always present heavy) traffic.
Roaming half on roads and half on pavements must be a hell; pavements mostly are very narrow, overcrowded and in a very bad condition: narrow passes, high steps which are even for pedestrians not easy to use, bad leveled, motorbikes driving on the pavement, not, bad or partly covered manholes, you name it and you find it: definit NOT made to stroll around city-roads!
The creatures are many hours roaming around (I estimate 6-8 hours) only with a drink out-of a local fountain or something like that. No bath can be taken even hosing with water is unavailable.
After a hell of a working-day they are, in the middle of the night, brought to their hide-out, an abandoned plot somewhere in or near the city.
Accidents (lories, cars, glass etc.) are not rare and sometimes the Elephant is getting out of its mind (can caused by a lot of reasons) and the peaceful and accepting creature turns into a not to stop fury, starting to make a rampage. For that reason “difficult” elephants will be drugged by the mahout to prevent accidents as much as possible. Sometimes, when a specialized team with a vet is available, it can be calmed down by an injection but I have seen also a press-photo of an Elephant gunned down in the middle of Bangkok by the police: no vet available and the poor animal got a big thread for its surroundings.
Wounded and confiscated elephants will be treated with the help of action-groups.

“We often call the Elephant the gentle giant, but we should be ever mindful that Elephants are wild animals, and can exhibit behavior you should be aware of when around them”: what I did not know about elephants

There are several but I do not know all of them. Hereafter some interesting but sad links:

In Bangkok, It’s A Tough Life for Elephants
lucky elephants are going to heaven
“Elephants a symbol of Thailand's shame” (Brisbanetimes February 17, 2008)
Caution: Elephants Brake for Food on Bangkok’s Roads (The NY Times 20-1-2008)

Wildlife Friends of Thailand (WFFT)
PAAHJAAN: the baby-elephanttorture (PETA Asia Pacafic)

Tourists Who Support Elephant Abuse The Beating Torturing Of Animals
hschmid in Flickr
Stuart Iset
baby elephant

My demand to everybody is to help the action-groups and to boycott the mahouts selling food one can offer the Elephants.

"There’s something special about elephants. It’s not just their immense size, incredible trunk, great ears and magnificent tusks … elephants are gentle, intelligent, loving and loyal. They deserve our special care. Sadly elephants face many threats … both in the wild and in captivity."

text: Born Free Org.

Mistifarang: "Once I had I comment of a Flickr member (which he deleted afterwards unfortunately). He mentioned the problems the mahouts are facing because they are getting more and more without work and they are for these reasons starting begging with “ their” mastodons.

Yes, the genuine mahouts have problems BUT the whole matter is that around 75% of the elephants in Thailand are owed by rich families. I have heard shortly the phrase: "the elephant lord".
The “mahouts” are lured into the “business” by unscrupulous people selling their elephants for prices in between Baht 500.000 and 1.000.000 (depends on the age). The mahouts, even not capable to calculate their future “business” are buying such an elephant but don’t have enough money and pay (also with the help of their family) around ¼ of the price. The rest they accept as a loan against 5% interest PER MONTH. A down-payment to get finally rid of the loan is out of discussion because the interest can just be paid for (or not).
Monthly interests of this kind are true and “reel” in Thailand as I experienced in my very near environment: interests of 7-15% A MONTH are normal and the loans has been supplied illegally by loan sharks, of course not paying any tax and hooking the victim forever.
Besides the question if the mahout is a genuine one or went into the “business” later-on it is not acceptable to start animal-misuse for reasons being out of work.
These mahouts are getting enormous problems because the health of these begging creatures is every year worse and as the elephant is owed now by the mahout he has to pay all the costs. What is happening when his elephant dies finally? Yes the mahout has a hugh debt as big as it was at the time of the purchase. One can imagine what happens then!

More about the Asian elephant

"In Bangkok, 24-hours a day, the pedestrian takes second place to the
thousands of taxis, buses, motorbikes, tuk tuks, bicycles and private cars
clogging the streets, as a heavy haze rises from the tar like steam from
boiling water. Many find it exhilarating, for rare are the quiet moments and
rarer still are the moments when you fail to feel utterly alive. Prepare to
be accosted by the marvellous aromas drifting from food stalls interspersed
with wafts of stinking canals and belching car exhausts."

Source: Travelfish

Believe me, I was not after elephants last night but sadly it is inevitable to get around them in Bangkok nowadays! Within a short time three in front of Emporium and four Sukhumvit Soi 4, all indepently from each other but in a scedule like busses. I am sick of it like lots of tourists visiting this town: good for Bangkok's image!

Elephant Intelligence

“Part of the reason that elephants possess such a superior level of intelligence is the structure of their brain. Their neocortex is highly convoluted, as it is in humans, apes and some dolphins. This is generally accepted to be an indication of complex intelligence. The cortex is thick and comprises many neurons. The elephant is one of the few creatures (along with human beings) that is not born with survival instincts, but needs to learn these during infancy and adolescence. The brain is specially designed to accomplish this sort of life learning. Elephants and humans have a similar lifespan, and plenty of time, approximately 10 years, is allowed for them to learn before they are considered to be independent adults. The lessons learnt include how to feed, use tools and understand their place in their social structure. Elephants’ capacity for memory and emotions is remarkable and is due to the well-developed hippocampus. This is also the area responsible for emotional flashbacks and is the reason that elephants experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Extract from www.andrews-elephants.com/elephant-intel ligence.html

Post-Traumatic Stress and Elephants in Captivity
G.A. Bradshaw Ph.D., Ph.D. & Lorin Lindner Ph.D., M.P.H.

www.andrews-elephants.com/index.html

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in elephants


Elephant News

Amazing Thailand

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win".

Ghandi

192 photos | 3,100 views

items are from between 15 Jul 2008 & 25 Jul 2009.