Elephants in Thailand
Asian elephants are divided into four sub-species, Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran and Bornean.
Elephants are herbivores, consuming ripe bananas, leaves, bamboo, tree bark, and other fruits.
As elephants will not eat in unclean surroundings fouled by dung, their instinct is to roam to a new area.
[2]: 14 Because of their diet, the natural habitat of the Thai elephant are in tropical forests which are found in the northern and western parts of Thailand: Mae Hong Son, Chumphon, and the border near Burma (Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Erawan Falls National Park), Petchabun range, Dangrek Range, and peninsular Thailand (Ranong, and Trang).
[10] Wild elephants are also found in many other parts of Thailand such as Khao Yai, Thap Lan, Pang Sida National Parks, Chachoengsao, Nam Nao + Phu Kradueng National Parks.
[10] This has meant death to the Thai elephant, resulting in the plummeting numbers of the animal, placing them on the endangered species list.
[13] In Thai society elephants have played a substantial role in manual labour, war, royal iconography, and the tourism industry.
For thousands of years, elephants were captured and trained to be a form of transport and heavy labour.
The first recorded Thai elephant was in the stone inscription of King Ramkhamhaeng the Great of Sukhothai.
[6] Many mahouts took their elephants to Bangkok, roaming the streets with baskets of fruits for the tourists to buy and feed the animal.
Elephants now had to beg for food and perform tricks or act as party props[16] in exchange for money.
[17] On 17 June 2010, elephant protection laws were passed making these acts illegal.
[19] This act classifies elephants as draught animals along with horses, donkeys, and oxen.
These organizations generate revenue by letting people experience elephants in their natural state.
[22]: 50 Unfortunately this call to boycott all camps ignores the bigger problem of all domestic elephants requiring care and nurturing.
Since Thailand is a majority Buddhist country, elephants are portrayed as sacred animals from their special symbolism in the practice of Buddhism.
Many artworks in Thai royal palaces and temples have drawings of elephants on the paintings on the walls.
In 1917, Thailand's official flag was a white elephant in the middle of the scarlet background.
The royal Thai navy flag also bears the symbol of the white elephant.
Asian elephants share a close relationship with the Thai people, from being used warriors on battlefields, worshiped as religious icons, and faithful laborers to loggers.
Environmental exploitation, massive landslides, and mudflows led the government to ban logging in Thailand in 1986.
