Small presentation of the change
The elephant found in Thailand is the Indian elephant, one of the 3 categories of Asian elephant, smaller than its African cousin. Only males have tusks. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 100,000 elephants in Thailand, both in the wild and in captivity. Tropical forests are its natural habitat, and it is found mainly in the north and west of the country. Illegal logging has considerably reduced its natural habitat. In 1986, it was declared an endangered species. There are now only around 4,000 elephants, scattered around various sanctuaries and national parks, despite a slight increase in the population thanks to conservation and protection efforts.
In Thailand, wild elephants have been protected by national laws and the CITES Treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) since 1983. This is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Concern for the survival of the Thai elephant led to the creation of the National Elephant Institute (NEI), set up in Lampang by the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. The NEI works with the Department of National Parks and several NGOs to protect Thai elephants and their habitat.
A powerful symbol of Buddhism
In Buddhism, the elephant is considered sacred. Queen Maya, wife of King Suddhodana, had a dream in which a white elephant held a lotus flower in its trunk. After consulting the sages, she was told that this was a premonitory sign of the birth of an exceptional child. That child was Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. The animal, a symbol of strength, patience and wisdom, is also often mentioned in Buddha's discourses, notably in one of his most famous parables, The Blind Men and the Elephant.
As Buddhism is the country's main religion, the elephant is quite logically a royal animal, first mentioned in stone during the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai. Over the centuries, it has appeared on numerous coats of arms, seals and symbols. The white elephant, a symbol of good fortune, holds a special place in the heart of the royal family. It has become their symbol, even appearing on the national flag in 1917. Every white elephant in the country, whose color is closer to pink-gray in reality, used to belong to the king. On March 13, 1963, the white elephant was chosen as the country's national animal. In 1998, the government declared March 13 Thai Chang Day, the national elephant day. The elephant is still present at some royal ceremonies, usually dressed in finery and sometimes even painted.
History of the exploitation of the elephant
Omnipresent in Thai daily life for centuries, elephants were used for transport, as manpower and in war.
In the 17thcentury , the Siamese army included some 20,000 elephants trained to fight. Their training consisted of fighting other elephants with their tusks, chasing horses and getting used to the sound of gunfire. The Surin Elephant Festival, held every year in November, is the country's largest elephant gathering, with animals coming from all over Thailand for the occasion. Its aim is to pay tribute to the animal, notably by recreating titanic battle scenes. Unfortunately, it has become more of a lucrative tourist attraction than a real tribute to the pachyderm.
Logging used to be the main activity of domesticated elephants and their mahouts (called mahouts in Thailand). This was declared illegal in 1989, and the mahouts, having lost their main source of income, turned their elephants into show animals for the tourist industry. If you see one of these young pachyderms wandering around with its ragged master, don't be surprised. They are still occasionally seen in Bangkok. During the day, their guardians hide them in the undergrowth of the suburbs, but in the evening, they are taken out onto the streets to beg. Too young, they leave their native provinces for the pollution of the big cities. Once in the city, they are kept hidden away in squalid corners and forced to lead the same miserable life as their masters, amidst noise and smoke - a sad fate indeed! However, many tourist agencies and elephant sanctuaries have changed their offers. Nowadays, most sanctuaries recover, care for and look after these elephants, and offer visitors the opportunity not to ride them, but to spend the day with them, feeding them, washing them... However, even this activity is not totally devoted to the elephant's well-being, for while some sanctuaries recover and care for animals that were previously ridden or used in tourist shows (such as playing soccer, painting, etc.), others do not hesitate to take them in hand.), others don't hesitate to rent out the animal to private individuals to "fill up" their sanctuary and boost their income.
