A few folks, Miss Kat in particular, asked
me to write down a summary of what I picked up over our week together and what
Lek explained to me about the Elephant Nature Park, the history of elephant use
in Thailand and Lek's answers to some of our questions. I've tried my best to
remember all the facts but I'd had a couple of Chang most nights so please
don't expect this to be 100% accurate!
I'm afraid it's a very sad story, but if we
can spread the news about the elephants’ plight and get more supporters there
is a chance it will have a happy ending. There is a lot of information so we've broken it down over a number of blog posts. So here goes, part 1.
Part 1. The background to the Thai elephant
decline
Long ago the Karen tribe (also called
Pa-ka-your tribe) saw the elephants as part of their respective family and
treated them as a sacred animal. They worked with their elephants to undertake
logging in the forests and cared for them, actually thanking them every day for
their work and blessing them in special ceremonies. The skills used to be a
mahout were passed on from generation to generation, as were the elephants and
their offspring. Although only men were allowed to become mahouts. The elephants
worked and fed in the forests close to the villages and so the mahouts and
their sons saw them every day.
In Thailand elephants were respected,
venerated and protected. They were a national symbol of pride and strength and
even appeared on the national flag. Then the Second World War arrived and the
elephants along with their mahouts were used by the invading Japanese to pull
and carry equipment, clear forest and build railways. Many died or were taken
away to neighbouring countries.
The surviving elephants and their mahouts
returned to their Karen villages at the end of the war. They returned to
logging and their original way of life in the forests.
Then in 1989 Thailand banned logging. This
happened for three main reasons.
1. As the demand for hardwoods increased
following population growth and the new-rich middle classes in China the
mahouts and elephants were forced to work longer hours. The Karen had
complained to the logging companies explaining that the elephants were being
overworked and demanded a reduction in daily hours.
2. There were significant international
animal-rights pressure on Thailand. During the logging activities and sometimes
using elephants, hunting parties would go out to trap animals to illegally
export alive or for their bones/teeth/horns/ tusks/skin which had a black
market value. Many large containers had been found containing live snakes,
monkeys, gibbons etc at international airports and so the Thai government had
been warned that unless this stopped international sanctions would be placed on
Thailand. This would have been a huge problem for Thailand's commercial and
tourist businesses. (Thailand is now recognised by animal right activists as
the 'hub' for the very same illegal animal trades from for example Africa and
India on their way to China and Japan).
3. In 1988 there were large floods in the
south of Thailand killing thousands of people and the deforestation for
agricultural expansion and timber was seen as a factor contributing to the
floods. This was because when the trees were removed the topsoil washed away
and so could no longer soak up excessive ran, this led to the rain streaming
straight of the hills and causing the floods.
So after Thailand banned logging in 1989 the
Karen mahouts and their elephants returned to their villages without any work.
This was a very difficult time for the Karen people as they received no
government support. Some mahouts could not provide enough food to feed their
elephants and so were forced to sell them. This broke the connection between
the mahout and the elephant. The new elephant owners only saw them as a
commodity, a tool to do a job such as illegal logging in Burma or as tourist
attractions.
Elephants undertaking illegal logging in
Burma were in much more danger than previously. Many were mortality wounded by
landmines, or were wounded terribly and forced into street begging.
Inexperience mahouts treated the elephants cruelly. Some elephants were
purposefully blinded to make them easier to handle.
Then the Karen people were told by some
government employees that they could return to logging. These people are simple
farmers and so did not realise that this was a trap. When they returned to
logging the mahouts and the elephants were both arrested. There was no help or
defence provided for the mahouts so they went to jail. The elephants were sold
by corrupt government officials to other countries, to circuses, to poachers for
their ivory and to trekking camps.
In 1987 Thailand held a country-wide
campaign to promote the tourist trade. After that numerous elephant trekking
camps sprung up. The remaining mahouts with elephants took their elephants to
these camps. The camps were eight or more days walk from their villages. The
mahouts were now far away from their families and unable to help on the farm.
The trekking companies said that the mahouts could leave the elephants with
them for a long-term rent and they would assign new mahouts. Many mahouts
signed such contracts and were given payments in advance and so left their
elephants at the trekking camps. I was told the mahout receives today 300baht a
month for leasing out his elephant to a trekking camp. The trekking camp owners
saw the elephants as commercial tools. Some of the new mahouts were not really
mahouts at all and hence were not experienced in elephant care or welfare. So
many of the elephants died. No compensation was given to the Karen mahout. In
addition, the bond between the elephant and the successive generations of
mahouts was broken. So the Karen culture of caring and nurturing the elephants
was not being passed on, the younger generators were forgetting the true
importance of respecting the elephant.
Some elephants also became street beggars.
This has now been banned in Bangkok and Chang Mai, but it still continues in
other tourist areas. Elephants do not like loud noises, such a cars or crowded
streets. Touting elephants up to bars late at night meant many came across
drunk people who would force them to drink alcohol, burnt them with cigarettes
or shined lasers into their eyes. Many elephants were hit by vehicles and some
died from the injuries. The owners worked them at every opportunity and they
died from mistreatment and starvation. Even more upsettingly a trend towards
using baby elephants has now grown, and it is strongly expected that these are
captured from the wild in Burma and smuggled into Thailand.
Elephants involved in street begging and
trekking are not in their natural habitat (forest). Due to over work in the hot
sun, lack of health care and mistreatment they become sick, in pain, and
commonly depressed and mentally unstable. This means that they have no interest
in reproducing. Forced breading programmes have not been successful. Male bull
elephants in musk are full of testosterone and very violent. The female
elephants are often tethered with their legs apart to receive the male. The
forced breading often results in major injuries to the female, including broken
legs, and hips and sometimes death.
We were told how pregnant mothers were used
by the trekking camps right through their gestation period. As they worked long
hours in the hot sun and wore a saddle the baby could not turn in the mothers
stomach. This leads to many still born births. Furthermore, many reports were
received of trekking camp mothers killing her baby. They say they don't know
why but I personally believe that it could have been because they were
depressed and didn't want their child to have the same life as them.
Sangudan 'Lek' Challert recognised this
terrible picture of elephant decline and Karen people losing their cultural
knowledge and bond with the few remaining elephants. Lek spoke with the Karen
people and they asked her to help them. After conducting research and speaking
to many Karen tribes she decided to form the 'Journey to Freedom' volunteer
programme.
For miles surrounding every Karen village huge swathes of forest have disappeared due to agriculture and timber logging
Some primary forest still remains on the highest and steepest slopes
