Thais trample on Aussie elephant shipment

[Guest guest]

Thais trample on Aussie elephant shipment

The Australian

Peter Alford, Bangkok

June 07, 2006

 

A LEADING Buddhist social activist hopes to rally a national campaign

in Thailand to prevent the export of eight elephants to Melbourne and

Sydney zoos.

 

" These elephants are the symbol of our country and our king and it

should be illegal to send them out of Thailand, " Sulak Sivaraksa told

The Australian yesterday.

 

" It would be illegal, if the public opinion was consulted, " said the

Nobel peace prize nominee, who drove yesterday to Saiyoke, about two

hours north of the capital, to give " moral courage " to activists who

set up a blockade on Monday night to stop the animals being moved.

 

Most Thais dote on elephants. Producers of Khan Kluay, a new animated

film about an orphaned elephant, showed it free to an audience of

elephants and mahouts, their keepers, yesterday in Ayutthaya

province.

 

The blockade is the latest embarrassment in a 2004 wildlife swap deal

between Australia and Thailand. Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga

Zoo have postponed sending 40 native animals to the Chiang Mai Night

Safari after allegations by Thai conservationists that more than 100

animals have died at the newpark.

 

Australian zoo officials are checking conditions and staff training

at the Chiang Mai project, the first stage of Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra's plan for a giant parks and entertainment zone to make

the northern Thai city a pan-Asian tourist attraction.

 

The eight Asian elephants were to have been taken to Bangkok by

trailer and yesterday flown to the Cocos Islands for three months'

quarantine before five were sent to Taronga and three to Melbourne

Zoo.

 

The elephants were loaded on Monday night at the wildlife hospital

where they have been held for almost two years. But they were

unloaded yesterday afternoon and returned to their stables. The

Australian Government lost a $500,000 deposit on a cargo plane that

was left to leave Bangkok empty.

 

The protesters claim at least three of the elephants were poached

from the wild - those animals are endangered and not allowed to be

traded - and want them DNA-tested before they are allowed out of the

country.

 

Federal Environment and Heritage Minister Ian Campbell, who approved

the controversial deal, said the protesters were misinformed about

Australian plans for a captive breeding program that 'could well save

the species " . " I made a decision it would be in the best interests of

the preservation of the species and the benefit of the animals to be

transported to Australia, " Senator Campbell said.

 

Pinan Chotirojseranee, head of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group,

said officials in charge of the animal hospital had ignored requests

to DNA-test them, including from the veterinary chief of Bangkok Zoo.

 

The head of Thailand's National Parks and Wildlife Department,

Damrong Phidet, said he had no authority to prevent the export but

would investigate. If the elephants were wild they could be returned.

 

Ms Pinan dismissed the offer as a ruse. " In the past the department

had let elephants be sent abroad while checking is done, and nothing

has ever been heard of these investigations, " she said.

 

Thailand's wild elephant herds have dwindled catastrophically. No

more than 1600 are estimated to be in the wild and there are 3000

registered domestic elephants, though experts say many of those

animals have been illegally taken from the wild.

 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19390311-

2703,00.html

........

[Film Clip]

 

Activists block elephants

2006/06/07

 

No one in this clip is identified but the Thai woman is presumably

Soraida Salwala, Founder, Friends of the Asian Elephant, Thailand and

the Australian man is presumably Guy Cooper, head of the consortium

of Australian zoos.

 

http://media.theaustralian.news.com.au/20060606-ele_player.htm