There is a new story here on street elephants in Bangkok.
I’m making a new thread rather than putting this in Odd Animal News because I wish to make a special appeal to anyone coming to Bangkok not to feed the elephants on the street. This city is a horrible environment for the beasts, but the mahouts (elephant keepers/handlers) keep bringing them in to make money, eking out a living by allowing tourists to feed them bananas or cucumbers for a pittance.
Admittedly, there is not much else in the way of work for elephants upcountry, especially since logging was outlawed nationwide 20 or so years ago, and there is little in the way of government programs to help them. But still, the streets of Bangkok are hellish for an elephant, and they simply don’t belong here. If no one bought the food from the mahouts to feed them, they would not come in. I know they look cute and that feeding one is a perfect Kodak moment, but please save it for an elephant camp outside of Bangkok.
There are laws forbidding mahouts from bringing in their elephants, and there are sporadic elephant roundups, but the police often cannot be bothered, especially if they are bribed. Some Einstein in the government years ago suggested implanting microchips under the elephants’ skin, so they could be tracked through the city. But if you need a microchip to track an elephant through the streets of Bangkok, then you probably also need a white cane.