Chiang Mai Elephant Lovers Seek Aid
Members of the local ‘Love Elephant Club’, and businesses depending on the animals, took a dozen elephants to the Provincial Hall to demonstrate their need for financial help to compensate for the lack of tourism.
The ‘Northern Part’ Thai newspaper reported that the elephant owners then wrote to the Prime Minister to state their case.
The past few weeks have seen an increase in night time street begging by elephants and their mahouts. This results from redundancies which have hit mahouts who own their own animals. However, a new law not only punishes the mahouts for this practice, but also anyone giving money for the elephants’ food.
It’s an ill wind that blows no-one any good
‘Northern Part’ added that the Sports and Tourism Office of Chiang Rai reported a 20% increase in Thai tourism during June, over the same month last year. The authority concluded that this was a ‘Bangkok exodus’ due to the demonstrations in the capital.
