2022-03-30 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Elephants are a major engine of tourism in Thailand, which uses nearly three-quarters of the total number of elephants used in tourism in Asia, according to London-based World Animal Protection (WAP), a nonprofit animal rights organization. Before the pandemic, nearly 40 million tourists visited Thailand in 2019 generating some 20% of its gross domestic product. According to surveys conducted by WAP, 28% of visitors rode elephants or intended to when they arrived, suggesting demand for over 11 m...
2022-03-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has drawn up a 10-year action plan to mitigate human-elephant conflicts that have occurred wherever elephants and locals share the same habitat, competing for the same resources. The government on May 26, 1998, designated March 13 as National Elephant Day in a bid to raise awareness about the animal's importance to society.
2021-12-22 - Bangkok, Thailand.
a recent controversy over an award-winning photo of a swimming elephant at Khao Kheow illustrates the friction that exists between some animal rights activists and people who manage elephants in Thailand. Some Thai people see a double standard in how Khao Kheow, and Thailand in general, have become lightning rods for animal-related criticism from the West. They wonder why the elephant swimming exhibitions held at zoos in Germany and Switzerland have drawn minimal criticism despite appearing to s...
2020-10-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Focusing on animal welfare, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is working with the Department of Livestock Development, veterinarians and elephant experts to seek a solution in enhancing the standards of elephant camps and mahouts around the country.
2020-07-30 - Bangkok, Thailand. Johanna Read
"Are there improvements to be made in how captive elephants are treated? Absolutely. But banning tourist-elephant interactions and boycotting elephant camps can result in worse, not better, welfare conditions for elephants. Dubrocard says, “It’s not the activity itself that should be criticized, but the way it’s managed and handled.”"
2017-03-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai authorities said Tuesday they have seized 422 pieces of ivory elephant tusks and arrested a Gambian national suspected of smuggling the illegal wildlife product worth some 17 million baht (US$ 482,406) The 300 kilograms of tusks were seized at Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi airport late last week after customs found suspicious shipments from Malawi through Ethiopian Airlines listed as unprocessed gemstones, according to Associated Press.
2017-02-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Elephant things are all over my desk at work. I have elephant clothes and elephant kitchen tools. I was also planning on getting an elephant bamboo tattoo while I was in Thailand, which I definitely didn´t do after this experience. I went from loving elephants, to now being terrified of them.
2016-04-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Officials in Thailand say they seized 315 kilograms (695 pounds) of African elephant tusks worth an estimated $800,000 at Bangkok´s international airport. Kulit Sombatsiri, director-general of the Thai Customs Department, said Tuesday that the haul of 87 ivory tusks was found March 27 in a dozen barrels sent from Mozambique on a Kenya Airways flight. A routine X-ray at Suvarnabhumi International Airport detected the contraband.
2015-11-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Many mahouts in Tha Tum and nearby areas on Wednesday were seen registering with the Khotcha-anajak or "Elephant Kingdom" programme at Pudin village in tambon Krapho. The project, operated by the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand, has set aside 25 million baht to improve the living conditions of 200 elephants and their mahouts.
2015-04-20 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand seized 4 tons of ivory hidden in bean sacks tracked from Congo in what authorities said was the biggest bust in the country’s history, customs officials said Monday. The 739 elephant tusks, bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival at a port in Bangkok on Saturday after the authorities received a tip and had tracked the containers from Congo, Customs Department director-general Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters.
2014-08-28 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The annual tournament, now in its thirteenth year, will take place at the Siam Polo Park at VR Sports Club in Bangkok between 28-31 August 2014.
2014-01-31 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas has confirmed that the King´s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament will this year move from its original home of Hua Hin to the Thai capital of Bangkok. The annual tournament, now in its thirteenth year, will take place at the Siam Polo Park at VR Sports Club in Bangkok between 28-31 August 2014.
2013-11-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Royal Elephants´ Stable Museum is open to the public on weekdays during office hours, but reservations must be made in advance.The museum was visited by His Majesty the King on Nov 26 last year, officially opened by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on May 13 this year and has been welcoming the general public since last month. Under the supervision of the Royal Chitralada Projects, the museum consists of two former stables for royal elephants covering a total area of 176m2, as well ...
2013-08-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police said Wednesday they had seized 16 elephants from tourist destinations as part of a nationwide swoop on operators suspected of using smuggled wild pachyderms for entertainment. The animals were removed on Tuesday and Wednesday from camps in the southern and eastern resort areas of Koh Chang in Trat and Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga provinces, which are popular with holidaymakers, said Watcharin Phoosit, from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division.
2013-04-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
They are undertaking the search in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province after a photographer had reported seeing one in a herd on April 10. Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said cameras will be installed along elephant trails inside the park to help in the search. Officials would also send camera-mounted UAVs into the forest. "If it is a white elephant, we will consider how to deal with it," he said.
2013-04-26 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasob Suraswadi has been instructed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to visit Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi Province, following reported sightings of a white elephant in the area, it could not be confirmed for the moment whether the elephant calf in the news was a white elephant until all the traits have been confirmed by experts.
2013-04-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A Laotian-Vietnamese wildlife trafficker and influential local people are believed to be behind the slaying of wild elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. Elephant expert Dulasit Snidwongs na Ayutthaya said the alleged Laotian wildlife trafficker who has Vietnamese nationality was Roi or Doi Jantawongsa. She, and influential people, including a Thai policeman and his Vietnamese wife, who live in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, worked together and were allegedly involve...
2013-03-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was organized to limit exploitation of international trade of wild animals and plants. Their latest meeting is currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand and two PLOS ONE papers provided evidence to support the enhanced protection of two threatened species – African forest elephants and oceanic whitetip sharks.
2013-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The world´s top officials on illegal ivory trading say Thailand and other "gang of eight" countries must stop the business within a year or suffer severe trade sanctions. British newspaper the Guardian quoted the officials as identifying the other countries involved as source nations Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, "enabling" countries Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and destination countries Thailand and China. Tom de Meulenaer, a senior Cites official at the body´s conferen...
2012-12-26 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand´s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is introducing its new ivory trade control measures to protect Thailand from trade barriers imposed by member countries of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
2012-10-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Two elephant conservation groups are working together to reintroduce domesticated elephants to the wild, releasing 84 of them over the past 10 years under an initiative of Her Majesty the Queen. The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation (ERF) must shoulder not only the increasingly high cost of purchasing elephants, but also of preparing them for their return to the wild. In the meantime, it focuses on taking good care of the domesticated elephants in its custody, which is only a fraction of the nu...
2012-03-31 - Bangkok, Thailand.
At this time of writing, 26 elephants without registration papers have been confiscated and impounded at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC), a government-run facility and elephant hospital. TECC has confirmed that eight elephants have tested positive in the screening process for TB, two have tested positive with a tetanus, and one of those elephants with tetanus has died. At the March 13th National Elephant Day symposium in Bangkok, the DNP Chief estimated that 10% of the captive eleph...
2012-03-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Eight of them have tuberculosis, while the others had blood infections and other ailments. The elephants were seized on Feb 29 by National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department officials, who suspected the animals had been obtained illegally. A female called Sri Thong, died on March 20 and health checks on the other 18 conducted by Department of Livestock officials found 15 of them to be in poor health. Mr Sittidet, chief of the state-run Elephant Hospital at the National Elephant In...
2012-03-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Damrong Pidech, chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, yesterday said the department backed plans to amend regulations on issuing ID cards to captive elephants to make it an effective tool to prevent poaching. Mr Damrong was speaking at a seminar to mark Thai Elephant Day yesterday. Under current regulations, an ID card is issued to a captive elephant when it is eight years old. However, Mr Damrong said the ID cards should be issued to a calf as young as thre...
2012-02-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police arrested Manoon Ruengworraset, his son Withoon, and Panya Samranphis for possessing carcasses of protected animals without permission, after a raid at their homes turned up several organs of elephants, including penises, and ivory. While in police custody, the three suspects implicated Lookkaew Uppatham and Jan Kuafoo for allegedly killing a number of elephants and butchering them for meat and ivory. Police are also on the hunt for Somphorn Jorkai, who has been implicated in poaching.
2012-02-02 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A new type of identity card should be issued for elephants, which should have embedded microchips, an updated photograph every six months and an updated record of every unique change, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said yesterday. The proposal will be taken to the Interior Ministry, and if it is okayed, permission for the movement of every elephant will have to come from provincial governors. This should make illegal movement or getting the pachyderms to beg more difficult, perma...
2012-01-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The declaration was signed yesterday by eight state agencies, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand, the Kui Buri Wild Elephant Conservation and Environment and Tambon Hat Kham Administrative Organisation. It originated from His Majesty the King´s idea - expressed on July 5, 1999 - for a conservation strategy to rehabilitate the 18,000 rai of agriculture lands, deemed the Kui Buri Forest encroachment, to be the home and food source for elephants and other wildlife.
2012-01-15 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Accusations fly between Kaeng Krachan park chief and local villagers over who killed five jumbos. The brutal slaying of wild elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park has taken a nasty turn with five officials suspected of being involved.
2012-01-05 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai wildlife officials on Thursday said body parts from a dead wild elephant found without its tusks, tail and penis were likely destined for restaurants in tourist areas. The creature, which was discovered in Kaeng Krachan National Park near the Myanmar border in central Thailand on Monday, is believed to have died at the hands of a local gang of poachers.
2011-09-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai veterinarians say a 22-year-old elephant was wounded when he wandered into neighboring Myanmar and stepped on a land mine. Soraida Salwala of the Friends of the Asian Elephant conservation group in northern Thailand says the pachyderm´s left foot was severely hurt in Sunday´s blast in Myanmar´s Kayin state.
2011-09-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A new film that highlights the plight of Asian Elephant landmine survivors.
2011-06-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The scientists from the Northeastern Research Institute of Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University found seven pieces of fossil tooth in Nakhon Ratchasima´s Chalerm Phrakiat district about 10 years ago. "The fossils are different from other ancient elephants found in Egypt, Kenya, Europe and China," said Chavalit Vidthayanon, deputy director of the institute. "This is the first time we have found such a species in Thailand," he said, adding the discove...
2011-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The more than 1,600 tusks seized since the beginning of 2009 by Thai customs indicate that more than 800 elephants were slaughtered to feed a murky and voracious international market. "Thailand is still ranked number one" in the ivory traffic rankings, said Chris Shepherd, deputy manager for Southeast Asia at wildlife protection group Traffic.
2010-10-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand evacuated dozens of elephants from a popular tourist attraction Monday after they were threatened by floods that submerged homes and paralyzed transportation in parts of the country. The rescue operation in Ayutthaya province, north of the capital, had 92 of the endangered beasts moved from a site known as Elephant Village, said manager Ittiporn Kaolamai.
2010-07-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A large shipment of illicit ivory has been seized in Thailand after the elephant tusks were smuggled from Africa in pallets labeled as plywood furniture or notepads. Customs authorities said Friday the 765 kilograms (1,683 pounds) of elephant tusks seized Tuesday was Thailand´s third big ivory seizure this year.
2010-07-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
You can still feed elephants in Thailand´s bustling capital — but it could cost you. Bangkok authorities said Monday anyone caught handing bunches of bananas or sugar cane to the hulking beasts — proffered by their handlers in a ruse to make money — faces a $320 (10,000 baht) fine.
2010-04-21 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ayinde O. Chase
Thai authorities announced Wednesday they had seized 1.4 tons of ivory tusks. The illegal ivory haul is worth nearly $2.2 million. The 296 tusks were confiscated at Bangkok International airport and originated from Qatar. Acting on a tip, customs officials found the tusks Saturday in a shipment declared as “printing metal.” The shipment was slated for a Thai company based in the capital. According to officials, the elephant tusks weighed 3,058 pounds and most likely originated from southern ...
2010-03-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
"Was I shocked? No. But I grieved for the grisly fate of those elephants," says Tanat Suvattanametakul. The director of the Clearance Customs Bureau at Suvarnabhumi airport recounted his feelings after opening two large pallets at a cargo building of the airport on the night of Feb24. He found 239 pieces of elephant tusk weighing two tonnes. The contraband was valued at 120 million baht.
2010-02-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand has seized two tons of elephant tusks from Africa hidden in pallets labeled as mobile phone parts in the country's largest ivory seizure. Thai Customs officials valued Wednesday night's haul at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 120 million baht ($3.6 million). It is further sign that Thailand is emerging as a hub for the illicit trade.
2010-02-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand is trying to persuade a UN wildlife trade watchdog to remove it from the blacklist of countries involved in the illegal ivory trade. The director-general of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Jatuporn Burutpat, yesterday said Thailand was preparing a report to submit to a meeting of the Conference of the Parties to Cites in Qatar's Doha from March 13 to 25.
2009-11-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police have arrested two Thai nationals for trafficking in African ivory, a crime that carries a maximum four-year jail sentence, police said Tuesday. Samat Chokechoima and Kanok Wongsarot were arrested Monday in a sting operation in which Thai police posed as buyers of carved African ivory items, Police Lieutenant Colonel Thanayos Gengkasrikit, spokesman of the Natural Resource and Environmental Crime Division said. The suspects face a maximum of four years in prison and fines of up to 40,000 b...
2009-10-28 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Deputy Bangkok Governor Theerachon Manomaipiboon Wednesday handed out a Bt2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of men apprehended with an elephant in Lat Phrao and said that from November 6 the city would be getting tough on such animal abuse.
2009-10-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Yvonne Bohwongprasert
Tucked away in a corner of the Dusit Palace compound is an historically significant depository of the long traditions and beliefs associated with white elephants in the Kingdom - the Royal Elephant National Museum. Some of the most prominent fixtures include huge elephant tusks that date back to the reigns of King Rama V and King Rama VII. Located at the exit of the Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, the edifice is built in a beautiful Thai architectural style and encircled with thick vegetation that ha...
2009-09-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Today I met up with a group of elephants on the outskirts of Bangkok that have been on a 250km trek through Thailand organised by Greenpeace, tcktcktck and a number of wildlife, animal welfare and human rights organisations. The elephant caravan has travelled from Khao Yai National Park to Bangkok arriving in time for the climate negotiations.
2009-09-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok and Tokyo will hold talks over a plan to send a pair of Thai elephants to a state zoo in Osaka, Industry Minister Charnchai Chairungruang said yesterday. The minister, who is in Japan to promote trade cooperation, said the jumbos would be a "present to mark close trade ties between the two countries". Japan had expressed strong interest in raising a pair of Thai elephants at its zoo in Osaka, which already has one Thai jumbo, Mr Charnchai said ahead of a meeting with the Japanese environ...
2009-09-10 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will propose to the government long-term solutions to roaming elephants, hoping to receive support on City Hall’s Chang Yim (Smiling Elephant) Project, according to Deputy Bangkok Governor Teerachon Manomaiphibul. Chang Yim aims to take Bangkok’s roaming elephants off the capital’s streets within a year, and get them back to their natural environment, or something almost like their real homes.
2009-08-14 - Bangkok, Thailand. Rhishja Larson
Current laws in Thailand make it easy for live elephants - including infant elephants stolen from their mothers in the wild - to be traded unscrupulously for “entertainment” purposes. For many people, thoughts of Thailand conjure up romantic notions of being transported to various tourist attractions on the back of an elephant. But tragically, many of the captive elephants used for the Thai tourist trade, and as zoo and circus exports, are the victims of an insidious, illegal market that thr...
2009-08-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
As the elephant dragged its feet towards city hall, the chains draped from its neck swung like twin pendulums. The animal’s dusty skin fit loose on its 30-year-old body. Where a right eye belonged, there was only a crusty socket. Such sorry condition is typical of Thailand’s street elephants. This particular pachyderm, named Pang Buakam by its owner, has squeezed along the city’s narrow lanes for more than ten years. Like other urban elephants, Pang Buakam and its guide would ply to...
2009-08-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. SUPOJ WANCHAROEN
Public donations have allowed City Hall to buy a partially blind 30-year-old elephant found begging for food on Bangkok's streets. Pang Bua Kham will be sent to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang as part of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's "Smiling Elephants" project. The project is aimed at rescuing all elephants roaming the streets of Bangkok within one year. Donations are being collected from the public to buy the beasts from their owners and transport them to the state...
2009-06-26 - Bangkok, Thailand. SUNTHORN PONGPAO
The Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal has painted Plai Panlan, a 5-year-old male elephant, in the panda colours of black and white to remind the public that elephants have needs, too. The watercolour is harmless, and the elephant did not seem to mind. Kraal staff are gently mocking the national craze over the female panda cub born to Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang at Chiang Mai zoo.
2009-02-24 - Bangkok, United States.
A drunken tourist staggers about as he repeatedly drops his bags of elephant feed on Bangkok's Soi Cowboy boulevard. Beneath the neon lights advertising Thailand's bars and bargirls, the man teases the two-year-old elephant as the beast tries to coax a few sugarcane snacks from his shaking hands. Finally the distressed elephant lets out a cry and her handlers pull her down the street to the next group of paying tourists. "They get beaten because they're tired, they don't want to walk, it'...
2009-02-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. Desmond Morris
Is it true that elephants are artists? Can they really paint pictures of flowers, trees and even other elephants? Are they the only animals on Earth, apart from human beings, that can create pictorial images? Last summer my friend, the scientist Richard Dawkins, asked me to look at a video clip on the internet, taken in Thailand, that showed a young female elephant called Hong painting a picture of an elephant running along, holding a flower in its trunk. He wanted to know if I thought it was a ...
2009-01-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thais are donning scarves, farmers are scrambling to save their rice crops and snakes are freezing to death. That is all because temperatures in this normally balmy country have dipped to their coldest in a decade. The country has been gripped in a cold spell that blew down from China earlier this month and is likely to last until February, the Thai Meteorological Department said Saturday. Chukiat Thaijaratsathian, an official in the department's forecasting office, said temperatures in the coun...
2008-11-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A wildlife sanctuary in Thailand has come up with an innovative way of keeping elephants away from farmer's crops – unwanted CDs. The Elephant Conservation Network (ECN), working alongside the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is the first to use the CDs as light reflectors to deter the elephants from destroying Thailand's crops. Ecologists in the country claim that "crop-raiding" commonly occurs on traditional elephant forest routes with the large animals devouring crops and destroying tree...
2008-08-26 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Researchers from Chiang Mai University (CMU) have a new means of fighting phobias and depression _ elephants. CMU had previously studied the effects of ''elephant therapy'' on autistic children and, having noted promising results, are now proposing a similar programme for people suffering from depression or phobias. Audomsark Haesungcharern, dean of CMU's associated medical sciences faculty, believes the animals' voice may have therapeutic qualities.
2008-04-03 - Bangkok, Thailand. Matt Hunziker /The Daily Cardinal
At the Academy for Elephants in Thailand, they are teaching elephants to paint. In a video titled “Elephant Paints Own Self-Portrait,” you can see one of the elephants hard at work with a paintbrush in its trunk. As the shocked spectators in the background attest, the elephant paintings have become a major tourist attraction for Thailand. (Human) art critics have sung their praises. But while some artists are actively trying to cultivate these animals’ creative talents, scientists and othe...
2008-03-16 - Bangkok, Thailand. gill murdoch
Standing ten feet tall and weighing up to five tonnes, you’d think an Asian elephant would be hard to miss. But the giants that range across 13 Asian states are so at home in the dense forests and jungles they live in they’re often hard to spot. Conservation experts rarely expect to see the wild elephants they spend their time devising management strategies for. Head counts are mostly based on dung samples rather than fleeting sightings. It’s tourists who typically get the clearest view.
2008-03-13 - Bangkok, Thailand. Karen Emmons
The Kingdom of Thailand – a country that has long revered the elephant for its royal and religious significance – is home to some 4,000 of the fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) still surviving. Compared to the relatively enduring population of African elephants (currently estimated to number about 500,000), the rapidly dwindling Asian population was a major cause of concern. In 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)...
2008-03-06 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A Bangkok restaurant is treating its biggest spenders to a 300,000-dollar meal prepared by Michelin-starred chefs, but only after they have jetted to an elephant camp to see how the other half live. "We're taking these people to Surin, to see how the poor people actually are living and are managing their elephants. They cannot even manage themselves and they cannot manage their elephants," he told AFP. After seeing the dwindling number of pachyderms and the impoverished lives of their handlers, ...
2008-03-04 - Bangkok, Thailand. KRITTIYA WONGTAVAVIMARN
It took Pattarapol Maneeorn five days trekking through the jungle in Chanthaburi province to find a 65-year-old wild elephant stuck in mud. By the time the wildlife vet arrived, the animal was breathing slowly, his eyes showing his fatigue; his heart, left lung and kidney were being pressed down on by his six-tonne body.
2008-02-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Of all the illegal activities that animate the streets of Bangkok - the vendors who hawk pirated DVDs and fake watches, the brothels that call themselves saunas one stands out more than others. Elephants are not supposed to saunter down the city's streets as they do almost every night. For at least two decades the giant grey beasts have plodded through this giant grey city, stopping off at red-light districts and tourist areas where their handlers peddle elephant snacks of sugar cane and bananas...
2008-01-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Sir, you can't beg for coins here, put your trunk away! The New York Times reports on the phenomenon of domesticated elephants begging on the streets of Bangkok. It's technically illegal to sell elephant treats to tourists, but the rewards are great: In four nights of begging an elephant handler can make the same amount of money the typical Thai worker makes in a month.
2008-01-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. THOMAS FULLER
Of all the illegal activities that animate the streets of Bangkok — the vendors who hawk pirated DVDs and fake watches, the brothels that call themselves saunas — one stands out more than others. Elephants are not supposed to saunter down the city’s streets as they do almost every night. For at least two decades the giant gray beasts have plodded through this giant gray city, stopping off at red-light districts and tourist areas where their handlers peddle elephant snacks of sugar cane and...
2008-01-14 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Despite government efforts, mahouts continue to illegally bring elephants into the Thai capital Bangkok. Though elephant owners face fines for bringing their animals into the city, the International Herald Tribune reported that large numbers of them continue to do so due to problems of enforcement and the potential earnings from tourists. Since 2006 Bangkok has operated a Stray Elephant Task Force, but a member of the group told the newspaper that the role offered numerous problems, making it un...
2007-10-19 - Bangkok, Thailand. PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR
The Siam flag, featuring an image of a white elephant on red-coloured cloth, will fly at the top of the Siam Flag Museum from Tuesday. Decades after it was decommissioned and disappeared from public sight, the flag of Siam or thong chang _ a red flag with the image of a white elephant at the centre _ will be flown permanently at a private museum in Lat Phrao district from Tuesday onwards.
2007-10-08 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The symposium on the managing of health and reproduction of elephant populations in Asia will be held at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand from 8th to 10th October 2007. The members of the local organizing committee are pleased to welcome everyone interested in the scientific programs organized for the participants. The purpose of this international congress is to develop and up to date the understanding of health care and reproductive system management of A...
2007-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Sometimes I am a sucker for animal tricks and here is a perfect example. At night in Bangkok, there are baby to large-size elephants that roam the streets with a handler. There are never large groups of elephants on the streets, but rather one elephant here, another there. For a dollar, you can feed the elephant baby cucumbers, baby bananas or sugarcane and it is fantastic. The elephants trunk comes right up to you and grabs the food. They have a very strong trunk, it is truly impressive. When y...
2007-09-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Animal Planets Kingdom of the Elephants is a 60-minute documentary special filmed entirely on location in Southeast Asia that explores the complex bond between elephants and the people of Thailand. Catch the trumpeting on 9th September at 8pm, on ASTRO Channel 51.
2007-09-08 - Bangkok, Thailand. ZACK YUSOF
There’s a well-known saying among film directors that one should never work with children or animals, let alone on the same project. But that’s exactly what director, producer and cinematographer Joseph Pontecorvo has had to do on his documentary, Kingdom of the Elephants, which premières tomorrow on Animal Planet at 8pm. Kingdom of the Elephants is an hour-long documentary filmed entirely on location in South-East Asia. It explores the complex bond between the elephants and the people of T...
2007-08-18 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
A new regulation on the export of live elephants and body parts will be put into force soon to protect Thai pachyderms from illegal trading. Drafted by the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, the regulation is aimed at strengthening control on the export of elephants, particularly for entertainment purposes at foreign zoos. The new regulation follows last years controversial animal exchange programme under which the government sent eight elephants to Taronga zoo in Austral...
2007-07-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
An angry circus elephant in eastern Thailand grabbed a man who had provoked him and then stomped on him until he was fatally injured, police said Saturday. Surat Kaenthip, a 30-year-old air conditioner repairman, had hit the six-year-old elephant while he was resting in an open field Friday in Rayong province, 140 kilometers (90 miles) east of Bangkok, said police Lt. Col. Thanit Saeniwong na Ayuddhaya. "The elephant then grabbed the man's body with his trunk and hurled him on to the ground befo...
2007-05-23 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Authorities are preparing to stop 99 elephants and thousands of villagers from entering Thailand's capital to protest the possible dissolution of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's political party, the military said on Wednesday. We have to use all means to stop the elephants from joining the political rally," said Prayuth Chanocha, commander of the 1st Army, which is responsible for peacekeeping in Bangkok.
2007-05-01 - Bangkok, Thailand. Itamar Eichner
An Israeli tourist, Yoram Ben-Hamo, was convicted last Saturday for kidnapping a baby elephant in Thailand and holding it hostage. During his getaway, he picked up a knife from a merchant, grabbed a baby elephant from a yard in the neighborhood and warned the police that if they did not leave him alone he would harm the elephant. Having called in a hostage-negotiation team, the police eventually offered Ben-Hamo a cigarette and he was then captured while lighting it. The elephant was returned ho...
2007-05-01 - Bangkok, Thailand.
All eight Thai elephants now living at two Australian zoos are being treated well by zoo officials, Thailand's envoy down under said Tuesday. Ambassador Bundit Sothipalarit said five Thai elephants are now at Sydney's Taronga Zoo and another three at Melbourne Zoo. Zoo officials have been treating them tenderly, the envoy said, and are hard at work encouraging the large Thai guests to serve as unofficial Thai ambassadors.
2007-04-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Hundreds of Buddhist monks led by at least nine elephants marched to parliament Wednesday to demand that Thailand's new post-coup constitution enshrine Buddhism as the national religion. "Buddhism is increasingly coming under threat," Thongchai Kuasakul, head of the Buddhists' Network of Thailand who led the march, said in a statement.
2007-04-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai National Elephant Institute (TNEI) plans to offer the country's elephant born as a result of artificial insemination to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a gift on his 80th birthday on December 5 this year. The female baby elephant – which is going to celebrate her one-month birthday this Saturday, was separated from her mother, because the mother showed some hostile signs against her first baby.
2007-03-17 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In Kanchanaburi province, Pinan Chotiroseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, blamed a mass exodus of wild elephants into the outside world on human encroachment on their natural habitat in the Salak Phra wildlife sanctuary, which is currently experiencing a serious shortage of water. In Surin, around 87 pachyderms kept at an elephant centre in Tha Tum district are facing a severe shortage of water, as a result of the drought which ravaged 1,594 villages in eleven districts a...
2007-03-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Five men were arrested after being caught smuggling two elephants into Thailand from neighboring Myanmar, authorities said Monday. The men and beasts, a 1-year-old calf and a female adult, entered Thailand by boat Thursday after a trip across the Salween River from Myanmar. The suspects, identified as three Thais and two men from Myanmar, face up to 15 years in prison on charges of elephant trafficking said Preecha Chalermpichai, the head forest ranger in the border district of Mae Sariang, wher...
2007-03-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
At least five Thai baby elephants have recently been smuggled to Germany, a senior official at the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department revealed yesterday. The transportation was carried out at the beginning of the year by people claming to represent officials in high places, said Dulasit Sanitwongsa na Ayuthaya, a wildlife expert at the department. In other incidents, 20 elephants, all younger than nine, were smuggled to China and another eight were shipped to Australia, Du...
2007-02-14 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
Thai couples marked Valentine's Day with weddings on elephant back and hanging off cliffs, while authorities warned young singles not to let the celebration of love lead them too far down the path of temptation. Twenty-eight couples — 22 of them including a foreign partner — celebrated their love by getting married on the backs of elephants in Surin province in northeastern Thailand.
2007-01-30 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Forest rangers in Thailand have a new assignment, they're charged with patrolling a major highway to stop looters from attacking trucks carrying sugar cane. The robbers, wild elephants that live in the areas around the highway. Officials have imposed a night-time curfew on the highway used to transport sugar cane because of recent looting. Elephants have broken into dozens of trucks that have stopped along the route to eat the truck's sweat cargo.
2006-11-09 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai mahout practice elephant fighting in Bangkok November 9, 2006. The practice was held in preparation for celebrations for Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadejs 60th anniversary on the throne. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
2006-10-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In Ayutthaya province, gradually rising waters forced mahouts to relocate all elephants in the ancient royal elephant corral to higher ground after barriers installed by the labour of the elephants themselves failed to withstand the strong currents. Most residents have been forced to travel by boats or have evacuated to other areas.
2006-08-22 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyut Tiyapairat is checking the details on sending five Thai elephants and chimpanzees to China. According to the deal, Thailand will deliver five Thai elephants and chimpanzees, while China will bring in white tigers and 14 other species of animals to the Night Safari in Chiang Mai Province
2006-08-19 - Bangkok, Thailand. ROGER CRUTCHLEY
The popular King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is moving north to the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai this year and promises to be the most entertaining and competitive contest so far. After being held the past five years in Hua Hin, chief organiser of the tournament and vice president of Anantara, Christopher Stafford, felt the time had come to hold the event on the northern border in Chiang Rai ''the home of elephants''.
2006-08-09 - Bangkok, Thailand. Jutarat Tongpiam
Leading academic and animal rights activists yesterday called for educational, social and legal reform to protect Thai elephants and return them to their former dignity. Their demands came at a seminar titled The Future of Thai Elephants: Nearing the End? organized by the Thai Environment Network following the controversial export of eight Thai elephants to Australia last month.
2006-08-03 - Bangkok, Thailand. APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
A group of activists opposing the government's export of eight elephants to Australia plans to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for transporting elephants overseas in alleged breach of the law. Pinan Chotiroseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, said the suit, to be filed with the Administrative Court, will name as defendants the ministry, the Department of Natural Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and the Zoological Park Organisat...
2006-07-10 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A senior Thai veterinarian said every elephant in the country should be implanted with a microchip to help protect the troubled pachyderm population. The Bangkok City authority wants to crack down on the hundreds of elephants and their panhandling mahouts who descend on the capital every year. The effort will be quickly abandoned because the authorities will soon despair of dealing with the heavyweight vagrants, predicted Alongkorn Mahannop, a vet sponsored by the Royal Household.
Claims by international animal rights groups that there is widespread opposition to the export of eight Thai elephants to state-owned zoos in Australia are a “breathtaking exaggeration,” one of the Australian zoo directors said yesterday. Taronga Zoo Director Guy Cooper said the claims were just a publicity stunt and insisted Australian zoos remain committed to elephant conservation.
2006-07-07 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Vet Alongkorn Mahannop said Friday the government should amend laws to control movement of the animals to prevent them from being exploited by their mahouts, and criticised authorities related to the issue for failing to permanently prevent mahouts and elephants from roaming streets of Bangkok to beg. He estimated over 350 baby elephants have been made to roam streets to beg nationwide, and each year some 175 street elephants were reported injured in Bangkok.
2006-07-06 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Australia has postponed the delivery of koalas to Thailand until disputes over the true origins of eight Thai elephants to be sent to that country are settled. Sopon Damnui, director of the Zoological Park Organization, said four koalas were earlier scheduled to arrive in Bangkok yesterday but Australia has postponed the shipment until problems concerning the eight elephants can be solved.
Officials in the Thai capital Bangkok rolled out big trucks today as they prepared to seize elephants brought in from the countryside to illegally roam the citys streets at night. The crackdown was the latest effort to keep the animals from blocking traffic, as well as to keep them and pedestrians safe as they wander the unfamiliar urban surroundings.
2006-07-05 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Kenya and Australia have halted controversial wildlife deals with Thailand amid protests here and abroad. A Nairobi court has put a stop on the Kenyan Government's plan to export animals to Thailand pending the hearing of a case filed by a local non-government group. And Australian zoos have held up delivery of four koalas here after the transfer of eight Thai elephants to the country was blocked by protesters.
World Wildlife Fund Thailand (WWFT) warns Thailand can be boycotted by other countries if it fails to make things clear about the status of eight elephants set to be shipped to an Australian zoo. The shipment has been suspended in the wake of protests by conservation groups which suspect the elephants are not domesticated but are from the wild. They demand the examination of DNA of those elephants but so far no action has been taken.
2006-07-04 - Bangkok, Thailand. KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Protesters yesterday urged the Australian government to respect the right of Thai people to know the origin of eight Thai elephants being transferred to Australian zoos. About 50 conservationists and students from Kanchanaburi province, where the elephants have been kept, rallied at the Australian embassy in Bangkok to protest the export of the animals to Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Melbourne Zoo.
2006-07-03 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand's National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department on Monday reconfirmed its earlier rejection of requests for DNA testing to verify the demographic status of eight Thai elephants earmarked for Australian zoos, saying it will carry out the export of the pachyderms as planned. The elephants have certificates issued by Interior Ministry to prove they were bred in captivity and did not come from the wild.
2006-07-02 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai non-governmental organization Friends of the Asian Elephant, working to protect elephants plans to petition the Australian embassy in Bangkok Monday, asking for its suspension of importing eight Thai elephants on an exchange programme until it can be proved that the Australia-bound elephants are home-bred, not from the wild.
2006-06-28 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
A Kanchanaburi wildlife conservation group announced that it won't negotiate with the government and waits for the result of DNA testing to verify whether the Australia-bound elephants are home-bred or from the wild. The Kan Conservation Group has blocked the shipment of eight elephants to Australia on the grounds that the elephants may have been captured from the wild and may have difficulties adjusting to life in captivity.
2006-06-24 - Bangkok, Thailand. Connie Levett
OLE, a two-year-old Thai elephant, stands side-on to traffic in the middle of a four-lane street in central Bangkok, trunk swinging erratically as buses, taxis and motorbikes whiz past on either flank. For eight hours each night he walks through choking fumes, stopping only when a customer, Thai or tourist, buys a 20 baht (60 cent) bag of sugarcane to feed him and snap a photo. For the next few months, this will be his life.
2006-01-18 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Thai government plans to publish a handbook on elephant care in collaboration with a UN agency, the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA) disclosed. The guide, which will initially be published in Thai and English, aims at instructing mahouts (elephant minders) and zoos how to better diagnose pachyderm diseases and quickly seek appropriate veterinarian treatment for problems such as stomach aches. The project, a joint effort of Thailand's Forest Industry Organisation and the United Nations Food a...
2005-10-25 - Bangkok, Thailand.
In a strategic move to address the persistent criminal activity targeting South-east Asia's unique biological diversity, representatives from the 10 Member Countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed last week to form a regional law enforcement network to combat the illegal trade in animals and plants.
2005-09-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thailand's forests are among the most biologically diverse on earth, and such biodiversity is the origin of many of our foods and medicines. In fact, the interaction between flora and fauna, and the conservation of this interaction, is of the utmost importance for the social well-being of Thailand. So believes senator Kraisak Choonhavan, renowned throughout Thailand as the often candid senator for foreign affairs, and a well-known advocate of conservation and the protection of wildlife.
2005-09-19 - BANGKOK, Thailand.
They don't have to be housebroken because these pets won't fit in your home. But not just anyone can own an elephant, says Laithongrian Meephan, 47, owner of the Ayutthaya Elephant Farm, 45 miles north of Bangkok, who is selling about 20 elephants between the ages of 1 1/2 to 3 years. Prices start at $48,700 apiece for the beasts, which he promises are well-bred, well-trained, well-behaved and a source of luck.
2005-07-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A SHOWCASE of work by young Thai artists - and elephants - will be unveiled in Edinburgh today. Vicky Khunapramot, a business graduate from Napier University, is pioneering the launch of the Capital's first Thai art exhibition. It will feature extraordinary abstract paintings by elephants from Northern Thailand's conservation parks. Ms Khunapramot said the elephants' contributions would reflect a "unique" aspect of Thai culture.
Eight elephants will stay in Thailand for at least another week while their fate is decided in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal(AAT). The AAT granted an interim order preventing the importation of the animals earmarked for Sydney's Taronga and Melbourne's zoos. The federal government gave the go-ahead for the beasts, who have been held in quarantine in Thailand for nine months, to be brought to Australia.
2005-03-28 - Bangkok, Thailand. Connie Levett
Thailand's Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been accused of elephant diplomacy in the war of words over nine elephants destined for export to Australian zoos. "Our Prime Minister promised the Australian government to give nine elephants; he has promised many countries," said Soraida Salwala, founder of Friends of the Asian Elephant.
2005-02-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. Sapa-AFP
It's rare enough when living artists fetch outrageous fortune for their work. When those modern-day Matisses are Thai elephants, however, they charge into the record books. Eight elephants in northern Thailand have painted their way into the Guinness Book of World Records after an art lover living in the United States shelled out a jumbo 1,5 million baht (about R240 000) for their canvas creation - the highest price ever paid for elephant art. The four-legged artist...
2005-01-20 - Bangkok, Thailand. The Daily Telegraph
Visitors to a Thai elephant camp were treated to a call of nature with a difference yesterday, as five-year-old Diew demonstrated how to use and flush an oversized toilet. The massive but immodest beast had no problem posing for the cameras as he went about his business. Handlers at the camp, in northern Thailand's Chiang Mai province, have previously taught their elephants to paint, dance and play musical instruments. But their latest feat is guaranteed to m...
2004-12-18 - Bangkok, Thailand. The Associated Press
Elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand are using their oversize bodies as road blocks, ambushing vehicles transporting sugar cane, tapioca and fruit, the sanctuary's chief says. The estimated 200 elephants in the Khao-Ang Rue-Ni sanctuary turn desperate and wily in the dry season, when water and food supplies shrink. It's then that the animals stage their heists, Yuo Senatham said.
2004-10-23 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Sonny Inbaraj
Every creature, from a louse to a lyrebird, is a marvel of nature. But some marvels are just more marvellous than others - and none more so than an elephant. Consider this animal again and all it shares with us. Elephants live sixty to eighty years, the same span as humans.
2004-10-14 - Bangkok, Thailand. CITES
A two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will close here today after agreeing decisions to strengthen wildlife management, combat illegal trafficking and update the trade rules for a wide range of plant and animal species.
2004-10-14 - BANGKOK, Thailand. AP
If a toothache is bad, just imagine what a tusk ache must feel like. So pity the poor three-ton bull elephant Kamsaen, whose four months of agony finally came to an end when veterinarians extracted a partially cut tusk which had become infected.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Business Day
Southafrica, along with the rest of the southern African countries at a global wildlife conference in Thailand, voted against Kenya's proposal to place a 20 year moratorium on ivory trading yesterday.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ranjit Devraj
The world's 'flagship species' on land and sea, whales and elephants, won a reprieve on Tuesday from commercial exploitation at a major conservation conference in Thailand's capital.
2004-10-12 - Bangkok, Thailand. Sasithorn Simaporn, Reuters
Elephants kicking soccer balls, painting flowers with their trunks, or twirling a hula-hoop are a common sight in Thailand, where the sacred warrior beasts perform in tourist shows or peddle fruits on the streets of Bangkok.
2004-10-11 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Booming demand in China is the biggest driver of the illegal ivory market and there is no clear link between allowing regulated legal trade and a rise in black market supplies, a report to a U.N. conference said on Monday.
2004-10-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Species Survival Network
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted in a late night session to deny Namibia an annual quota of 2,000kg of raw ivory and an unlimited quantity of worked ivory jewelry, known as “ekipas.” The decision could have serious, long-term, and positive implications for elephant conservation across Africa.
2004-10-08 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Jan Vertefeuille, Sarah Janicke - WWF
World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC applaud African countries who today announced a continent-wide action plan to crack down on their domestic ivory markets, calling it a major victory for elephant conservation.
2004-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Kenya is on the front line of the "wildlife wars" and says its men in the trenches will be at risk if a U.N. conference approves a Namibian bid to sell more ivory.
2004-10-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
Khao Yai National Park is to become home to the first training centre for wildlife protection officials in Southeast Asia, the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment announced, Suwit Khunkitti, today.
2004-10-06 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
Ivory from the tusks of extinct mammoths is being used as a legal substitute for the stuff provided by its living elephant kin, but poor quality and a finite supply means it will never replace it, experts say.
2004-10-05 - BANGKOK, Thailand. Ed Stoddard, Reuters
The European Union looked set on Tuesday to harpoon a Japanese bid to resume commercial trade in whale products, but has yet to take a stand on a Namibian attempt to loosen restrictions on ivory sales.
2004-10-02 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
The 13th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES kicked off in Bangkok today. It is the first time that a CITES meetng is held in the Southeast Asian region.
2004-10-01 - BANGKOK, Thailand. AFP
In the heart of Bangkok's bustling Chinatown, shops filled with tourist trinkets and antiques hide an illegal multi-million dollar ivory trade that environmentalists warn is destroying global elephant populations. Inside a cluttered tourist gift shop, an AFP reporter posing as a buyer asked to see banned African ivory and after a heated debate between the shop's two owners was shown smuggled tusks apparently hacked from the head of a slaughtered elephant.
2004-10-01 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Conservationists yesterday took a stab at the Thai government, accusing senior national politicians of involvement in the illegal trade in endangered species, while calling for a ban on Thai elephant exports.
2004-09-27 - Bangkok, Thailand. MCOT News
The north-eastern province of Surin, famed for its annual elephant round-ups, is to conduct its second elephant rally this year to help raise funds for Thai elephants.
2004-01-07 - Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok Post
A toothless old elephant who was slowly starving to death has been fitted with a set of specially made dentures in what could be the first in the world. The U-shaped denture, 15cm wide and 15cm long, is made of stainless steel, silicone and plastic. It was developed especially for Morakot, an 80-year-old cow elephant at the Chang Phuan Kaeo elephant ground in Kanchanaburi province.
2003-12-16 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai researchers will try to artificially inseminate a group of Asian elephants next month in a bid to boost numbers, a scientist working on the project said Tuesday. They will use samples stored at an experimental elephant sperm bank and are monitoring the beasts to work out the right time for conception in the northern towns of Lampang and Chiang Mai, said Mungkorn Damyang of Kasetsart University.
2002-09-11 - Bangkok, Thailand. Prentiss Riddle
BoingBoing links to the website of the allegedly musical Thai Elephant Orchestra and says, "The elephants not only play with the instruments, they play together on them, jamming in what is clearly recognizable as music." Of course, if we accept John Cage's assertion that noise can be music, the question is not whether elephants can play music but whether elephants can play music that shows signs of (non-random) musical thought.
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
2024-01-11 - Mysore, India.
In response to the escalating threat posed by leopards, elephants and other wild animals in the Mysuru region, specialised task forces have been established to address the situation. A dedicated Leopa...
2024-01-04 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Los Angeles Zoo is grieving the death of 53-year-old Asian elephant Shaunzi. Zoo staff observed that Shaunzi was unable to stand up in her exhibit at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, according t...
