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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 threatens the survival of endangered Asian elephants, and is responsible for widespread exploitation and abuse of these intelligent and sensitive mammals.

Thankfully, a recent report published by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia exposes the loopholes and reporting inaccuracies that have been providing a smokescreen for Thailand’s illegal trade in endangered, wild-caught Asian elephants (Elephas maximus).

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Centuries-old Thai culture and history has centered on the Asian elephant. However, many factors have made the future of these animals questionable at best: Unchecked forest clearance, rampant human population growth, escalating poaching for ivory, and illegal capture are reducing wild Asian elephant populations at an unsustainable pace.

Thai laws even seem to favor elephant smugglers over the elephants themselves.

Laws designed for trade in domestic elephants serve as loopholes for the thriving trade in wild-caught elephants

The laws regarding elephants in Thailand lend themselves to loopholes and exploitation. This stems from the classification of domesticated Thai elephants as “livestock”, making it legal to trade these elephants (and their ivory) throughout Thailand. Not only is it apparently “easy” to forge elephant documentation to make wild-caught elephants appear as captive-bred elephants (on paper), but Thailand has not demonstrated sufficient effort to follow up on any suspected discrepancies.

Wild elephants are protected under the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act of 1992 (WARPA). This act makes all trade in wild elephants and their products illegal in Thailand - regardless of the wild elephant’s origin. The Wild Elephant Protection Act of 1921 and WARPA prohibit capturing or killing wild elephants without “official permission from the government”.

Unfortunately, domesticated Thai elephants are classified in Thailand under the Draught Animal Act of 1939. The trade of domesticated elephants and the possession or sale of ivory from “domesticated elephants of Thai origin” is not prohibited by this Act. And this sets the stage for loopholes, forgeries, reporting inaccuracies, and exploitation of wild elephants in Thailand.

Unsustainable market for “young” elephants

Prior to the logging ban in 1989, elephants were “employed” as beasts of burden in this industry. After this, however, these elephants were considered too old to be trained for “new” jobs in ecotourism (to transport tourists) or circuses. So despite the demand for elephants throughout Thailand and internationally for use in circuses, zoos - and for the growing ecotourism industry - these elephants were not acceptable for such purposes.

So how did Thailand - where it’s legal to sell elephants - decide to handle the burgeoning demand for “young” elephants?

Sadly, the demand is met by the Thai government choosing not to enforce the laws regarding capture of wild elephants, and by succumbing to bribes and forgery when it comes to registration requirements. Despite the fact that the capture of wild elephants has been illegal in Thailand since the 1970s, even infant elephants are stolen from their mothers in the wild.

This demand for tourism elephants and lack of supply has allegedly led to illegal capture of young elephants in the wild. Export of suitable elephants to other countries for use in entertainment facilities and zoos has also been recorded.

No legal capture of wild elephants has been allowed in Thailand since the 1970s, but illegal capture of infant wild elephants has been reported to occur … Doubts over the legality of the Australian Taronga Zoo’s importation of nine Asian elephants in 2006 have been raised overseas, with claims that documents from Thailand suggest that up to half may have been taken from the wild. Moreover, it has been alleged that the registration certificate for one elephant showed she was just six years and nine months old – despite an animal welfare requirement that the zoo not use any elephant under the age of 12 for breeding …

In 2006, TRAFFIC spoke with a Myanmar government officer on the Myanmar-Thailand border who stated that he had allowed the illegal export of 240 live elephants to Thailand via Three Pagoda Pass over the previous 18 months in exchange for bribe money. The officer said that the elephants were destined for named tourist resorts … In addition, a senior official in the Thai DNPWP was quoted in the media stating that at least five Thai elephant calves had been smuggled to Germany, alleging the complicity of government officials.

Another loophole in Thailand’s laws is that domesticated elephants to not have to registered until they are eight years old. This means that untold numbers of baby elephants stolen from the wild are virtually undetectable - and there are elephant camps in Thailand that serve as accomplices and cover these activities.

Traders have been reported to buy elephant calves from elephant-catchers in Thailand and take them with adults to Bangkok to beg on the streets, or sell them to elephant camps or entertainment parks … Since domesticated elephants do not have to be registered until eight years of age these captures usually go undetected by the authorities. Because the capture of baby wild elephants is done secretly there is no way to estimate how many animals are involved per year, but there have been assertions that many calves seen in Thailand, especially those under one year of age, originate in the wild…

The Elephant Conservation Network in Kanchanaburi supported this assessment and stated that certain elephant camps are complicit in “laundering” baby elephants from Myanmar into the Thai tourism sector.

What about Thailand’s “legal” trade in domesticated elephants?

Thailand has several elephant camps that breed captive elephants. Some of these elephants remain in the camps and others are sold to Thai amusement parks. According to TRAFFIC’s report, there are 1008 elephants in 39 of these elephant camps. Thailand also imports and exports domesticated elephants.

Historically, the main sources of imported elephants have been Myanmar followed by Lao PDR … Before 1990, adult elephants would be brought in to work in the logging industry, but these are no longer needed due to the logging ban. Demand has now shifted to calves under two years of age. They are used mainly in amusement parks and are trained to perform various stunts for tourists. In the mid 1990s, about 50 calves entered Thailand annually from Myanmar, where Thai traders purchased them at the border for THB125 000-150 000 (USD 5000-6000 at 1997 rates). The Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang confirmed to TRAFFIC in 2007 that this practice continues.

TRAFFIC suspects that these baby elephants from Myanmar and Lao PDR are re-sold to Myanmar as young adults, after they have been used for a few years in the Thai tourism and street elephant business. Other baby elephants that are smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar end up at foreign zoos.

The Thai Wildlife Protection Network alleged that at least 50 elephants, mainly calves, are smuggled into Thailand annually from Myanmar via five border districts – Mae Sariang, Mae La Noi, Sop Moie, Umphang and Phop Phra …

The smugglers then apply for registration documents from authorities to certify they are captive elephants. The documents enable wildlife traders to legally move their animals to elephant shelters where they are trained for three years before being sent to foreign zoos.

Since Thailand has no procedures in place to distinguish legal from illegal captive elephants, it could be anyone’s guess as to how many of the 300 elephants that China ordered from Thailand to entertain 2008 Olympic Games visitors were stolen from the wild.

Areas of concern regarding Thailand’s live elephant trade

The TRAFFIC study raises several questions about Thailand’s competency in managing legal trade in live elephants.

• Thailand’s national live elephant trade has nothing in place to distinguish captive-bred elephants from wild-caught elephants. The growth of the eco-tourism industry and entertainment parks provide sufficient motivation for traders to kidnap wild baby elephants and forge captive-bred documentation.
• Waiting until an elephant is eight years old before registration provides cover for wild-caught young elephants. There is also nothing in place to record pregnant females or elephant births.
• The current use of “bodily markings” to identify elephants for registration purposes is outdated. Microchips should be used.

Thailand’s international live elephant trade is especially troubling, and TRAFFIC believes that both domestic and wild-caught elephants are illegally imported for the Thai tourism industry from Myanmar adn Lae PDR.

Over a quarter of all elephant exports between 1980 and 2005 appeared to be illegal based on declarations made on the CITES forms of the source and/or purpose of the exported specimen(s).

• Existing elephant identification and registration deficiencies make it easy for foreign-born elephants to be integrated into elephant camps and entertainment parks.
• There are discrepancies between reports submitted by Thailand (as the country of export) and countries of import to the UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database. Many CITES export forms were not filled out completely and accurately and Thai authorities apparently do not compel exporters to do so.

Thailand’s dismal enforcement of the law does harm to both Asian and African elephant conservation

Thailand’s willingness to comply with the unsustainable demand for elephants to be used for entertainment and ecotourism is likely to reverse any progress that is being made in Asian elephant conservation.

… there are still issues concerning the export of elephants for use in circuses and other public entertainment facilities. If a fee-paying public views the elephants performing, this would seem clearly to be a commercial circumstance. Asian Elephant conservation is being negatively affected by an increasing demand for young elephants, of both wild and domesticated origin, to train for use as entertainment animals in foreign facilities.

Japan and China take a disproportionate number of exported Thai elephants, compared to other countries, for use in entertainment and zoos. If these countries continue to purchase elephants at the current rate, or even increase the practice, this could have deleterious consequences for the Thai elephant population.

Regarding African elephant conservation, Thailand has been identified as a source country in 314 African elephant ivory seizures between 1989 - 2006.

The Thai government’s participation in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), one of the two formal monitoring systems for elephants under CITES, has been rather erratic and incomplete overall. Through Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev. CoP12), CITES Parties have been obligated to report the details of elephant product seizures to the CITES Secretariat or to TRAFFIC directly for inclusion in ETIS since 1997. As of 15 April 2008, the ETIS data set for Thailand comprised 55 seizure cases, but most of these cases were received from credible NGO sources in the country rather than from reports submitted directly by the government agencies themselves. Further, since 2004, no seizure cases have been reported by any sources at all. Consequently, the rate of reporting elephant product seizure data to ETIS remains rather poor. In the meantime, over the period 1989-2006, Thailand was identified as either a source country (the exporter or re-exporter), or the destination country in 314 other ivory seizure cases that were made in other countries around the world. Collectively, these seizures represent 15 660 kg of ivory, most of which is believed to have originated from African Elephants.

Is there hope for the Asian elephant in Thailand?

Specific recommendations have been set forth in TRAFFIC’s report, in hopes of closing the loopholes that are fostering the rampant trade in endangered wild-caught Asian elephants. The recommendations zeroed in on the loopholes surrounding the commercialization of ivory and deficient policies regarding elephant identification, registration, and monitoring.

Obviously, the wild Asian elephant population cannot withstand the continuous onslaught of mindless, human consumption and exploitation.

Hopefully, TRAFFIC’s extensive study will compel wildlife authorities to force Thailand to cease its unscrupulous exploitation of the law - and to implement protection for these magnificent, innocent beings whose lives are being sacrificed for the human whims of “entertainment” and “ecotoursim.”

If these new laws are to succeed, then they must be monitored and enforced by an entity other than the Thai government. Clearly, Thailand’s own attempts to conduct legal trade in live elephants (and ivory) have failed miserably - at the expense of voiceless elephants.

Source: Daniel Stiles (2009). The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

For more information, download the report.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caspermoller/ / CC BY 2.0

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