For centuries, in the countries of south and Southeast Asia the elephant has been an
intimate part of the culture, economy and religion, and nowhere more so than in Thailand.
Unlike its African cousin, the Asian elephant is easily domesticated. The rare so-called
white elephants have actually lent the authority of kingship to its rulers and until the
1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red background. To the early Western
visitors the country's romantic name was "Land of the White Elephant". Today, however,
the story is very different. Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles
for survival in a nation that no longer needs it.
The elephant has found itself more or less abandoned by
previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a westernized society.
And while the elephant's problems began many years ago, now it rates a very low national
priority. How this reversal from national icon to neglected animal came about is a tale
of worsening environmental and the changing lives of the Thais themselves.
According to Ric hard Lair, Thailand's experts on the Asian elephant and author of the
report Gone Astray, at the turn of the century there may well have beenas
many as 100,000 domestic elephants in the country. In the north of Thailand alone
it was estimated that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport 1,000 of them
alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen. This was at a time
when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest-a habitat that not only supported the
animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing
ploughs through denseforest better than a massive but sure-footed elephant. By 1950
the elephant population had dropped to a still substantial 13,397 but to
day there are probably nomore than 3,800 with another 1,350 roaming free in the national
parks. But now, Thailand's forest coversonly 20 percent of the land. This deforestation
is the central point of the elephant's difficult situation, for it has effectively put the
animals out of work. This century, as the road network grew, so the elephant's role as
a beast of burden declined.