''Thailand is probably the only
country in Asia where returning
elephants to the wild would be
feasible,'' said Richard Lair, a
consultant to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
''Wildlife sanctuaries in
countries such as Sri Lanka and
India are under a great deal of
pressure, but in Thailand there
are conservation areas where
wild elephant populations have
been extirpated, or where a bull
elephant can be introduced to
prevent inbreeding.''
But Schwann Tunhikorn,
director of the Royal Forestry
Department's (RFD) Wildlife
Research Division, warned that
tame elephants returned to the
wild may end up encroaching on
crop lands or injuring people
because they no longer fear
humans.
Three ageing domesticated
elephants were re-introduced
into a wildlife sanctuary in
Phayao last year, said
Schwann. ''We are waiting to
see how it turns out,'' he added.
Schwann and Lair, who wrote a
book for the FAO entitled Gone
Astray: The Care and
Management of the Asian
Elephant in Domesticity, took
part in a panel discussion on
Thursday along with Suvit
Yodmani, president of the Asian
Elephant Foundation of
Thailand, which focused on the
plight of domesticated
elephants.
All agreed that the situation
looks grim for Thailand's
estimated 3,800 working
pachyderms, most of which no
longer have any work, and the
country's roughly 1,500 wild
elephants, who are suffering
from poaching and a loss of
habitat.
''With the decline of the logging
trade in Thailand, the only viable
work left for elephants here is
tourism,'' Lair said.
The worst kind of abuse from
tourism occurs when baby
elephants are separated from
their mothers at too young an
age, but this practice no longer
seems common in Thailand, he
said.
Many mahouts take their
charges to Bangkok, where the
animals must brave hazardous
conditions to solicit money from
passers-by.
Amid concerns about the
beasts' health, authorities have
tried to banish them from the
city, but that has not proved an
effective solution.
''Bringing elephants into
Bangkok is horrible and wrong,
but preventing that has simply
spread the problem elsewhere,''
Lair said.
Attempts to set up sanctuaries
for elephants have also proven
difficult to put into practice, Lair
said.
Another hindrance to a solution
is the status of domesticated
elephants under Thai law. A bill
passed in 1939 treats them as
draft animals, and is almost
solely concerned with the rights
and obligations of ownership.
Schwann said efforts are now
being made to amend the
legislation.