Thai Temple Butchers Three Elephants, Starves Several More

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2011-01-12 13:15:00 UTC
Topics:

A temple in Maha Sarakham, Thailand, butchered three elephants and sold the meat, skulls and tusks for over $85,000.

There are seven other elephants at the temple. Sangduen Chailert, founder of the Love Elephants and the Environment foundation, said the remaining elephants appear to be suffering from severe malnutrition and could die if they aren't rescued.

Thailand has over 2,000 captive elephants, and their treatment has been under fire from conservationists around the world for years. Despite the compassionate teachings of Buddhism, many of these elephants are kept in temples across the country.

Elephant mistreatment has also increasingly become a problem in cities as mahouts, or elephant keepers, use the animals as street beggars, forcing them to perform tricks for tourists. Last month, a mahout attacked an Australian tourist with his bullhook after the man accused him of exploiting his elephant, leading several elephant conservation groups to petition the Prime Minister for better protections for the country's elephants.

In the eyes of Thai law, captive elephants are treated like domesticated livestock, and have very few protections. For example, despite the international ivory trade ban, it's legal to sell captive-bred elephants and their parts (as the Maha Sarakham temple did). How do you tell the difference between ivory from a captive elephant versus a poached animal, or a baby elephant bred in captivity versus one ripped from the wild? You can't, making the elephant-sized loophole one of the reasons the wildlife trade flourishes in Thailand.

When the butchering at the temple hit the news, conservationists called on the government to intervene, expressing concern not only for the animals, but also for the impact this could have on tourism.

They should be worried — elephants are endangered, iconic animals that people around the world care about, and many people won't travel to a country where these majestic creatures are so rampantly neglected and abused. Elephant protection groups are fighting hard for Thailand's elephants, but the government needs to hear from tourists, too. Let the Thai government know that you're appalled by the mistreatment and butchering of these captive elephants.

Thailand needs to do more — much more — to protect both their captive and wild elephants, and they can start by saving these seven neglected animals before it's too late.

Photo credit: Ilya Mauter

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.

RELATED PETITION

Save Starving Elephants from Temple in Thailand
SIGN PETITION
1,293 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Cutting Pigs Keeps Tulane University Behind the Curve
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.