Elephant protest in Thailand

Bangkok - A tour company in Thailand on Thursday dumped 12 elephants outside Chiang Mai's City Hall to protest against the steep decline in tourist arrivals in the northern province which has taken its toll on pachyderm rides.

"We are leaving our elephants at City Hall because there is no work for them anymore," said Anchalee Kalamaphicit, owner of the Mae Tha Man Elephant Camp, situated about 50 kilometers north of Chiang Mai.

The tourism industry has been hard hit by seven weeks of anti-government protests in Bangkok, which have led to bloody street clashes that claimed 27 lives, prompting more than 40 countries to issue travel warnings.

Bangkok is the major hub for air travel to the country's beach resorts and cultural destinations, such as Chiang Mai, 650 kilometers north of the capital, famed for its hill tribes, handicrafts and elephant rides.

Anchalee said the camp usually attracts 120,000 foreign tourists a year, but since the trouble began in Bangkok, arrivals have fallen to fewer than 50 tourists a day.

The main attraction at the camp is elephant rides.

"We have 65 elephants at the camp and elephants are expensive to feed," Anchalee said. "With so few tourists we are not meeting costs, so I'm leaving some of my elephants at City Hall where at least they can get some charity," she told the German Press Agency dpa.

Thailand normally attracts about 15 million foreign tourists a year, making tourism its top foreign exchange earner.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322241,elephant-protest-in-thailand.html.