To-day I heard on television that a Thai Minister declared to have made a budget of 3.000.000.000 Baht (around 56.000.000 Euro) for elephants and their mahouts. The plot will be near Surin and will be 6.000 rai (about 960 hA) big.
This will mean in fact the elimination of all the begging street-elephants in Thailand. The mahouts are claiming that they have to go to the cities to earn a living because the elephants are less and less used for work in the woods etc.
Very good news but we will see how long this all takes. I hope very soon because every day an elephant is roaming through the streets is one day too much:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toni_uni/sets/72157603251277034/
The elephant-song from Kamahl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCZLYgm05g
May I put some question marks around this good-willing announcement reading the following of 6 years ago in the New York Times:
By SETH MYDANS (NYT)
Published: August 8, 2002
The governor of Bangkok is mounting a new effort to expel scores of domesticated elephants who wander the streets as beggars with their handlers. The governor, Samak Sundaravej, proposed building special camps at a cost of $7 million. Earlier plans to rid the city of begging elephants have failed because of the cost, the lack of available forest area and the pressure of poverty, which drives elephant handlers to seek a living on the streets.
Seth Mydans (NYT)
promises, promises and more promises to keep everybody quiet?? The idea of the governor of Bangkok who is now Premier of Thailand.
