Chiang Rai to House Saved Elephants in Newly Built Sanctuary

CHIANG RAI – The state-run Myanmar Timber Enterprise employed 3,000 captive elephants to move natural resources out of the rain forest. This makes it the largest population of captive Asian elephants in the world.

However, since 2014, a ban on exporting raw materials left these elephants without a purpose and, crucially, without proper care. They became vulnerable to unethical tourism companies and poachers.

Fortunately, help has finally come, with elephants being relocated to sanctuaries around Southeast Asia. One of the biggest is located in Chiang Rai. This is good news not just for the elephants, but for Chiang Rai’s tourism industry. The region can hope to become world leaders in ethical elephant tourism.

The Importance of Responsible Sanctuaries

Elephants put to work by the government are fully domesticated, which puts them at risk when released back into the wild. They are unaccustomed to threats and can be easily targeted by poachers. Exact poaching numbers are hard to acquire, but when 19 were fitted with GPS trackers, seven of these had been poached within a year.

Myanmar has the largest population of elephants other than India. A border with China more than 2,000 km long means there are many remote areas that are difficult for the government to control. Chinese ivory hunters have it too easy.

A sanctuary in Chiang Rai would remove elephants from dangerous areas and provide them with both freedom and security.

Tourism Opportunities

Elephant tourism has a bad reputation, with many being kept in cruel conditions and forced to dance for food. However, ethical tourism allows for the funding which keeps these incredible animals safe. Travelers fly many miles to get a glimpse at one of nature’s most beautiful and endearing creations.

By allowing visitors to spend time with the elephants, Chiang Rai’s economy could boom. While an elephant tusk sells for $21,000, a single elephant brings in $1.6 million revenue from ecotourism. This makes a live elephant worth 76 times more than a dead one.

The new sanctuary in Chiang Rai is a win for everyone. The local community will benefit from increased tourism to the area, without any of the guilt that elephants are being exploited. It is essential to get domesticated elephants out of the uncontrolled wild of Myanmar and into sanctuaries where they will be cared for and kept safe.

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Chinese travel firms to halt selling elephant tours

Three prominent travel companies in China are the first in the country to take a stand against animal tourism 'torture.'

Beijing-based Caissa Touristic said it will stop marketing elephant rides and elephant entertainment shows across Asia, including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

According to the company's assistant president Ge Mu, about 100,000 tourists partake in elephant tourism activities or watch shows each year, and accounts for 40% of all tourism programmes in Southeast Asia.

Travel websites fxtrip.com and zanadu.com also promised to sell only 'elephant-friendly' tours

Elephants 'suffer from multiple forms of torture' due their daily schedule serving tourists, said Zheng Yu, wildlife campaign manager at World Animal Protection.

A recent World Animal Protection report said the number of elephants used for entertainment purposes for tourists in Thailand has risen by about 30%.

Globally about 160 tourism companies have so far stopped offering elephant tourism programmes and one-off elephant attractions.

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Chinese travel agencies to end elephant-riding tours

One of China's largest travel agencies CAISSA Touristic Group announced on Wednesday that it will gradually stop providing all elephant non-friendly products to tourists.

CAISSA pledged that services, such as elephant rides and performances, will be first cancelled in southern Asian countries including India, Sri Lanka and Nepal by November and then in Thailand by the end of this year or the beginning of 2018, The Paper reported.

The 'elephant-friendly travel' promise was inked between CAISSA and the international organisation World Animal Protection (WAP) in a bid to end the cruel abuse of elephants in the tourist entertainment industry.

Ge Mu, assistant president of CAISSA, said that annually around 100,000 tourists will choose to order elephant rides from the company and 40 percent of its business in southeast Asia was represented by elephant riding and shows.

Two Chinese online travel platforms FXTrip.com and ZANADU have also recently joined the WAP-led initiative, which attracted more than 160 travel agencies worldwide, including TripAdvisor, Thomas Cook and TUI, over the past two years.

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