Bangkok Post : First elephant nursing home set up

The country's first nursing home for aged elephants and jumbos with disabilities has been set up in Lampang.

The new shelter would take care of the elephants "until their last breath", said Manoonsak Tantiwiwat, chief of the Forest Industry Organisation, which runs the shelter in Ngao district.

The Pang-La Nursery Home for Aged Elephants on 1,000 rai will be opened officially on Nov 21. The FIO operates the project in honour of Their Majesties the King and the Queen, Mr Manoonsak said. Their Majesties are dedicated environmentalists who have initiated several projects to help conserve forests and wildlife.

The shelter is staffed with veterinarians and a group of experienced mahouts. It also grows a variety of elephant food sources such as grass, banana trees, pineapple trees and traditional herbs to improve the elephants' health.

There is also a small river for them.

"We have about 30 old and disabled elephants at the shelter," Mr Manoonsak said. Among them are Pang Bua-Kam, a 53-year-old female elephant blind in one eye, which was rescued from the streets of Bangkok a few months ago, and Plai Kam-Meun, a 72-year-old blind elephant from Mae Hong Son.

The shelter could take care of up to 200 elephants, he said.

Apart from running the camp for elderly elephants, the FIO has been working with veterinarians from five universities, the Livestock Development and the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation departments on a new project to conduct DNA testing of all captive elephants in Thailand.

DNA records will help distinguish captive elephants from wild animals.

"We have already issued ID cards for captive elephants, but the card is very easy to forge. So we need DNA records to identify them," said Sitthidej Mahasawangkul, director of the Lampang-based Elephant Hospital.

More than 100 elephants have undergone DNA testing so far, he said. The veterinary team is expected to complete the DNA identification project within four years.

"Once the DNA records of captive elephants are complete, the authorities will be able to effectively tackle the problem of wild elephant poaching," Mr Sitthidej said.

A number of young elephants have been caught in the wild and disguised as captive elephants.

It is estimated that more than 2,000 of the elephants living in Thailand are captive. Another 2,000 are wild.

The country's elephant population falls by about 3% a year.

The FIO in the past took care of elephants used to haul logs. After logging concessions ended, it switched to work on elephant conservation.

It now takes care of more than 300 beasts with a budget of more than 100 million baht a year.

The agency also plans next year to set up an elephant hospital in the southern province of Krabi.