KANCHANABURI: Officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation have impounded a four-year-old elephant at an elephant camp, on suspicion it was caught in the wild.
Wildlife officials, accompanied by local police, went to the Wang Chan elephant camp of Riviere Kwai Elephants Co in tambon Wang Dong of Muang district on Thursday. They were met by the owner's son, Kenji Alison.
Mongkol Chaipakdee, a chief ranger, said Mr Kenji had sought permission to transfer the elephant to Kanchanaburi's Muang district on Oct 27 last year.
The young elephant had been documented as the offspring of a domesticated elephant belonging to Nimor Satayaruangrong, a Karen man in Mae Ramat district of Tak.
DNA tests on samples taken in December showed the two animals were not related. Mr Nimor had said he sold the elephant to Mr Kenji for 800,000 baht. However, Mr Mongkol said the elephant impounded at Wang Chan camp was not the elephant whose birth was earlier registered in Tak.
Mr Kenji was charged with unauthorised possession of a protected wild animal, making a false report about the elephant and slapped with a 1.6 million baht bill for "damaging wildlife."