Captive elephants may face neglect due to COVID-19

The whole tourism industry collapsed basically because of the COVID-19 and those sanctuaries and also every other elephant camp in Thailand and Asia is depending on tourism too, to pay the upkeep of the elephants, says Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, Global Head of Animal Welfare and Wildlife Research at World Animal Protection.

Bangkok: These majestic elephants may seem unlikely victims of the coronavirus pandemic, but conservationists say that the collapse of the tourism sector is putting them at risk.

The London-based World Animal ProtectionWorld Animal Protection (WAP) says that more than 2,000 captive elephants in camps and sanctuaries in Thailand are at risk of being left neglected and starving as many of the elephant camps are forced to close due to the government restrictions and a lack of tourists.

"The whole tourism industry collapsed basically because of the COVID-19 and those sanctuaries and also every other elephant camp in Thailand and Asia is depending on tourism too, to pay the upkeep of the elephants. So as soon as the tourist industry fell away, all these camps were left struggling," explains Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, Global Head of Animal Welfare and Wildlife Research at World Animal Protection.

Supakorn Tanaseth is the director's of ChangChill, an elephant sanctuary in the north of Thailand.

He says that his camp has no income since mid-March. He is now carefully planning how to survive the next six months without compromising the livelihood of the animals and their caretakers.

World Animal Protection estimates that in the area of northern Thailand alone, more than 85 elephant camps have closed their doors.

Camp owners are struggling to come up with extra cash to buy food for the animals. An elephant eats about 300 or 400 kilograms (660 to 880 pounds) of food each day and an average monthly expense for food for each elephant is about 10,000 THB (about 320 USD).

"At the beginning, the elephants may still have food. The owners still have some savings to buy food for the elephants. But what happens after, let's say, in two months. We cannot picture what it will be like after this period," says Tanaseth.

Charae Sangkaow, Director of Following Giants elephant sanctuary in Koh Lanta is facing a similar struggle. Letting elephants roam free to graze for natural foliage isn't an option as it is Thailand's hottest and driest season and there isn't enough land that elephants required to roam naturally.

"Right now, my main concern is the expense of elephants' food and mahouts' wages. We also have to pay elephant rental fees for the actual owners of these elephants so that they don't have to do other kinds of work or go pulling logs in the jungle" he says.

In the past, elephants were used in the logging industry. But when logging became illegal, owners of these animals rented them out to elephant camps to perform in the entertainment business or to sanctuaries that support ethical tourism and provide the animals with a safe environment.

With camps and sanctuaries closing down, Schmidt-Burbach is worried that some owners may keep the elephants in less than desirable conditions.

"These rented elephants are often being sent home by the camp owners because they don't want to pay for the upkeep. So, the elephant, plus, the mahout, they would then go home to wherever the actual elephant owner resides. And that could be in Surin (a province with many captive elephants), that could be in other provinces. And then the elephant would usually just be sort of chained up somewhere near the home of the elephant owner and will be cared for over there," says Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach.

Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach went on to add: "For us, we would like to see the elephants wherever possible to stay with the camps, so, they don't have to do this journey across a country and end up in situations where we simply don't know how they're being cared for. So, we like to support the elephant camps as much as we can so they can take care of the elephants better right where they are."

WAP is providing emergency funding to eight camps, seven in Thailand and one in Nepal, for the next six months and is appealing to the public to donate to help elephants in Thailand.

Schmidt-Burbach says, beyond the COVID-19 crisis, Thailand needs to consider breeding regulations of elephants for commercial use. Currently, the country has about 2,600 elephants in captivity, an increase from around 1,600 elephants in 2009, according to World Animal Protection.

(With inputs from AP)