Elephants and ecotourism in Thailand - Prasob Tipprasert

Introduction

One hundred years ago there were about 100 000 domesticated elephants in Thailand, almost all of them employed in the logging industry. In 1965, the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) reported a figure of 11 192. This number had decreased to 3 381 in 1985 and to 2 257 in 1998. Thus, the population appears to be decreasing at a rate of about 3 percent per year.

In 1989, a government logging ban to preserve the existing forestland - which amounts to only about 25 percent of the country - caused 70 percent of domesticated elephants to become unemployed.

Many elephants have been forced to stray into big cities in order to earn a living for themselves and their mahouts thus posing a danger to the general public. Most of these elephants receive insufficient food and water and are sometimes seriously injured in traffic accidents.

Developing ecotourism sites in the various regions of the country might offer more suitable employment opportunities for the elephants and their mahouts, but an appropriate and comprehensive ecotourism development plan should first be formulated.

Existing elephant-related tourist activities and working conditions

Because of the logging ban, and as a result of increasing interest in ecotourism, elephants and their mahouts can be found working in the tourism industry in all regions of the country, usually in elephant camps. Tables 1 to 5 present the results of the first nationwide field survey of elephant-related ecotourism sites in Thailand.

Problems associated with using elephants in ecotourism

The biggest problems for elephant owners are providing them with sufficient food each day, meeting the high cost of the large amount needed and removing the dung. Elephants can only digest 40 percent of what they eat, so this means that if you provide 200 kg of food per day there is a significant amount of dung to remove.

There are also land use conflicts that pit elephant owners against other members of the community, including government agencies.

Northern Thailand:

There are 14 elephant camps with 536 elephants in four provinces.

As almost all of the feeding areas and trekking routes are in forest reserve lands, there are conflicts between the camp owners and the Forestry Department. The use of these lands has to be certified by the Royal Forest Department. This is a slow process, but meanwhile the tourism business is growing rapidly. Conflicts are still going on and are very serious.

Table 1. Northern Thailand

Notes

• The Maesa elephant camp is the biggest and probably the best organized one in Thailand.

• In April, the Karen elephant owners who are known as natural elephant experts go back home with their elephants to participate in the"Mud Mir Chang” or the"Elephant Homecoming Celebration”. Sometimes, they do not return to their elephant camps afterwards.

• The rate for hiring one elephant is 7 000-8 000 baht per month in the high tourist season and 3 500-4 000 in the low season.

• The monthly salary of a mahout (except for the TECC Lampang) is about 1 500 baht with accommodation, food and medical care.

• The average charge is 270-350 baht/hour.

Table 2. Central Thailand

Notes

• The Ayutthaya Elephant Camp, established in 1997, holds an additional 45 elephants in camps in Kanchanaburi, Phuket, and Chaiyaphum provinces.

• The Rose Garden, a country resort established in 1965, started the Thai Village Cultural Show using elephants as early as in 1969. They have recorded three generations of elephants.

• The elephant show at the Crocodile Farm started about 35 years ago.

Table 3. Eastern Thailand

Notes

• In the eastern part of Thailand, almost all of the tourists who visit the elephant camps come from East Asian countries such as Korea, Taiwan, and China (except Paniat Chang that has a great number of European tourists). They are generally interested in short rides.

• Most camps do not have feeding areas large enough for elephants. Only a few have wide feeding areas.

• Only the Paniat Chang camp uses northern mahouts because the owner's wife is from northern Thailand. The mahouts in other camps come from Surin.

• The rate for short rides is on an average 300 baht/hour. In popular tourist areas it increases to 3 000 baht/hour.

• The monthly rate for hiring an elephant is about 7 000-8 000 baht.

Table 4. Western Thailand

Notes

• All of them are located at good tourist sites and have feeding areas.

• Average charge: 230-300 baht/hour.

• Elephant hire rate: 8 000 baht/month.

• Medical care is provided by the local vet and Kasetsart University and there are also frequent visits from MEC.

Table 5. Southern Thailand

Notes

• Southern Thailand is the highest income tourist site for elephants, but a lack of feeding areas is its weak point.

• Almost all of the elephants and mahouts come from the northeast region of Thailand.

• Mahouts get a bonus of 1 baht for every minute of riding and are given a room to stay in and an allotment of rice.

• Working hours are 07.00-9.00 hours.

• Rate of hiring an elephant is 9 000-12 000 baht/month.

• Elephant care mostly comes from local vets.

• Short rides are 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and trekking is 60 minutes or more.

Central Thailand:

The problem is somewhat different from that in the north, but it also involves conflicts of interest.

There is an ongoing conflict between the owner of the Ayutthaya Elephant Camp, which has 35 elephants, and the Fine Arts Department as the camp is in the middle of the World Heritage site of Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of the country.

Another conflict is related to water pollution: although the camp's owner has made a serious attempt to clear the elephants' dung, numerous nearby waterways and reservoirs have been adversely effected.

Eastern Thailand:

There are six elephant camps in Chonburi province with 129 elephants.

The number of tourists visiting these elephant camps is increasing but competition is very fierce. The only way to attract tourists is to reduce the riding fee to a reasonable rate. This then makes it necessary for the elephant to work five to six hours a day to reach the desired income of 400 baht a day. This condition has forced some mahouts and elephants to leave the camps and go to the big cities.

Western Thailand:

There are six elephant camps in Kanchanaburi with a total of 116 elephants. This region is an appropriate site for ecotourism. It is an excellent tourist destination with an adequate feeding area and tourism is growing in the province. However, there still are some conflicts between the camps' owners and the Forestry Offices or the Local Administrative Organization.

Southern Thailand:

There are ten elephant camps in Phuket province with 174 elephants. Although the camp owners have a high, regular income there are too many elephants considering the number of tourism sites and feeding areas. A good solution would be to limit the number of elephants on the island.

Future perspective

The domesticated elephants in Thailand can be categorized into three groups as follows:

• Unemployed elephants;

• Tourism elephants; and

• Street wandering elephants.

The largest group is the unemployed elephants that are estimated to number between 1 200 and 1 400. The second largest group is the tourism elephants that number over 1 000 animals, and the smallest group consists of wandering elephants that amount to about 100 in various cities. There are also an undetermined number of domesticated elephants being used in illegal logging operations.

To solve the overall problem, we should concentrate on all of these groups of elephants as the elephants move between these three groups. But the tourism industry should be the main source of permanent jobs for domesticated elephants in Thailand. A model multi-component, multi-site tourism-related project currently being planned by the FIO is described in the following paragraphs.

Thai elephants' New World Project

Concept:

The Thai elephants' New World Project is designed to provide a suitable natural habitat for elephants, and to provide them with excellent health care and a good quality of life. Essentially, the project consists of the construction of elephant conservation centers and associated facilities. The project will fully conform with all relevant Thai laws.

Thai Elephant Conservation Centers (TECC):

The centers will comprise two types of area: a forest area for growing the elephants' food and the Elephant Conservation Area. The Elephant Conservation Area needs to be fertile so elephants can live there naturally. The land has to be improved to provide them with water and food sources. Measures to prevent elephants from disturbing and destroying cultivated areas and surrounding communities need to be decided. The Thai Elephant Conservation Centers will comprise:

1) Provincial Center

The provincial center will coordinate the task of helping the elephants in each province and will provide elephant-related information and spread knowledge about elephants throughout the region. Each provincial center will not only co-operate with each other, but also with other foundations to help straying elephants, out-of-work elephants, unwanted and donated elephants, handicapped elephants, etc. The provincial center will send all these types of elephants to the Elephant Preparation Center to be classified.

2) Elephant Preparation Center

The center's duty is to take initial care of the elephants' health, and classify them into the following categories before sending them to the Conservation Center:

• suitable for returning to their natural habitat;

• bulls or cows suitable for breeding;

• old or handicapped elephants;

• elephants with a record of killing people; and

• elephants with suitable temperaments for participating in shows and the like.

3) Curing Center

This center will have highly trained staff and modern equipment and will treat those elephants in need of serious medical care. The responsibilities and duties of the curing center are:

• curing and nursing both inbound and outbound elephants;

• developing elephant health;

• taking care of elephants that have been cured but cannot work any more or cannot go back to live in the forest alone (handicapped elephants);

• training and providing knowledge to the owners or mahouts, the Conservation Center's staff, the private sector, and the general public; and

• co-operating with the government sector and other sectors involved in controlling rampaging elephants and elephants in musth, notifying communities about any dangers.

4) Elephant and Mahout Training School

Elephants and mahouts will be given training certificates certifying that they have been trained to acceptable standards. The training school will have the following duties:

• to train and increase the knowledge and skills of existing mahouts;

• to train new mahouts;

• to train those elephants of suitable age for work;

• to classify the mature elephants and provide them suitable work to do;

• to determine the criteria and issue the certificates to certify the quality of elephants and mahouts; and

• to design the school curriculum.

5) Elephant Research and Development Center

This center will conduct research concerning the elephants' food, health and illnesses. It will help to strengthen elephant breeding programmes and act as a resource center to co-operate, exchange technical knowledge and elephant news both inside and outside the country.

6) Elephant Museum

The elephant museum will comprise exhibition halls divided into permanent, temporary, and open-air exhibition areas, a lecture room or auditorium, data center and library. Its purpose is to strengthen Thai elephant conservation among the Thai people. It will collect data and spread knowledge and basic understanding about the biology and nature of Thai elephants to the youth, students and general public. Besides supporting tourism, it will create new jobs and this will spread income to the locals employed in the elephant museum.

7) Nature Study Center

The activities in the center will comprise youth camps, overnight camps, white nature camps (against drug addiction), nature conservation camps with study activities, trekking to admire nature, the promotion of local cultures and souvenir development on elephant motif. It will act as a center for exchanging knowledge in the international arena. The purpose of the center is to promote nature study without altering the ecology of any area and to educate the youth and tourists to behave properly in the forest.

The center will provide learning materials, such as nature study manuals.

8) Tourism Development and Service Center

The center will provide the tourists with knowledge, understanding and comfort when traveling to various tourism sites. Besides, it will be the point where tourists can rest or call for help in case of difficulties. It will also develop and maintain the natural resources and this will result in an increase in the number of tourists staying overnight in the Thai Elephant Conservation Centers that will add more income to the mahouts and local communities.

The number of elephants in FIO's Thai Elephant New World Project

The elephants managed by this Project will be allowed to live as natural as possible in an expected density: one elephant per 50 rai (8 ha). The total number of elephants in each center is calculated as shown in Table 6.

Development and improvement of the area:

The project management should:

1) Maintain and promote the outstanding natural characteristics of each project area and only permit activities that are in harmony with these.

2) Determine the carrying capacity of the area and ensure that the number of people and animals using the area does not exceed this.

3) Provide appropriate facilities and ensure that they harmonise with the natural surroundings

Table 6. Expected numbers of elephants in the project centers and camps

Note: 6.25 rai is equal to 1 ha.

Zoning scheme:

The area used is classified into three zones:

1) Public Zone: This zone is for project buildings and to support the visitors to the center and the staff of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. The area can be used to its full potential. The activities at this zone are Tourist Information Center. Elephant Exhibition Center and Art and Culture in Elephant Village, Elephant Museum, Training and Research Services, etc.

2) Semi-Public Zone: This is a restricted zone that will have some buildings and landscape improvements to support the centers' staff. Part of it can be utilized by visitors. This area is used more sparsely than the Public Zone. The Elephant Preparation Center, Elephant Curing Center, Elephant and Mahout Training School and the Research and Development Center, etc will be located here.

3) Reserved Zone: This is part of the original forest that will be planted with supplementary crops, especially for elephant food. It will also be the location for the centers' water resources. The zone will be used for feeding both tethered and free elephants and will also support trekking for the tourists.

Basic infrastructures:

Basic infrastructures will consist of:

• transportation routes;

• drainage system;

• water sources;

• municipal water system;

• waste collection and disposal system;

• water collection and treatment system; and

• power and electrical system.

Marketing and personnel development:

When the Elephant Conservation Centers are ready to open tourism marketing, activities will be carried out so as to attract visitors and gain incomes for the elephants and centers. Elephant trekking will be offered as well as elephant riding, bird watching, nature study activities, bicycling and others. Besides having the tourism routes between the centers and resorts both in and outside the provinces, the communities around the centers will benefit from the increase in tourism.

Some of the profit will be used to give the youth a chance to be trained and for marketing scholarships. As for the locals, they will be supported to develop handicrafts such as cloth weaving, making souvenirs related to elephants, and to cultivate mixed crops, especially crops for elephant food or quick growing plants such as mulberry, together with rice farming. The straw and elephant food will be sold to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centers.

Preliminary environmental impact assessment:

The development of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center will involve some transformation of the natural environment and there may be some unintended adverse environmental impacts, including impacts on local communities. During the construction and implementation phases the following measures are proposed:

1) Construction phase

a) Locate all buildings on a plain or an area where there is little slope.

b) Locate the buildings some distance from the natural water sources and institute measures to prevent the soil sediment from the construction area flowing into the water sources.

c) Start construction in the dry season

d) Give preference to the locals when hiring workers.

2) Implementation phase

a) Provide tourists/visitors with a sufficient number of litter boxes in all areas of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Collect and dispose of refuse daily.

b) Provide water treatment for the staff and the tourist service areas. The wastewater from the Elephant Health and Nursing Center and the Research Center should be treated before being discharged into natural water sources.

c) Make the elephants drink before bathing as they will excrete immediately after drinking. To conserve water elephants should only be bathed twice a day. A new pond will be constructed away from the natural water sources especially for the enjoyment of the elephant.

d) Improve the water quality both in the reservoir and the pond by planting only those plants that fish eat, and regularly drain the water.

e) Take very strong measures to stop the elephants trespassing into nearby plantations. In case of trespassing, suitable compensation should be paid to the landowner.

f) Separate the rampaging elephants and the ones in musth. They need to be under control at all times. Clear notices in English and Thai should inform the tourists of the potential danger.

Preliminary cost estimation:

The construction of the Thai Elephant Centers in five areas will cost a total of 1 056 053 000 baht. This comprises 1 005 765 000 baht for the construction cost and growing elephant food and 50 288 000 baht for survey and design work.

Economic feasibility analysis:

To develop each Thai Elephant Conservation Center, a huge investment will be needed, but when the project is implemented it will greatly profit the economy.

1) The Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Lampang

Using a discount rate of 12 percent, the net present value (NPV) is 139.86 million baht, the benefit cost ratio (B/C Ratio) is 1.38 and the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 16.85. Thus the project is economically feasible. In the worst case scenario, the cost will increase by 10 percent while the total benefit will be reduced by 10 percent. However, the project is still suitable for investment as it has a great chance of being successful.

2) The Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Surin

Using a discount rate of 12 percent, the net present value (NPV) is 60.42 million baht, the benefit cost ratio (B/C Ratio) is 1.24 and the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 15.62. Thus is economically feasible. In the worst case scenario, the cost will increase by 10 percent while the total benefit will be reduced by 10 percent. However, the project is still suitable for investment as it has a great chance of being successful.

3) The Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Krabi

Using a discount rate of 12 percent, the net present value (NPV) is 64.66 million baht, the benefit cost ratio (B/C Ratio) is 1.52 and the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 19.04. Thus the project is economically feasible. In the worst case scenario, the cost will increase by 10 percent while the total benefit will be reduced by 10 percent. However, the project is still suitable for investment as it has a great chance of being successful.

4) The Elephant Camp at Jed Kod Forest Plantation, Saraburi

Using a discount rate of 12 percent, the net present value (NPV) is 48.58 million baht, the benefit cost ratio (B/C Ratio) is 1.56 and the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 19.18. Thus the project is economically feasible. In the worst case scenario, the cost will increase by 10 percent while the total benefit will be reduced by 10 percent. However, the project is still suitable for investment as it has a great chance of being successful.

5) The Elephant Camp at Thong Pha Phum Forest Plantation, Kanchanaburi

Using a discount rate of 12 percent, the net present value (NPV) is 48.58 million baht, the benefit cost ratio (B/C Ratio) is 1.56 and the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 19.18. Thus the project is economically feasible. In the worst case scenario, the cost will increase by 10 percent while the total benefit will be reduced by 10 percent. However, the project is still suitable for investment as it has a great chance of being successful.

Administration of the Project:

Legally, the New World for Thai Elephants Foundation will have the status of a juridical person and can raise funds or receive donations for project implementation.

Project administration will be the main duty of the National Elephant Conservation Institute (NECI), which is a semi-autonomous body under the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives approved by the Cabinet. At present, this institute is under the New World for Thai Elephants Foundation, operated by the Director-General under the control of the institute committee. The organization chart comprises four Deputy Director Generals, who are responsible for programme execution and management, technical subjects, fund raising and special activities, and the management of regional centers.

Recommendations

1. Change the legal status of the domesticated elephant from a transport animal (as defined by the Beast of Burden Act) to an animal"Reflecting the Unique Identity of Thailand”. This could help to guarantee the quality of life of elephants in terms of prevention from cruelty and the standard of care.

2. Establish permanent and appropriate jobs for elephants and mahouts:

2.1. Use five to ten elephants and mahouts in every national park (there are more than 150 parks in Thailand) for patrolling, transport and tourist services.

2.2. Set up new elephant-related ecotourism sites in:

• FIO forest plantations

• Provincial public areas

• Regional Thai Elephant Conservation Centers.

3.1. Creating an elephant and mahout training school in each region. Make the TECC a center for training and certify both elephants' and mahouts' qualifications.

3.2. Setting up an Identification Card system for elephants and mahouts in each field of work.

4. Negotiate with tourism organizations and fix appropriate income and working hours for elephants and mahouts.

5. The government should support elephant conservation activities. In particular elephants that are less capable of working or are disabled should be helped by government support for the establishment of a nursing center in each regional TECC.

6. Promote and protect the traditional mahout ways-of-life, especially those of the Swe people in Surin province and other major elephant men. This will benefit elephant-related ecotourism.

7. Set up a specific institution for elephant medical care, research and development and establish proper living standards for the elephants at the veterinarian school.

A domesticated elephant carrying agricultural products, Nam Bak district, Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR (December 1999)