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FAO Foreword


For the last twenty years, improving the conservation, management and welfare of the Asian elephant has been a goal of both the FAO Forestry Department in Rome, Italy, and the Forestry Department Group of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.

The book Gone astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity, authored by Mr Richard Lair and published in 1997, was a landmark publication which drew the attention of the international community to the plight of Asian elephants. In this study, Mr Lair made two recommendations: to organize an international workshop on domesticated Asian elephants and to prepare an elephant care manual for mahouts and managers. The first goal was realized in February 2001 and the proceedings, Giants on our hands, were published in 2002. The second goal was pursued through the elephant care manual project, funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and carried out by the Forest Industry Organization (FIO) of Thailand. I am pleased to announce its completion by releasing the Elephant care manual for mahouts and camp managers as a publication of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. As mentioned in the authors' preface to the English edition, this publication also has a Thai language edition.

FAO acknowledges with thanks the work done by all three authors, Dr Preecha Phuangkum, Mr Richard Lair, and Dr Taweepoke Angkawanith. The two Thai veterinarians brought to the book their superb academic training enhanced by long years of treating elephants on the ground. Mr Lair contributed his editorial skills, vast expertise in the subject and excellent knowledge of the Thai language. Only such balanced team work could have produced such a genuinely useful book.

I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Mr Masakazu Kashio, Forest Resources Officer, and Mr Ronald van Nijnanten, Coordinator, Regional Operations Branch, in our regional office and to the project coordinators, Mr Suntud Sangkul (FIO) and Ms Sarah Scarth (IFAW), whose work was essential to the completion of this book. My gratitude also goes to all those people who contributed to this publication, whose names are too numerous to list here. Finally, I would like to thank IFAW, which funded this project in its entirety, for its great generosity.

I hope that this publication will be a useful tool to improve the care and welfare of the Asian elephant, not only in Thailand but also in other Asian countries.


He Changchui
Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations


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