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A LEADING Buddhist social activist hopes to rally a national campaign in
Thailand to prevent the export of eight elephants to Melbourne and Sydney
zoos. "These elephants are the symbol of our country and our king and it
should be illegal to send them out of Thailand," Sulak Sivaraksa told.
 "It would be illegal, if the public opinion was consulted," said the
Nobel peace prize nominee, who drove yesterday to Saiyoke, about two hours
north of the capital, to give "moral courage" to activists who set up a
blockade on Monday night to stop the animals being moved.
Most Thais dote on elephants. Producers of Khan Kluay, a new animated
film about an orphaned elephant, showed it free to an audience of elephants
and mahouts, their keepers, yesterday in Ayutthaya province.
The blockade is the latest embarrassment in a 2004 wildlife swap deal
between Australia and Thailand. Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga Zoo have
postponed sending 40 native animals to the Chiang Mai Night Safari after
allegations by Thai conservationists that more than 100 animals have died at
the newpark.
Australian zoo officials are checking conditions and staff training at
the Chiang Mai project, the first stage of Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's plan for a giant parks and entertainment zone to make the
northern Thai city a pan-Asian tourist attraction.
The eight Asian elephants were to have been taken to Bangkok by trailer
and yesterday flown to the Cocos Islands for three months' quarantine before
five were sent to Taronga and three to Melbourne Zoo.
The elephants were loaded on Monday night at the wildlife hospital where
they have been held for almost two years. But they were unloaded yesterday
afternoon and returned to their stables. The Australian Government lost a
$500,000 deposit on a cargo plane that was left to leave Bangkok empty.
The protesters claim at least three of the elephants were poached from
the wild - those animals are endangered and not allowed to be traded - and
want them DNA-tested before they are allowed out of the country.
Federal Environment and Heritage Minister Ian Campbell, who approved the
controversial deal, said the protesters were misinformed about Australian
plans for a captive breeding program that 'could well save the species". "I
made a decision it would be in the best interests of the preservation of the
species and the benefit of the animals to be transported to Australia,"
Senator Campbell said.
Pinan Chotirojseranee, head of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, said
officials in charge of the animal hospital had ignored requests to DNA-test
them, including from the veterinary chief of Bangkok Zoo.
The head of Thailand's National Parks and Wildlife Department, Damrong
Phidet, said he had no authority to prevent the export but would
investigate. If the elephants were wild they could be returned.
Ms Pinan dismissed the offer as a ruse. "In the past the department had
let elephants be sent abroad while checking is done, and nothing has ever
been heard of these investigations," she said.
Thailand's wild elephant herds have dwindled catastrophically. No more
than 1600 are estimated to be in the wild and there are 3000 registered
domestic elephants, though experts say many of those animals have been
illegally taken from the wild.
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