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ELEPHANT TRAINING CAMPS

Video shows calves tortured, abused

Porpot Changyawa

An international animal protection group has launched a campaign urging holidaymakers to boycott Thailand, saying elephants being trained for tourism purposes are routinely subjected to torture and abuse.

The US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched its ``Abusive Thailand: Elephant Cruelty'' campaign yesterday in Melbourne, Australia.

It presented a video showing elephant calves at training camps being beaten while chained in small cages, claiming this was a regularly adopted practice to break young elephants' bonds with their mothers.

The practice killed about 50% of the elephants subjected to it, PETA said.

Despite copies of the video having been supplied to the government, as well as embassies in Washington and Berlin, no action had been taken to stop the practice.

``Perhaps international embarrassment and the threat of diminishing tourist dollars will motivate them,'' said PETA representative Jane Garrison.

Roger Lohanan of the Animal Guardians Association said the government had also ignored locally based NGOs pushing for alternative training methods to hitting elephants with nail-laden sticks, and keeping them tethered over long periods.

Preecha Phuangkham of the Elephants Conservation Centre admitted harsh treatment of elephants by villagers and camps was common.

``Elephants [to be used for tourism purposes] need to be disciplined,'' he said. ``This is difficult in the beginning, and the animals may need to be beaten,'' he said.

Laws were currently being drafted to control the treatment of elephants, including the introduction of licenses for handlers, Mr Preecha said.

Tourism and Sports Minister Sonthaya Khunpluem said he had informed tourism chief Juthmas Siriwan about the campaign, adding he would look into the matter.

Mr Juthmas was unavailable for comment.

PETA's video can be seen at www.peta-online.org.