Riding on the back of an elephant was a major tourist attraction in Thailand. But the Covid-19 epidemic has passed by, travelers have become rarer, and activity has collapsed. Many owners of pachyderms then decided to return to their village with their animals, reports the New York Times in an article relayed by Slate.
Nearly 1,000 elephants have thus left the major seaside resorts, after years of service. This phenomenon was particularly notable in the village of Baan Ta Klang, in the east of the country. Almost every house has an elephant (or more) attached to it.
The challenge of finding food
This massive return has created a major problem: how to feed the elephants without tourists? An adult pachyderm consumes at least a tenth of its weight per day, knowing that it can easily weigh four tons. To get by, some inhabitants of the village have thus carried out fundraising via social networks.
However, they see the end of the tunnel. The Thai government has indeed announced that 28 million tourists will set foot in the country in 2023, compared to 500,000 in 2021. Elephant owners are therefore starting to reach tourist sites with their animals. With living conditions that could improve: the pandemic would indeed have provoked a constructive debate on the fate of elephants in the country.
