Chasing elephants in Bangkok
About 9 p.m of Friday 8 Dec, a policeman of Koak Kram police station was reported that one mahout was running away from the police with his elephant on Ram Indra road (north east of Bangkok ). They were recklessly running against the traffic flow while the officer of the Department of National Park Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) tried to seize them. The police were chasing the elephant and trying to talk to the mahout. It was 2 hours later when the mahout agreed to stop his elephant in the middle of Soi Ram Indra 65 and the police brought him to Koak Kram police station.
From the police investigation, the director of center for wildlife conservation development, said while they were inspecting one mahout and arrested him , the other mahout had turned to run away. Both of the mahouts said they came from Tha Satuek District of Buriram province.
The director from the DNP also said that the DNP and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration with several government organization set the special task force team to arrest street elephant in Bangkok in order to prevent the poaching of baby elephants under 8 years old from Thai border.
When you see an elephant in Bangkok, realise that buying food doesn’t help the elephant. Elephants in cities are illegal! Call National Park and Wildlife: 1362 (hotline) or 02 6514292 ext 733 to report, or tell the police in this area.
