An elephant preservation foundation has confirmed that plenty of elephants and their carers were left displaced amid the coronavirus pandemic in Thailand.
According to Save Elephant Foundation, the elephant tourism industry has been on hold due to the pandemic whereas plenty of farmers were forced to return to their villages together with their elephants.
While some reports have suggested that the displaced elephants would now be free to return to the wild, the SEF dismissed these claims and suggested that sadly won’t be the case.
“They literally have nowhere else to go. And so they have gone home. The situation is very, very serious,” Save Elephant Foundation founder Saengduean Lek Chailert told Bored Panda.
“There are hundreds of elephants trekking many miles with their mahouts [carers], who have little or no food to sustain them on their journey. Once they arrive back in their native village, there is little or no money to feed them—certainly not on an ongoing basis.”
As the founder went on to say, their goal is to help the people and their animals by getting the government to give them land where they could grow food and sustain themselves.
According to Lek, “the elephants have been in captivity, some of them for many years, and living in the wild to fend for themselves is not possible.”
In addition, the elephants’ natural habitats are becoming increasingly compromised due to villagers and farmers burnings forests to obtain more land to grow crops on.
As the Save Elephant Foundation fears, the pressing situation could lead to further mistreatment of elephants by forcing carers to use the animals for performances in order to earn enough money to survive.
“The past two months have been extremely challenging, as we have been following herds and their mahouts, trying to keep all fed and watered. However, in the next two months and beyond, with absolutely no income, the situation is about to get critical,” Lek said according to Bored Panda.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your family and friends and follow us on Facebook for more news and stories!
Replaced!