"Elephants, mahouts and staff of the elephant camps protest at City Hall on May 4 asking for government help to restore tourism to Thailand and aid for the elephant camps, many of which have been forced to lay off employees as expenses far outweigh income with the loss of tourists.
12 elephants and nearly 100 staff members and mahouts from Maetaman Elephant Camp, operators of other elephant camps in the Mae Taeng Valley, and Friends of Chiang Mai members staged a protest at Chiang Mai City Hall on May 4.
Maetaman Elephant Camp has been forced to shut down from lack of business during the recent crises. Mrs. Amphai Thapthong of the Maetaman Elephant Camp led the group in submitting a letter of complaint to Chiang Mai Governor Amornphan Nimanant. The letter, received by Deputy Governor Chumphorn Saengmanee, asked for help in sustaining the elephants and for government efforts to redouble in restoring the tourism sector in Thailand.
The letter also requested the government work harder to restore peace and normality in order help restore tourist confidence in Thailand.
Amphai said that the elephant camps operators suffered from the political turbulence that has seriously affect the tourism sector. “Many countries and their governments announced warnings to their citizens not to visit Thailand during the Red shirt protests in Bangkok,” she said.
“At present,” Mrs Amphai continued, “the elephant camp operators have to carry huge expenses. Each month; we have to pay out 2 million baht for the salary and elephant food expenses. We have been forced to close down the camp,” she concluded.
Anchalee Kalmapijit, Chairperson of the Hug Chang Club or Love Elephant Club added that the Maetaman Elephant camp still feeds and looks after the elephants but that some employees have had to be laid off to cut expenses. They hope that normality can be returned and tourists will come back to Thailand. “That would hopefully help us a lot,” she noted.
The group vowed to keep the elephants protesting at City Hall until the issues had been addressed."
