The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand (PDF, 800 KB) - Traffic

BACKGROUND
Asian Elephants Elephas maximus and their ivory have been important attributes of Thailand’s history and
culture for centuries. Since the latter part of the 20 th century, the future of Thailand’s wild and
domesticated elephants has increasingly become uncertain. Human population growth, forest clearance,
wild capture for domestication and poaching for ivory have all contributed to the decline of wild Asian
Elephant populations in Thailand. The elephant is of crucial conservation importance because of the
species’ contribution to forest ecology, national identity and tourism. This report aims to contribute to
elephant conservation in Thailand by presenting the status and trends of the elephant and ivory trade in the
country.
The first known use of captive elephants was during the Sukhothai period (1238-1376 A.D.). By King
Narai’s time in the 17 th century Louis XIV of France’s envoy to Siam reported that there were about
20 000 captive elephants in the country. Most of these were used in warfare, but some were used for
transport. Because of the beast’s great strength, by the late 19 th century under King Rama V the main use
of elephants was in the logging industry. In the Chiang Mai region alone it was estimated that there were
20 000 elephants engaged in logging (Bock, 1986; Carter, 1904), and Tipprasert (2002) states that a
century ago there were 100 000 domesticated elephants in Thailand, most of them employed in logging. In
1965 the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) reported that the number had dropped to 11 192,
decreasing to 3381 in 1985 and 2257 in 1998. The number seems to have risen since then, however, as the
Thai Government reported that there were 3074 in late 2005 (Dublin et al., 2006).
In 1989 the Thai Government banned logging in an attempt to conserve forest land, which had been
rapidly diminishing from land clearance for agriculture and timber production. In 1961 the forested area of
Thailand was estimated to measure 27.36 million ha (Phantumvanit, 1987), but by 2007, forest cover had
dropped to 14.54 million ha, or 28% of Thailand (FAO, 2007). The country loses an average of 59 000 ha
of forest every year (FAO, 2007).
Daniel Stiles/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
Modern Thai ivory carving began under King Rama V in the 19th century and included a variety of boxes and
containers used by the aristocracy
The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand
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