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

Chapter 4, Sections 23 through 28, of WARPA relate to the internal movements and import or export of
protected live wild animals or carcasses. “Carcass” is interpreted here as referring to any specimen derived
from an elephant’s body, including its tusks. The Director General of DNPWP must approve in writing any
internal movements or import or export of live wild animals or specimens. Section 24 states that the
importation, exportation and transitory movement of wild animals and specimens that require permits in
accordance with CITES are permissible only with authorization by the Director General.
However, Section 26 of WARPA states that the above stipulations do not apply to the hunting, breeding,
possession, transport, importation or exportation of wild animals or specimens if the activity is for the
purpose of wildlife survey, study, research, protection, breeding or for use in a zoo carried out by the
government sector with written permission of the Director General of DNPWP and with the rules and
conditions set by the Minister. The Minister in question is not specified in the WARPA, but presumably
would now refer to the Minister of the MoNRE.
The CITES Management Authority (and Scientific Authority) responsible for managing international trade
in elephants and ivory is the DNPWP within the MoNRE. Law enforcement authorities relevant to
elephants are the CITES Office within the DNPWP, the Royal Thai Customs and the Natural Resources
and Environmental Crimes Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police.
The Thailand CITES Management Authority has confirmed the intention of the WARPA revisions to update
and re-categorize the articles of legislation for better implementation of wildlife management, conservation
and CITES.
In April 2007, the revised WARPA legislation remained under consideration by the Legal Affairs Division
of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, pending re-submission to the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, for subsequent proposal to the government for approval
(Thailand CITES Management Authority, in litt. to TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, 1 May 2007). Due to the
political changes in Thailand with the December 2007 elections and the changes in government in 2008,
the law is still pending for review.
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Live elephant trade
It is legal to sell domesticated elephants within Thailand. Existing laws deal only with registration and
movement of elephants from one district or province to another, as explained above. Demand for
domesticated elephants exists both within Thailand and abroad for use in zoos, circuses and the “ecotourism”
industry as mounts and pack animals (Anon., 2003; Lair, 1997; Sakamoto et al., 2004; Tipprasert,
2002). Most of the elephants that were rendered unemployed with the logging ban in 1989 are unsuitable
for entertainment or tourism as they are too old to be trained appropriately. This demand for tourism
elephants and lack of supply has allegedly led to illegal capture of young elephants in the wild. Export of
suitable elephants to other countries for use in entertainment facilities and zoos has also been recorded.
No legal capture of wild elephants has been allowed in Thailand since the 1970s, but illegal capture of
infant wild elephants has been reported to occur (Sakamoto et al., 2004; Anon, 2006a; Burke, 2008;
Wipatayotin, 2008). Doubts over the legality of the Australian Taronga Zoo’s importation of nine Asian
The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand 10