Thailand and Elephant Jockeys
February 15, 1999
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| Pat petting elephant |
A long line of colorfully decorated elephants carrying tourist passengers lumbered along beside the ruins of 14th-century, Buddhist temples. Some elephants gave the riders in their double “saddles” a gentle ride. Others seemed to bang their passengers from side to side so that they were forced to hand on to keep from falling off. A young elephant driver stopped his mount suddenly under one of the large trees, pulled a slingshot out of his garments, took careful aim and fired. A small black and white bird fell to the ground. The passengers on the elephant applauded the marksmanship of this young Thai. I was appalled! Here we were in this sacred, ancient city – a prized tourist attraction maintained like a national park – and this kid is killing birds with a slingshot? It was like a zoo visitor had pulled out a gun and killed a rare white tiger in its cage. I had wondered why there were often so few birds in the cities. Maybe now I have part of the answer.
However, it is somewhat difficult to condemn this kid for killing a bird when he is doing exactly what I did when I was a kid. Made no difference whether it was with a slingshot, BB gun or 22 rifle, I grew up shooting almost anything that moved. I met our friendly, neighborhood game warden when he caught me with a trunk-load of ducks that I had killed with one shot of a 12 gauge shotgun. Of course it was legal to hunt ducks, but unfortunately, it was not duck hunting season and I had killed several times the regular limit. I had been able to inch along on my belly till I came up behind a bush that hid me from the view of a flock of ducks which were sunning on the bank of a lake. After I shot, so many ducks lay dead on the bank that it took me and my friend, Jerry Kaml, awhile to load them into the trunk of our car. Other wounded ducks had flown off in all directions. A car screeched to a stop behind us -- it was the game warden friend. “What you got in your trunk?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing,” I lied.
“Mind if I look?” he asked. Now I knew that I was in trouble, but since they don’t put 15-year- old boys in prison for killing ducks, I was not too worried. But it was not going to be easy explaining to my dad why we had to appear before the warden to be lectured on the virtues of wildlife conservation.
Now, since I have given up killing animals for sport, it may sound hypocritical to condemn others who still enjoy a good hunt. The elephant jockey’s mother may be proud of her son for bringing home a little black and white bird -- more meat for the soup pot. But now I can see little virtue in the indiscriminate killing of wildlife. My great joy is seeing living animals in their natural habitat. There are few places on earth where so much exotic wildlife can be seen as in the national parks of Thailand. Not just the feathered animals, but large mammals such as wild elephants, tigers, macaques and such.
In Khao Yai National Park Visitors Center, I was approached by a ranger who sold me a copy of a book on the National Parks of Thailand by Gray, Piprell, and Graham. They tell of the great strides that have been made in Thailand to conserve some of the natural worlds. Since the first national park was established in 1961, there are now 77 national parks, 35 wildlife sanctuaries, 46 non-hunting areas, and 35 forest parks, as well as protected zones in forest reserves, botanical gardens, arboretums, and biological reserves. They cover 12.8 percent of the country -- which is one of the highest in the world. For comparison, the United States has 10.5 percent. But all is not well in “paradise.” Poaching and legal hunting continue to decimate the wildlife. It is fundamentally impossible to police these vast parks. The list of now-extinct species continues to grow. The last Schomburgk’s deer was killed in 1938. The large-horned, cattle-like kouprey in probably now extinct. No matter how much the rich hunter is willing to pay, he could not find a Javan Rhinoceros to kill. The sarus crane can no longer be found in Thailand. Many other species are on the verge of extinction. At one time, about 90% of Thailand was forested. Now only about 20 percent remains. In 1911, there were about 8.2 million Thais. Now there are over 60 million. Logging continues even though it has been outlawed.
Protecting natural areas falls on the shoulders of park rangers who are paid at a subsistence level. More than 40 rangers have been slain by poachers and others as they tried to do their jobs. It has been estimated that every second, an area of forest the size of a football field disappears in the world. But the tourists who overwhelm the park systems are also beginning to understand the need for conservation. It is possible that the weekend visitor, driving out of Bangkok to enjoy a little nature, may “love these parks to death.” The roads that provide access to parks for tourists also provide access for poachers and for hauling illegally cut logs. But in spite of these problems, the Thai people are due a great deal of credit for the progress that has been made. We met a pair of birders on a trail, that often fly all the way from England just for a week of birding in the Thai national parks. It is still possible for the naturalist to find new species of plants and animals in the “wilds” of Thailand.
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| Hornbill Handout |
Pat and I have agreed that our mental image of Thailand -- Siamese dancers, Buddhist temples and drugs from the Golden Triangle -- has changed. Certainly, the dancers and temples are a treat, but the natural world of Thailand is a marvel to behold. It is certainly one of the pre-eminent destinations in the world for the birdwatcher and nature lover.
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