Activities at the Surin Elephant Study Center and current status of mahouts and their elephants

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  • YASUI Saki
    Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University:Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science
  • IDANI Gen'ichi
    Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University

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Other Title
  • スリン・ゾウ研究センターの活動と現状について
  • スリン ・ ゾウ ケンキュウ センター ノ カツドウ ト ゲンジョウ ニ ツイテ

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Abstract

Ban Tha Klang is a village of the Guay people in Surin province of northeast Thailand. Guay people have worked with elephants as mahouts for a long time. In 1989, Thai government banned logging and many mahouts that had worked in logging with their elephants lost their jobs. After that, mahouts started to work in circus shows or selling food to tourists to feed to their elephants on the streets of big cities (street begging). In 2005, Surin administration organization established the Surin Elephant Study Center in Ban Tha Klang. They started the project to stop the street begging and take the mahouts and their elephants back to Surin. The mahouts who return to Surin can get some financial support from the organization to live there with their families and elephants. Today about 200 elephants are registered at the Center. In this paper, we describe the current situation of mahouts and their elephants at the Center.

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