News

A forest gave Cambodia’s captive elephants a new life. Now they’re paying it back

PU TROM, Cambodia — The quiet life that Sambo leads today seems as distant from her past plight as the searing-hot streets she once trod as a tourist attraction in the far-off capital of Phnom Penh. “Elephants are not meant to walk on concrete,” says Jemma ...

John Cannon

In Vietnam, farmers show a willingness to work with the elephant in the room

Solving human-wildlife conflict is a complex issue and a pressing concern for a wide variety of endangered species, none more so than the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). People living around Vietnam’s Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, however, want to foster coexistence with elephants, not conflict. That’s ...

Sean Mowbray

Baby elephant, a big bundle of joy and conservation challenges

ee Pael, one of Cambodia’s few captive female elephants, lived a peaceful life in a forest sanctuary until the day a wild bull appeared, chased away her handler and ran off with Gee Pael. “I had to run up a tree,” recalled Yel Yan, the elephant’s ...

JACK BROOK

Thai tourism elephants are ‘far better off’ in forests: Q&A with photographer Adam Oswell

An Asian elephant supports itself on one leg, completely submerged in garish electric-blue water, while a keeper tugs painfully at its ear. The photograph shows bubbles rising from its trunk as it offers a stick of sugarcane toward a crowd of onlookers on the other ...

Carolyn Cowan

Mondulkiri population of Asian elephants now an estimated 300 strong

Wildlife researchers from the Mondulkiri provincial Department of Environment and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Cambodia) have recently completed collecting 85 Asian elephant dung samples for analysis to identify population size and migratory patterns. It is estimated that about 300 elephants live in the protected ...

Voun Dara

Ministry says Asian elephants face threat

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the Asian elephant is being severely threatened in world sanctuaries. In Cambodia, eight elephants have recently died in wildlife sanctuaries. Pheaktra said Asian elephants are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. ...

Soth Koemsoeun

Elephants' migration to village brings new stress

A thousand elephants threatened by starvation have journeyed through the hills of northern Thailand, making a slow migration home from tourist sites forced shut by the pandemic. Home for some of the animals is the northern village of Huay Pakoot, where generations of ethnic Karen mahouts ...

AFP

Illegal trafficking of baby elephants to China and Dubai for tourism must be stopped, say activists

An investigator has called on the international body that polices trade in wildlife to crack down on the illegal trafficking of young elephants across borders in south-east Asia. Secretive agents in Laos are sending dozens of animals each year across the country’s land border with China and fly others to the Middle East, earning up ...

Elephants driven to extinction by illegal skin trade, says report

Many elephants are being hunted for their skin across Asia and the problem is reaching a crisis point, said a report released yesterday by an international NGO that is dedicated to protecting the animals from extinction. Keep reading ...

RACHANON CHAROONSAK

Orphaned Myanmar elephants blanketed against cold

When an unexpectedly cold front from China descended on parts of Southeast Asia this past week, people in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia bundled up in coats to stave off the region’s unusual weather. But what’s an elephant to do?Keep reading ...

The Bangkok Post Reporter

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