For centuries, elephants captured in the wild and domesticated have served as Thailand's primary mode of transportation, penetrating teak forests, thundering across battlefields, performing ceremonial duties. Today these intelligent beasts of burden are begging for food in urban shopping centers and being worked to death by illegal loggers. The fragmented populations of wild elephants that are left have been boxed into several dozen scattered national parks, all of which are under attack by poachers, woodcutters and land-grabbers. Conservationists and the Thai government are taking measures to stabilize the situation. Only time can tell whether they will work.
Elephants are our legacy.
Abstract of an article by Anthony Mecir. Originally published in the September 1998 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.