Two of the eight elephants from Mahidol University’s animal hospital in Kanchanaburi before they were moved to U-Tapao International Airport. Four were shipped to Australia yesterday.

Although the trading of elephants has been banned by the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites), many Thai elephants are exported from Thailand and are exploited for lucrative business opportunities in other countries, according to wildlife officials.

At least 40 Thai elephants were exported from the kingdom between 2000 and 2005. Ten were permanently given to foreign countries under government to government contracts, and 30 were temporarily sent abroad - 20 to China and 10 to Malaysia - under the same type of contract, said Wattana Vetchayasathit, director of Cites Thailand.

Wattana said he could not remember the exact destinations of the elephants that were permanently exported, only that they went to various zoos. Of those temporarily exported, almost all of them went to circuses and travelling exhibitions, Wattana said.

Wattana said he realised elephants were exported for business purposes. His concern was that the animals were not abused. Also that any legal export would "promote the talents of Thai elephants and the expertise of Thai mahouts in training elephants.

He did not know exactly how much money was involved in the elephant trade, but he reckoned it was quite lucrative. Anyone who wanted to temporarily export an elephant from the kingdom legally was required to pay a deposit of Bt1 million, he said. The deposit would be returned only when the elephant was brought back to Thailand.

In 2004 the deposit was increased from Bt500,000 to Bt1 million when it was realised that this inadequate sum would be an incentive for legal exporters to sell elephants illegally at a much bigger profit.

"The deposit was too low. Some businessmen sold elephants [at a price higher than the deposit] rather than put them in exhibitions as permitted [by the Cites office]. So we decided to increase it," Wattana said.

Soraida Salwala, secretary general of Friends of the Asian Elephant, said the price of an elephant in the illegal market could be as high as Bt1.3 million.

"Elephants can generate huge income for those who own them," Soraida said.

She said the elephant trade was a big threat to Cites.

Under Cites, the only way for foreign nations to become permanent owners of elephants from other countries is by creating a breeding or education programme. The elephants in such a programme must be captive-born and transported only under a government to government contract.

For Thailand, where most elephant owners were in the private sector, not state agencies, government to government contracts were not always possible.

The Australian Embassy in Thailand recently became involved in a controversial deal to export eight Thai elephants to Sydney and Melbourne zoos. The embassy admitted it "donated" a large sum of money to the Zoological Park Organisation (ZPO) of Thailand to buy the eight elephants.

Three of the eight were from one of the country's largest elephant camps, but the other five came from four private owners.

Four of the elephants were transported under heavy security to Australia on Saturday night, as protestors tried to prevent the deal going ahead.

Kovit Phaopit, an elephant keeper from Surin, said he sold one elephant to ZPO for Bt440,000. He said it was very good business for him because he earned 10 times the income he would normally get from rice farming.

Many zoos claim they are not run for business purposes but for education and conservation. Many claim they rely on philanthropic contributions to achieve their mission. But most zoos still want to own elephants because of the opportunity to generate income and donations.

Sydney's Taronga Zoo recently asked its "Friends of the Zoo" for donations in exchange for the chance to meet the eight Thai pachyderms - which were due to arrive soon.

On June 19, Taronga Zoo director Guy Cooper was quoted in the Herald Sun - Australia's biggest-selling daily newspaper - as saying that anyone who donated A$3,000 (about Bt85,000) would be allowed exclusive use of the Stilt House, which overlooks the $40million elephant enclosure, for cocktail parties.

Calling herself the Thai elephants' "mother", Soraida demanded the export of her "children" be halted. She was concerned that elephants exported to circuses and exhibitions might be tortured to make them do demeaning tricks and performances, while those in zoos might be left in bad condition if the zoos could not generate enough money to take care of them.

"The elephant is the country's national animal. They should not be the subject of lucrative business deals," she said.

Soraida said Cites should improve its performance in preventing the illegal trading of elephants.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation