Prayad Jatupornpitakkul, a resident of Mae Hia tambon, said last week that the Night Safari's project management team, which would also be in charge of the pachyderm park project, tried to "distort" the facts by saying all village headmen in the park's surrounding areas backed the proposal.

He said people in many villages had become polarised into supporting and opposing camps out of confusion about the project.

He believes the project would encroach on their community forest, where they have been hunting and gathering food and earning their livings for generations.

Local activists have also started questioning the sources for the 40 elephants that will be raised in the park.

They were afraid the jumbos, which are a national symbol, would be victims of exploitation by capitalists like in the recent high-profile case of the exchange of Thai elephants for Australian koalas, which sparked public uproar.

"There is an indication that some groups of elephant merchants - those who ply the streets begging with them - have supplied some elephants to the park already even though an environmental impact assessment has not been conducted," said Nikom Puttha of the Wildlife Fund Thailand.

The Elephant Park is a complementary exhibit to the Night Safari and will be developed on a 2,600-rai site within the Doi Suthep-Doi Pui National Park.

Atsadaporn Kamthai

Citylife

Chiang Mai