Elephants in Laos: is it just another lost cause?
I feel so frustrated right now! And because I promised honesty
and reality I decided to express myself and tell you all about it. On this
post, I am going to confess the reality of the situation of the elephants in
Laos: CRITICAL.
It is estimated that the captive/domestic population is
composed of less than 450 elephants. In addition, the WWF did a survey of the
wild population back in 2009 and they estimated around 400-500 elephants!
Simple math people: Once known as the land of a million elephants, Laos is now
home to less than 1000 individuals!
Additionally, last year Laos suffered 15 deaths among the
captive population and just had 6 births! (I just hope the wild population is doing
better)… So as you can see, elephant population is decreasing…and fast! After digging
into it a little more I came to find out that only 46 females are of breeding
age (of the 450!) and that when a mahout wishes to mate his female elephant he can
either pay another mahout who owns a male elephant (some say this costs as much
as US$ 1,000 which they can’t afford) or he can release his elephant into the
forest where wild bulls are known to roam and just hope they mate. Crazy right?
No wonder we lack of calves.
 |
| One of our baby elephants at the center, love him like my own |
On top of this, the Lao government sold 8 of the 46 females
of breeding age to the Japan Zoo! Against everything we said, did and the international
pressure applied, they sold these valuable elephants and kept the millions of
dollars for themselves. I simply cannot believe, understand or accept this.
I have come to realize that we do not have any support from
the Lao government in this battle. In Dominican Republic we have a popular
saying: “lo que hacemos con las manos otros lo desbaratan con los pies”
(literal translation: what one do with his hands others destroy it with their
feet). I came out here to try to save the elephants in Laos but… am I by myself
in this battle? Is this just another lost cause? I feel so discouraged and
frustrated lately!
I cannot help but wonder if the next Lao generation will be
the last one to ever see the elephants again.
Karla Nova
Wow, Karla, I had no idea that the situation was this bad there in Laos. Do you know if this number of elephants can make for a long-term sustainable population? Is there any exchange with elephants from surrounding countries? Thanks for sharing, and sorry for the discouragement. :-/
ReplyDeleteHey Elliot, thank you for asking! So international border crossing of elephants is illegal by CITIES (although one might hope this stopped the elephants of going to Japan), but no, no exchange.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this does not stop thai mahouts from illegally crossing to Laos to log since logging is illegal in Thailand.
There has been some studies lately and I was told that without any help or intervention to breed captive elephants (and if they dont reproduce more), elephants in Laos will disappear in 20-40 years. So the next generation may actually be the last.
Yes, I am very discouraged, and on top of everything a newborn died today, I will post everything in the next day or two! :(