Elephant camp in Chiang Mai put up for sale due to drop in tourists during pandemic

Photo via Facebook/ วุฒิสภา

Elephant parks and sanctuaries relying on foreign tourists for an income and funds to feed the animals have been hit hard during the pandemic. One elephant park in Chiang Mai is now up for sale due to the drastic drop in the number of visitors over the past two years. The owner says she’s been unable to afford the 2 million baht per month needed to care for her camp’s more than 40 elephants and pay the staff.

The owner of Mae Taeng Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai made the announcement on Sunday, which was National Elephant Day. The observance aims to raise awareness about the conservation of Thai elephants and in remembrance of the day the Royal Forest Department designated the white elephant as Thailand’s national animal. While elephant camps and sanctuaries across Thailand celebrated with fruit buffets for the animals, Mae Taeng Elephant Camp had to say goodbye to their elephants.

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Wassana Thongsook, who has been running the camp for 28 years, told Thai media that she has over 40 elephants and needs to spend over 2 million baht per month to care for elephants and pay the staff. She says she’s spent all of her savings and hasn’t had support from the state during the pandemic.

Wassana says she hasn’t thought of a set price to sell her 160,000 square metre park and dozens of elephants, but she says one qualification is that the buyer must be an elephant lover. She says the money isn’t important, but the elephants’ lives are. If she’s unable to sell the park, Wassana says she will continue taking care of the elephants and is willing to sell her assets, like her house and car, to be able to afford care for the elephants.

SOURCE: Channel 3

Chiang Mai NewsThailand News

Petch Petpailin

Petpailin, or Petch, is a Thai translator and writer for The Thaiger who focuses on translating breakingThai news stories into English. With a background in field journalism, Petch brings several years of experience to the English News desk at The Thaiger. Before joining The Thaiger, Petch worked as a content writer for several known blogging sites in Bangkok, including Happio and The Smart Local. Her articles have been syndicated by many big publishers in Thailand and internationally, including the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Bangkok Post. She is a news writer who stops reading news on the weekends to spend more time cafe hopping and petting dwarf shrimp! But during office hours, you can find Petch on LinkedIn and you can reach her by email at petch@thethaiger.com.

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