Experts call for legal approach to protection of elephants

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) held a seminar to seek a more comprehensive legal approach to protect Thailand’s elephants on Tuesday.

Wallop Tangkananurak, chairman of the NLA committee tasked with following up on animal protection mechanisms, said the seminar was the first move in a planned wider-scale cooperation to achieve success in the protection of pachyderms.

At the seminar, NLA members, experts from the National Institute of Elephant Research and Health Service, the Wildlife Conservation Officer at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums were invited to express their opinions and concerns on the elephant draft bill.

All speakers agreed that the priorities were the problem of street elephants and the threat from wild elephant to humans.

They urged the introduction of new laws to protect elephant-related businesses and mahouts, an overhaul of existing laws in order to comply with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, as well as the integration of relevant laws into a new elephant law that would ensure pachyderms continued to be known as Thailand’s national animal.

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