‘Re-wilding’ Thailand’s elephants is unworkable

Re: “Finally, co-operation to end cruel abuse of these gentle Thai giants”, Have Your Say, yesterday.

Elephant polo tournaments must be one of the most idiotic ideas ever conjured up by Homo sapiens, and as far as I can make out these events, although no doubt raising funds for charity, were primarily designed to provide an opportunity for Bangkok’s “high society” to parade around in funny hats and get themselves featured in Thailand Tatler magazine. However, Paul Tweddell, presumably a supporter or member of that cult-like movement PETA, gets in on the act to tell us that the pachyderms should be returned to “the wild”. Well, good luck with that. PETA’s founder and current president Ingrid Newkirk, a woman with some very strange ideas, envisages a time when all dogs, instead of being kept as pets, will also live out their natural lives in “the wild”, which, if these folks get their way, is going to become a very crowded place. Indeed, I doubt if there is enough of “the wild” left in Thailand to support all this teeming animal life. At least the elephant camps provide safe havens for these (usually) gentle giants, and it would surely be more practical for PETA to promote high animal-welfare standards in these camps, rather than espousing crazy and unworkable theories.

Robin Grant

Bangkok

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