Thai government to set up DNA database to protect elephants!

Three days after our letter was printed in The Nation newspaper we now see some kind of a reaction from the minister of natural resources and environment, unfortunately he does not yet fully understand how to set up and manage this database, but it is a start! We need to keep the pressure up. The killing of wild elephants for tourism has to stop. To read our open letter scroll down to the story “Thai elephants are being killed for tourist dollars”
Edwin Wiek

to see a copy of our letter to the government and press http://www.wfft.org/elephants/thai-elephants-being-killed-for-tourist-dollars/

It is good to see there is some action taken now but we would like to be included in to this process of setting up the database to make sure it is done properly and transparent.

We will keep you updated!

The latest update from The Nation newspaper: January 26th “Natural Resources and Environment Ministry plans to build a DNA database of the 4,000 or so domesticated elephants in order to stop people from bringing in wild elephants and taking over identity papers of deceased pachyderms. Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk vowed to solve elephant related issues nationwide within a year.

Preecha said he would contact the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of issuing elephant identification papers, for information about the beasts living in camps and elsewhere nationwide. He was speaking at a press conference to discuss the February 35 elephant fair at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang’s Hang Chat district. Once the data is collected, university veterinarians could start collecting the blood samples for DNA tests.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) will also carry out DNA tests on wild elephants in order to create a database for comparison, he said. Preecha explained that the killing of two elephants in the Kaeng Krajan National Park had alerted the authorities about elephant issues and that he had instructed the DNP to cooperate with police.”