Irate owners issue jumbo siege threat

AYUTTHAYA: The owner of the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace has threatened to lay siege to Government House with 100 elephants if he is charged with acquiring his animals illegally.

Laithongrien Meepan, proprietor of the large kraal in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district, said yesterday wildlife officials had accused his organisation of declaring the origins of some elephants dishonestly.

This would cause trouble for elephant owners in general, he said.

He was speaking following a meeting yesterday between about 20 elephant kraal owners from around the country.

Mr Laithongrien said they had decided to unite to fight against unfair treatment by the authorities, including Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, head of a national park and wildlife protection team at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

He said they would file a complaint with the government and seek the transfer of several officials.

Mr Laithongrien was responding to an announcement by Mr Chaiwat on Friday that DNA checks had found irregularities regarding the origins of some elephants at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace.

The team seized three elephants including a five-year-old female named Phang TG and Phang Namwan, aged 27, said to be her mother.

DNA checks by the department last year showed the two elephants were related, but a previous examination by the National Elephant Institute in 2014 determined they were not.

Mr Chaiwat on Friday questioned whether Phang Namwan was in fact two separate elephants, both of which were being declared the mother. The third elephant in question was a nine-year-old male said to be Phlai Koh Phaya Phet. Mr Chaiwat said DNA samples taken from the elephant in 2014 and last year did not match.

Mr Laithongrien insisted the three elephants had been born at his kraal and had not been taken from the wild.