Northern Thailand
Organizers Offer Zoom Video Conferences With Elephants in Northern Thailand
The Elephant in the Zoom: elephants in northern Thailand offered to organisers of video call meetings to help raise funds for their care
The Elephant in the Zoom: Elephants in northern Thailand are being offered to organizers of video call meetings to help raise funds for their care. The collapse of international tourism due to Covid-19 has reportedly forced at least 85 elephant camps in northern Thailand to close.
The Elephant in the Zoom, they’re calling it – a programme designed to inject a bit of fun into online meetings by having a three-tonne animal join in.
Rates start at US$75 to bring elephants in on a Zoom video call for 10 minutes; for US$145, callers also get a three-minute Q&A session with elephant experts
A gimmick it may be – although seeing a grey trunk and flapping ears in one of your Zoom boxes is no doubt preferable to having a colleague stumble into the meeting naked, unaware their computer’s video camera is on – but the aim is to raise much needed funds for the care of elephants in Thailand, to help cover a huge shortfall brought about by Covid-19 travel restrictions.
It is the idea of Australian welfare charity the Human Elephant Learning Program Foundation (H-ELP) and the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF), a non-profit that was set up in cooperation with the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort.
The stars of the show are the 23 elephants that wander the 200-acre reserve that surrounds the resort in northern Thailand. Once the shock of finding an elephant there has worn off, online meeting attendees may participate virtually in the kind of experiences Anantara guests can normally engage in on the ground.
The Walking With Giants experience is popular and entails an amble alongside the elephants as they go about their day. Also available is a question-and-answer session with an expert.
“The initial concept was there being an elephant on the screen in a Zoom meeting and a surprise for everyone [other than the person who booked it] joining the meeting,” says John Roberts, Anantara’s group director of sustainability and conservation.
But the programme is very flexible, he says, before roaring off on an all-terrain vehicle, video camera attached to the handlebars, as he leads me to find Meena, Pleum and Boon Rod. When we catch up with the trio of friends, they are bathing in the Ruak river. On the far bank is Myanmar.
The elephants are probably aware they are receiving fewer human visitors these days, Roberts says. “Thailand is closed, but we’re currently open to local guests, folks that would otherwise be travelling abroad. So, since July 1, we have been getting some guests coming through,” but not nearly enough to pay the bills in full.
The collapse of international tourism due to Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on Thailand’s 3,800 or so captive elephants. The pandemic has reportedly forced at least 85 elephant camps in northern Thailand to close. Some are struggling to survive on savings but many have had to release the elephants they were caring for back into the wild jungle, where the animals can forage for themselves, Roberts says.
The GTAEF has taken in three abandoned individuals – including Boon Rod, who “had been thrown out of two camps due to increasingly tightened Covid business before she came to us”, Roberts says – and is lending a hand and resources to others who care for elephants, as well as funding 14 vets.
Mahouts – elephant keepers – need around US$20 a day just to feed their elephant, Roberts says, and then they must provide for their own family.
Elephants consume between six and 10 per cent of their body weight daily, and it costs around US$18,000 to look after a single animal for a year.
H-ELP is trying to maintain virtually its programmes that teach mahouts how to care humanely for their elephants. All funds raised through video conferencing will be shared by H-ELP and GTAEF.
Rates start at US$75 to bring elephants in on a Zoom video call for 10 minutes; for US$145, callers also get a two-minute introduction and a three-minute Q&A session conducted by one of GTAEF’s elephant experts. The timing and composition of an experience, though, are flexible, Roberts stresses. – SCMP
The Governor of Mae Hong Son province in northern Thailand has sought stricter rules for tourist tubing on the Pai River, following allegations of tourists sneaking into resort areas to engage in sexual activities, which prompted police reports and considerable criticism online.
After a resort owner in Pai protested about the existing situation of tubing activities along the Pai River, the Governor became aware of the matter. According to the accusations, wine and beer are discreetly offered to tourists while disguised in plastic water bottles to prevent detection.
After their tubing adventures, these tourists, both men and women, would walk around Pai town in their swimsuits. Men often wear one pair of swim briefs, but most women wear two-piece swimsuits or bikinis.
This behavior was considered derogatory to local culture. Recently, there were instances of tourists slipping into resort areas to engage in sexual activities, which prompted police investigations and considerable online criticism.
Following the complaint, provincial governor Chuchip Pongchai requested a meeting of the police and allied authorities on July 16 to explore further tourism restrictions.
The province already restricts the selling of alcohol to tourists who go tubing, which involves floating down a river on inner tubes made of rubber tires. Most people observe the guidelines, but others, including some store owners, break them by concealing the alcohol by pouring it in water bottles.
According to TNA, Pai is one of Northern Thailand’s most popular tourist spots, attracting 40,000 visitors each year and strengthening Thailand’s economy.
Tubing in the Pai River has become a favorite activity among foreigners. However, the governor stated that the attitude of some tourists has jeopardised the province’s image.
Tourists Tubing on Pai River
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Police in northern Thailand’s Phayao province have arrested a 40-year-old pregnant mother for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to create bodily harm.
Phayao Police report they were called after a woman and her daughter had been stabbed and beaten by a family member to a house number 206, Soi 7, Village No. 3, Ban San Nong Niao Subdistrict. Tom, Mueang District.
When officers arrived they found Ms. Chayada Chaiyawan, age 45, and her daughter Ms. Patida Chaiyawan, age 19, with injuries to their bodies and heads. Blood was spread all over the bedroom, and they found Mrs. Sakulkarn, aged 40 years, who was a relative living next door, tied up.
The police then transported all of them to Phayao Hospital for treatment. Ms. Chayada was stabbed thirteen times and her daughter twice. Both also sustained head injuries, according to Phayao police.
Ms. Chayada told police the incident occurred around 4:00 a.m. She was sleeping in the room with her young son, when she heard someone opened the bedroom door. She said at that time it was still dark and all she saw a shadow of a person lifting what she though was a hammer.
She said the got up and fought until she fell after being hit in the head and stabbed with a knife, in fear for her life she screamed for her daughter to come and help. When the daughter entered the room the assailant proceeded to hit her in the head and stabbed her also.
The assailant ran out of the room and was immediately restrained by a neighbour who heard the screaming and ran into the house to help. Mrs. Sakulkarn who was 7 months pregnant was tied up and police and rescue workers were called to the scene. The neighbour told police that all the time they were waiting for the police.
Police said Mrs. Sakulkarn is being held in Hospital and is under psychiatric care. Ms. Chayada and her daughter were treated for their injuries and sent home.
According to Thai Media, Police said charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to create bodily harm will be filed against Mrs. Sakulkarn after she is released from Hospital.
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Five people were killed and two others badly injured when a pickup truck was hit by a north-bound train at an unguarded railway crossing in Phitchit province on Monday evening.
Phitchit police reported the horrific crash occurred around 6 pm at Moo 1 village in tambon Pak Thang of Muang district of Phitchit.
Police said the 201 passenger train from Bangkok to Phitsanulok approached the crossing, which was unguarded and had no safety barriers.
A four-door pickup truck plates drove across the tracks and into the path of oncoming the train which was was unable to stop or slowdown in time to avoid hitting the pickup truck.
The force of the crash drove the pickup about 30 metres down the railway crossing and off to the side. All passengers on the pickup were thrown from the vehicle.
Three women passengers died immediately and two more passengers died later at Phichit Hospital. Two others including the driver of the pickup were seriously injured.
Police investigators said truck driver Pratya Khongthat, 40, was taking relatives, including a 14-yea-old girl, to a funeral at Wat Ratchangkhwan in tambon Pak Thang, approximately one kilometer from the accident scene.
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