Thailand: Beggar elephants have been banned from Bangkok's congested streets in an effort to ease Thailand's traffic chaos.
In his weekly address on Thailand's national radio station, PM Thaksin Shinawatra said he has instructed the Interior Ministry and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority to not let elephants into Bangkok anymore.
Estimates calculate that between 60 and 250 elephants daily roam Bangkok's streets with their mahout handlers, begging for food or promoting the sale of fake ivory trinkets.
A 1989 ban in Thailand on the use of elephants in the logging industry has eliminated many elephant jobs. Wandering the city of Bangkok, they are prone to being hit by vehicles or falling into open drains.
According to Thailand's Prime Minister, the elephants are bought by Thai investors who rent them out to tourist-seeking handlers. This creates a lot of problems, premier Thaksin said. It's also dangerous and it makes a mess of the city's traffic. Bangkok's traffic problems are a squeeze already.
