The first group of elephants and their mahouts that used to roam the city streets in Thailand will start new jobs in helping forest staff in patrolling Thailand's National parks throughout the Thai Kingdom as part of the plan to solve the problem of elephants strolling on city streets.

199 Thai elephants that had been screened and trained are ready to work in Thailand's national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, said Somchai Piensataporn Director-General of the National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department in Thailand. A budget of 20 million baht has been approved to fund this three-month pilot project.

The Office of the Attorney General in Thailand is now examining the contract to hire mahouts and their elephants. The process is expected to be completed by this month and the elephant teams will start patrolling the forests and National parks of Thailand, starting from next August.

The Department would also proposed the plan to improve the welfare of 30,000 forestry staff workers nationwide to the Cabinet for consideration very soon. Under this new plan, the daily-wage workers would be paid monthly. Now they receive only 179 baht a day.

The better welfare for forestry staff will come with life insurance as forest officials' jobs are risky particularly those who work as forest firefighters and patrolling officers.