The Smiling Elephants Project has saved its first pachydermBangkok's "roaming elephants" have presented a problem for both themselves and humans. Wandering the streets, they have been involved in nighttime vehicular accidents. Instead of sleeping at night, they are kept awake by tourists and others who believe that touching an elephant will bring good luck.
But there is hope for these thick-skinned city dwellers. According to AsiaOne News, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has returned the first elephant to the forest under the Chang Yim (Smiling Elephants) Project, a fund set up to bring the city's roaming pachyderms back to their natural habitat.
The first elephant to be rescued was Phang Buakham, a 30-year-old with a blind right eye. He will now be in the care of the National Elephant Institute in Lampang, a Thai elephant conservation organization.
GET INVOLVED
- Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund
- Sign a petition urging the North American and European members of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to oppose the proposal to designate China as a trading partner in raw ivory
- Donate to Save the Elephants
- Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site
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- Free Lucky (April 27, 2009)
- Remembering Buddha's Precious Pachyderm (February 26, 2009)
- L.A. Times Poll: Should Billy the Elephant Remain at the L.A. Zoo? (January 9, 2009)
- 2,000 Elephants Missing in Chad (December 15, 2008)
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