Activities organised to mark Thai Elephant Day

THAILAND, March 13 (TNA) - Activities on elephant protection and conservation have been organised in several Thai areas to mark the Thai Elephant Day, which falls on every March 13. In Lampang Province in the Thai North, an elephant conservation centre in Hang Chat area jointly organised an activity to mark the Thai Elephant Day with the National Elephant Institute and the Forestry Industry Organisation (FIO), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives on Friday, in which 90 elephants were led to walk in a line to give alms to nine Buddhist monks on the auspicious annual occasion, representing a merit making for their own. Besides, a traditional northern Lanna ceremony was organised to bring good luck and good health for the elephants, along with a feasting parade for them with all types of their favourite fruits. The elephant conservation centre also announced a one-day closure to give the elephants a day off so that they could fully participate in the activities, to which the general public and internantional tourists were also welcome. In the central Ayutthaya Province, Governor Aphichart Todilokvej presided over a ceremony to worship a shrine and to make merits for dead elephants on the occasion of the Thai Elephant Day. A biggest feast of various fruits was also offered to 75 elephants, along with the signing of an agreement between the Private Schools Federation of Thailand and Ayutthaya's elephant camp on promoting the latter as a learning site on elephants' ways of life. (TNA)