Activities organized to mark Thai Elephant Day

BANGKOK, March 13 (TNA) - The Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Hang Chat district of the northern Lampang province on Wednesday welcomed a large number of visitors who joined activities to mark the Thai Elephant Day, which falls on every March 13. Fifty elephants participated in an alms-giving ceremony for nine Buddhist monks on Wednesday morning and then marched in a campaign for elephant conservation, as the population of Thai elephants has plunged from over 50,000 three decades ago to only about 5,000 now. Nipakorn Singhaphutthangkun, Director of the National Elephant Institute, presided over the ceremony, during which Thanying Malineemongkol (Yugala) Amartyakul, who is a foster mother of a female elephant, was also present; while several participating visitors posed for memorable photos with the elephants. Besides, a procession of elephants was grandly organized in the Lanna style and there was also a ceremony to pray for the good health of elephants. Admission to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center is free on the Thai Elephant Day, as the center is campaigning for an end to the killing of elephants and wildlife in general. In nearby Chiang Mai province, Governor Tanin Supasan, meanwhile, presided over an event to also celebrate the 14th Thai Elephant Day held at the Mae Sa elephant camp in Mae Rim district, in which international tourists, students from local schools and representatives of public and private agencies participated. Highlights of the event, organized in the traditional Lanna style, include a folk concert and a feast for some 70 elephants, offered for such their favorite food as bananas, sugarcane, watermelons and grass, as well as traditional religious rites to wish good health and luck for the elephants and mahouts, together with elephant arts and exhibitions and an award granting ceremony for those who have won a contest on naming new-born elephants. (TNA)