Ayutthaya police have launched a manhunt for poachers who killed a 50-year-old bull elephant and cut its tusks off in the province on Friday.
Tourists visit the Ayutthaya Royal Elephant Kraal after a 50-year-old bull elephant was poisoned to death and its tusks cut off in the province on Friday. Pa ttarapong Chatpattarasill
Provincial police commander Sermkid Sitthichaikarn said police forces have been scouring the area for perpetrators involved in the killing of the jumbo and checked video footage from all security cameras in the province.
Khlao, a bull elephant which had appeared in a foreign film and performed in a royal event, was thought to have been poisoned before having its tusks cut off.
Its body was found near the Lop Buri River, opposite the Ayutthaya Royal Elephant Kraal or Wang Chang Ayutthaya Lae Paniat in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district on Friday.
Pol Maj Gen Sermkid said the Provincial Police Regions 2 and 7 are involved in the hunt.
He said the elephant killers could be the same group of poachers involved in previous elephant-killings in provinces under their jurisdiction.
The Provincial Police Region 2 looks after eastern provinces such as Chon Buri, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Trat, and Sa Kaeo while the Provincial Police Region 7’s jurisdiction covers western provinces such as Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi and some lower central provinces such as Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Pol Maj Gen Sermkid said police are seeking clues from antique shops in Ayutthaya and nearby provinces, in case the elephant’s tusks were sold to these shops.
He said police are also looking for clues from farm commodity shops, from which the poachers might have bought weed killers to poison the elephant.
Laithongrian Meephan, who runs the Wang Chang and owns the elephant, said he knew who might have killed his elephant, but he will wait for further information from police.
He earlier said the killers might be local teenagers or drug addicts who wanted to sell the tusks for money or were hired to remove them.
The poaches were likely to have held on to the elephants’ tusks as selling them now would only draw publicity to their crime.
Khlao had once participated in a royal procession ceremony to give offerings to His Majesty the King in Ayutthaya’s Thung Makham Yong area.
Meanwhile, an international meeting on wildlife trade announced yesterday that Thailand has until next March to take measures to shut down the domestic trade in illegal elephant ivory, or it will face trade sanctions.
Governments at a meeting of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species held in Switzerland requested that Thailand enact legislation to protect elephants.
