Trouble is brewing for elephants again, and this time, the threat isn’t for their precious ivory.
A new taste for eating elephant meat has emerged in the Orient-Thailand, most specifically-and the diners consume everything from the trunk of the animal, to the sexual organs.
In western Thailand, two elephants were slaughtered last December on a game preserve specifically catering to sheltering the Asian Elephant species. Two wildlife officials reported to the Associated Press that the reason behind the killings was for the meat of the animals only. The trunks and sex organs were the only things taken from the carcasses.
Consuming elephant meat isn’t a popular practice in Thailand, but the eating of sexual organs from an animal is. Phuket, a popular tourist destination in the south of the country, has had diners begin to order elephant meat at a few local restaurants. It isn’t clear whether the customers were locals, or foreigners.
Thailand is home to 3,000 wild elephants, and about 4,000 domesticated elephants. The reason for this is because elephants were used as work animals for the heavy logging industry that thrives there, until the permits for using the pachyderms were revoked in the late 1980s.
Phuket governor Tri Akradecha was quick to rebut the rumor that diners are ordering elephant meat in Thai restaurants, but has conceded to look in to the matter.
Between the ivory trade that has done nothing but skyrocket since tusk poaching was made illegal, and now the seemingly closeted circle that prefers to dine on elephant meat, the future for these majestic and lovely animals certainly seems shrouded at best.
Web Credits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/elephant-meat-thailand_n_1233487.html