VIDEO. Thailand: tourist flight threatens famine elephants

With the coronavirus crisis, elephant parks closed in Thailand. 2,000 elephants are left without “jobs” and therefore without food. Owing to a lack of income, their owners no longer have enough to pay them enough to eat.

The living conditions of these animals, often brutally trained to perform shows in animal parks with juicy business, have deteriorated with the pandemic. Malnourished, chained for hours, elephants find themselves begging for bananas near temples or eating tall grass.

Local animal welfare groups are asking the Thai government for emergency aid of $ 30 per day per animal so that their owners can feed them.