To: the  Bureau Tourism Safety and Security Standards, Ministry of Tourism and Sports.   touristcenter13@gmail.com

Dear sirs:

I am writing to inquire as to the steps that have been taken to follow up on the complaint filed with the Tourism Authority of Thailand regarding the evident abuse suffered by a four year old elephant named Baby Gluay Hom at the hands of his captors at the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo. Thousands worldwide have seen the unforgettable photograph of the suffering creature and are requesting the Thai government to please do three things:

1. Remove Gluay Hom from his captors at the Zoo – judging by his condition, they are not fit to care for him – and relocate him to a sanctuary. This should happen immediately – every minute the poor animal spends in that terrible place must seem like an eternity.

2. Close down the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo.  Thanks to social media, and to the reports from Thai newspapers, thousands worldwide are aware of the horrendous conditions in which animals are held in this facility, starved, neglected, abused, forced to do tricks for tourists with fear in their eyes.  A facility such as this is a stain on the reputation of any country and we beg that it be shut own and those who run it punished for their crimes.

3. Enact and enforce laws to protect captive elephants considered “draft animals” in Thailand. Again, social media is circulating horrendous images of elephants with amputated feet being forced to perform tricks, baby elephants being worked to death in city streets and stories of the horrific torture that is routine in secret “training” camps in Thailand in which still-nursing baby elephants are literally dragged from their mothers, kicking and screaming, are immobilized, beaten mercilessly, and gouged with nails for days at a time and left badly injured, traumatized, or even dead.  

The eyes of the world are on Thailand, hoping that your actions will be right and just and merciful as befits a humanitarian nation in the 21st century.

I await a quick and hopefully satisfactory response.

Thank you.

Ave Lawyer