Bangkok Street Elephants Days Numbered

 Authorities have attempted to stamp out the problem of elephant handlers, known as mahouts, walking the creatures in the capital and selling bananas and sugar cane for people to feed them.If caught, the mahouts face a 10,000 baht fine and six months in jail.

Street begging cuts an elephant's life expectancy by at least half, according to the Elephant Nature Foundation, a non-profit organisation which campaigns for elephant rights. Car fumes and narrow streets often leave the elephants with eye calluses and tuberculosis and make them vulnerable to leg injuries.