Mahouts In Myanmar Are Younger And Less Experienced, Study Shows

AsianScientist (Mar. 1, 2019) – Scientists in Myanmar and Finland have found that elephant handlers, also known as mahouts, in Myanmar are younger and less experienced than their predecessors. Their findings are published in PLOS One. Asian elephants are endangered, but remarkably, around one third of the remaining 45,000 Asian elephants in the world live in semi-captive conditions, cared for by mahouts. Expert knowledge of mahouts accumulated over many generations is of great importance in handling these giant, wild animals. However, recent societal changes in countries across Asia have affected the traditional mahout system. Myanmar, with the largest semi-captive elephant population of 5,000, is thought of as one of the last strongholds of traditional mahouts. In the present study, researchers from the University of Turku, Finland, together with colleagues at Myanma Timber Enterprise, found that political shifts in Myanmar, coupled with increased urbanization and improved access to technologies, may have impacted the traditional mahout profession. The researchers interviewed experts involved in long term elephant-keeping in Myanmar, as well as over 200 current mahouts employed in the logging industry. They observed that mahouts today are younger, less experienced and spend less time on the job than in the past. The scientists also noted reduced traditional family connections to the profession. “Although almost half of the mahouts we interviewed had a family member also working with elephants, it seems that this link could decline further in the future, with few mahouts wishing their children to follow in their footsteps, especially the younger generation,” said doctoral candidate Ms Jennie Crawley of the University of Turku, the lead author of the study. Less than 20 percent of current mahouts had spent any time as an apprentice before being paired with an elephant, said the researchers. This contrasted with past traditions which required a two-year apprenticeship learning period. One important finding was that despite these changes, a significant majority of experts thought that elephant treatment is better now than in the past. The researchers attributed these improvements to “more techniques and training,” reflecting well on current elephant care in Myanmar. The research team hopes future studies can shed light on where mahout training and support is most needed to strengthen bonds between elephants and their caretakers. “It is really important to conduct further research to understand how [political shifts and urbanization] may impact the welfare of elephants, as frequently changing mahouts with little experience in the profession may increase animal stress and risk of injuries. Our findings already allow managers to take steps to ensure there are no negative impacts for the elephants or for the mahouts working with these huge animals,” said Professor Virpi Lummaa of the University of Turku, a senior scientist involved in the study. The article can be found at: Crawley et al. (2019) Investigating Changes Within the Handling System of the Largest Semi-captive Population of Asian Elephants.

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Kennedy Elephant Camp to be established in Kachin State

“The aim of opening the elephant camp here is to ignite love for the natural environment, to be more intimate with elephants, to cherish elephants more and let people know more about elephants such as the way they live as well as encourage protecting nature. We are preparing to open up Kennedy Elephant Camp before Christmas,” said Toe Chit Hmu Paing, an in-charge of the elephant camp.

The Kennedy Elephant Camp will be located in Khing Kame-Painpi Road (locally known as nine mile Kyauk Talone), 9 miles away from Kalay in the Sagaing Region.

“Visitors can feed elephants and ride on them. There will be places for rest and recreation as well as restaurants. There is a pool built aside the river so that visitors can play in that pool. The main attraction of the camp is the beautiful scenery such as Rope Bridge, the river and the Kennedy Valley,” continued Toe Chit Hmu Paing. Entrance fees, cost of elephant rides and other charges will be set soon. There are also plans to attract visitors in the coming rainy season.

The camp is located on the way to Kennedy Mountain. Above the elephant camp lies Painpi Village which means tourists can visit there as well as other nearby Chin villages.

The incumbent government has banned timber extraction and as a result of this ban, elephant camps under the management of Myanma Timber Enterprise have been and will be turned into elephant-based tourism centres to provide a source of income for “mahouts” - elephant handlers, as well as work for the elephants.

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Tour operators, timber company see bright future for elephant tourism

The government-run Myanma Timber Enterprise had earned about K430 million (US$325,535) since it began operating 18 elephant conservation-based tourism camps around the country two years ago.

The government has banned timber extraction for a period of one year for the whole country and for 10 years in Bago Yoma Hills in central Myanmar, effective from the 2016-17 fiscal year.

As a result of the ban, the management of Myanma Timber Enterprise converted its elephant camps into elephant conservation-based tourism camps in a bid to earn revenue while providing income for 3000 mahouts, or elephant handlers, and help maintain the company’s herd of pachyderms, which are used to move felled trees out of the woods.

“Elephant conservation-based tourism has proven successful. Also we need to do more hospitality training for people who live in the camps and build more infrastructure in the camps,” U Moe Myint, deputy general manager of Myanma Timber, told The Myanmar Times.

Myanma Timber owns 3078 elephants, of which 514 are under 4, 734 are between 4 and 18, and 1597 are 18 to 55 years old. The rest, 233, are retired elephants.

Each elephant above 4 years old needs a mahout to train it for working with people, which is why the company has more than 2500 mahouts.

Among the 3078 elephants, the company uses 205 elephants at its 18 elephant camps, it said.

“We are looking for more places to open elephant conservation-based tourism camps,” he added.

The camps charge an entrance fee of K1000, and an elephant ride costs K5000 for locals. However, foreign tourists are charged K20,000 for the entrance fee and elephant ride.

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Tour operators, timber company see bright future for elephant tourism

The government-run Myanma Timber Enterprise had earned about K430 million (US$325,535) since it began operating 18 elephant conservation-based tourism camps around the country two years ago.

The government has banned timber extraction for a period of one year for the whole country and for 10 years in Bago Yoma Hills in central Myanmar, effective from the 2016-17 fiscal year.

As a result of the ban, the management of Myanma Timber Enterprise converted its elephant camps into elephant conservation-based tourism camps in a bid to earn revenue while providing income for 3000 mahouts, or elephant handlers, and help maintain the company’s herd of pachyderms, which are used to move felled trees out of the woods.

“Elephant conservation-based tourism has proven successful. Also we need to do more hospitality training for people who live in the camps and build more infrastructure in the camps,” U Moe Myint, deputy general manager of Myanma Timber, told The Myanmar Times.

Myanma Timber owns 3078 elephants, of which 514 are under 4, 734 are between 4 and 18, and 1597 are 18 to 55 years old. The rest, 233, are retired elephants.

Each elephant above 4 years old needs a mahout to train it for working with people, which is why the company has more than 2500 mahouts.

Among the 3078 elephants, the company uses 205 elephants at its 18 elephant camps, it said.

“We are looking for more places to open elephant conservation-based tourism camps,” he added.

The camps charge an entrance fee of K1000, and an elephant ride costs K5000 for locals. However, foreign tourists are charged K20,000 for the entrance fee and elephant ride.

“We have to return to the government all income from entrance fees and elephant rided,” U Moe Myint said. “That income is only enough to cover the elephants’ food and medicines but is not sufficient to pay the mahouts, who are paid by the government.”

The Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and Myanma Timber met to discuss developing more elephant conservation-based tourism camps on April 9.

“There a lot of things done with elephants in the tourism industry of other countries, and we need to do more,” said U Min Thein, vice chairman of UMTA. “Also, Myanma Timber and tourism operators need to cooperate more.”

Elephant conservation-based tourism needs more promotion by cooperating with tourism operators, he said.

“This kind of tourism would be very successful if we strengthen cooperation,” U Min Thein said. “But we need to train the elephants more and promote the camps more.”

There are 52 veterinarians for the 3078 elephants, so the government needs to encourage more people to study veterinary medicine to ensure the conservation of Myanmar’s treasured elephants, said Dr Zaw Min Oo, a vet and manager of Myanma Timber.

“Some elephant camps are very far from cities, so vets have to stay for more than 20 days in a month, and move from camp to camp with poor facilities,” he said.

The younger generation is not interested in veterinary jobs, because they have no benefits, status or incentives,” he said.

According to the Emergency Elephant Response Unit, 59 wild elephants were killed during the 2017-18 fiscal year by poaching, which has become a major threat to the animals.

Burma’s wild elephant numbers have dropped dramatically over the past 50 years and appear to still be in decline, according to elephant conservation group EleAid.

Among the major threats are poaching and habitat loss and fragmentation, it added.

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