Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Coronavirus: Thai elephants face starvation
as tourism collapses
In Thailand, elephants are very important. They
have been referred to in many artworks, literature, and national emblems. Elephants
are also regarded as sacred animals in the Buddhist country. There used to be
over 100,000 domesticated elephants in the country but now there are fewer than
5,000 of them in captivity or in the wild.
Elephants consume 100-200 kilograms of food
daily, or approximately 5% of their body weight. Their diet includes bananas,
leaves, bamboo, tree bark, and other fruits. Financially, tourism plays a vital
role to feed over 3,000 captive elephants in Thailand. However, there are
almost no tourists recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without revenues,
caretakers are running around to get as much food as they can get. Though
elephants aren’t infected by the deadly novel virus, they are severely affected
by the pandemic.
What about other animals in zoos?
Read the article and learn about one of the side
effects of the coronavirus.
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