Traditionally and historically, the elephant has had a long association with Thailand and Thai people. They have been revered for many centuries. Everywhere you go in Thailand you see symbols of majestic Asian Elephants.

Elephant imagery adorns everything from Buddhist temples to beer cans.

Thai people have had a close-knit relationship with elephants since ancient times when the elephants played a significant role in transportation, labor, and battle.

Despite having protection in Thailand, elephant populations are vastly declining over the past 100 years because of many factors such as habitat deconstruction, poaching, climate change etc. Nowadays, there are only around 3,000-4,000 elephants remaining in Thailand and most of them are being held in captivity.

March 13 is designated as National Elephant Day to highlight the importance of the Thai elephant (chang Thai) and to honor this most gentle, powerful animals in Thai history and culture.

This day has been held on an annual basis since the idea was first approved by the Thai government in 1998. Special events are held at a number of venues in northern Thailand including the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and the Elephant Nature Park.

Some elephant parks will even hold Buddhist rituals where the animals are thoroughly scrubbed and showered before monks are invited to perform ceremonies to wipe away bad luck and wish for good luck for the elephants and their mahouts in the coming year.

The National Thai Elephant Day or Chang Thai Day helps to draw people attention to see how important of elephant and show closely relationship between Thai people and elephant since a very long time ago. Moreover, this event also raises public awareness to protect and conserve the elephant population for our next generations.

On the National Thai Elephant Day, there are many activities have been crated to honor, support and pay respect to this wonderful animal which is so much a part of Thailand’s heritage and culture

Those kinds of activities include buffet food for elephant, traditional blessing ceremony and also special elephant show. On this day every year, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University join with Mae Sa elephant camp, Chiang Mai run the activities for cerebrating this gorgeous natural creature.

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