Bangkok to round up vagrant nocturnal elephants

Officials in the Thai capital Bangkok rolled out big trucks today as they prepared to seize elephants brought in from the countryside to illegally roam the city’s streets at night.

The crackdown was the latest effort to keep the animals from blocking traffic, as well as to keep them and pedestrians safe as they wander the unfamiliar urban surroundings.

Scores of domesticated elephants roam Bangkok’s streets with their handlers, begging for food or promoting the sale of ivory trinkets. They sometimes get hit by vehicles or fall into drains.

Any seized elephants will be sent to a refuge in Chon Buri, 40 miles south-east of Bangkok, said city official Morakot Sanitthangkhun.

If it is determined they were taken from the wild, they will be returned there.