In response to the thread on Nov. 30th(type albino buffalo in the search bar) Glenn Sullivan, Deputy Team Leader Elephants from the Whipsnade Zoo sent these great pictures with this comment:
"In reference to your pics on white water buffalo,back in the 90's I remember 1 maybe 2 white asian water buffalo of the domestic strain being bred at Western plains zoo,Dubbo,no photos unfortunately.They were moved onto Mogo zoo.I worked for Mogo in the late 90's and they weren't about by then."
Steve Robinson, Director Darling Downs Zoo, do you know anything about the white buffalo that went to Mogo Zoo?
The picture above and these below were when Glenn was in Nepal in 2009 near Bardia national park. I am intrigued by the rope in the animals nose to guide it. It seems to be through the mouth and out the left nostril. I have never seen that system before, actually I thought all bovine were guided with a ring in the nose. How does it work if you want to go right? In the picture at the bottom, the rope looks like it is over the animals right horn, again I would think that would stop the pull in the nostril that guides the animal. Any thoughts, and is a rope through one nostril common practice for Asian Water Buffalo? Do they take it out, or leave it in like a nose ring? Are they able to go through the opposite nostrel also, or just the left? Great photo's Glenn, thank you.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Asian Buffalo with a star? Colored Asian Buffalo update
Struggling mahouts have little to celebrate--This seems to be a worldwide epidemic, as it is even affecting the mahouts in the United States.
Bangkok Post 31/10/2010
Without their skills the popular Surin Elephant Round-Up would not be possible, but the compensation barely covers their spartan existence during the 12-day festival.
Spare a thought for the mahouts who will take part in next month's celebrated annual elephant festival in Surin. They are perhaps the most neglected part of the festival, which draws tourists from far and wide. Yet without them the show could not go on.
Thousands of tourists flock every year to the 12-day Surin Elephant Round-up and Red Cross fair, which brings in millions of baht to the province. Yet when the sun goes down on the elephant dances, elephant football and mock elephant fights on offer, mahouts and their animals move to a humble camp at a military site in the middle of town.
Some sleep in tents while others share space in a temporary tarpaulin camp with only a pillow and thin blankets to help them get through the cold nights. They bathe in a nearby pond and cook their own meals.
They cannot afford to buy food at the fair, as the price of one plate of rice jumps to 50 baht.
Hotels and serviced apartments, out of reach financially anyway, double their room rates.
The elephant festival celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, but for many mahouts planning to make the long trek to Surin from their hometowns in the famous elephant province, the gloss has worn off.
The Surin provincial administration organization, which runs the festival, sets aside a budget of 10 million baht each year for the fair, which is also supported by local government organizations and the private sector.
ELEPHANTS’ FRIEND: Muean Saenkham, a mahout from the Kui tribe, at the camp on the outskirts of Surin city during the annual elephant round-up.
They host a 600-metre long elephant buffet on the main city drag a day before the elephant show kicks off. The highlight is the two-day Surin Elephant Round-Up. Last year the elephant show drew more than 25,000 visitors and the province estimated that the show and the Red Cross fair brought in 150 million baht to the tourism industry.
However, the elephant handlers who take their animals to the fair, and are an integral part of the entertainment on offer, are given just 2,500 baht a head to attend.
Muean Saenkham, a mahout from the Kui tribe, takes his two elephants from Ta Klang village in Tha Tum district of Surin to the festival every year.
''I grew up with my elephant. When I was young my father and I rode our elephant to the festival. I have done this for more than 40 years, in recent years with my teenage son,'' said Mr Muean.
Thin and dark, he rarely smiled as he joined hundreds of other mahouts in taking about 300 elephants to Surin's capital last year for the Surin elephant festival.
This year's elephant show will be held on Nov 20-21.
The mahouts taking part bring with them a proud tradition of raising elephants which dates back hundreds of years. Ethnic Kui, whose roots are in Laos, settled the area around Ta Klang, Mr Muean's hometown, in the Ayutthaya period. The community, 58km north of the city, is known as ''elephant village''.
The townspeople's ancestors were good at catching and taming wild elephants, and in the past Kui leaders presented Thai kings with royal white elephants they had caught.
Kui leaders were also promoted to honourable government positions in what are now Surin and Si Sa Ket provinces.
In the Rattanakosin era, King Rama I renamed the provincial capital Surin after the Kui leader who governed the area at the time. Ethnic Kui now make up a small minority in Surin and their influence has dwindled, but they still raise a large number of domesticated elephants.
The Kui consider that raising and riding elephants is part of their heritage, and although they are farmers, they don't put their elephants to work in the rice fields.
It is said the elephant round-up, a key part of the festival, originated when the chief of Tha Tum District Office organized a fair that included an elephant show and boat races to mark the opening of a new office building.
TAKING A REST: Thong Thaeng and Thong Kham are highlights of the 300-elephant parade held a day before the start of the show.The show was a hit with locals and the fair became an annual affair. It attracted tourists and the media, and the Thailand Tourism Organisation (TTO, later renamed the Tourism Authority of Thailand) came in to help promote the event.
TTO asked the government for help, and in 1962 the cabinet approved a resolution to let Surin organise the elephant fair as a national festival every year.
With that approval, Surin's governor ordered the show to be relocated from Tha Tum District to town to make it more accessible for tourists.
''The elephant round-up is only part of the fair. This is a big event which locals also look forward to,'' said former Surin governor Vichien Chavalit.
The show attracts foreign visitors from many countries.
Joshua, from France, visited Thailand for the first time last year and went directly from Bangkok to Surin to see the elephants.
HISTORY LESSON: An ancient battle between Siam and Burma is re-enacted during the annual elephant show.''I heard about it and I wanted to know more so I came for the show,'' he said.
The 1,000 baht VIP tickets for this year's show were sold out, with 90% bought by foreigners. They wait to be entertained during a three-hour elephant show which includes elephant dances, elephants playing football and elephants ''fighting'' on a mock battlefield.
But the mahouts find it hard to share in the enthusiasm, with some wondering why they even bother to turn up.
Some say they cannot can earn enough to cover their expenses.
''My elephant eats up to 300kg of leaves and fruit a day.
''All I get from the province to feed him is one banana stalk a day,'' said Mr Muean.
''The festival used to bring happiness to everyone. It was party time for us mahouts,'' said another mahout who declined to be named.
''But look at us now _ we are struggling,'' he said.
At dawn, many mahouts leave their campsite and ride their elephants into town looking for customers.''Elephant rides!' Feed the elephants,'' they call.
Some mahouts offer a ''trunk lift'' service in which the elephant bends its trunk into a U-shape and lets visitors sit on it.
The elephant lifts up its trunk until the mahout tells it to stop.
''We are asked to help the province so we come,'' said Mr Muean.
After the show, some mahouts ride their elephants back to their village where they run daily shows for tourists, or move on to other provinces.
''If it is not time for planting or harvesting, I ride my elephant around Isan. I will return again for the elephant festival next year,'' said one mahout.
The story repeats itself year after year _ mahouts are paid poorly while those in the tourist industry make good money. But though they may get discouraged, Kui people don't consider giving up on raising elephants.
''Elephants are our pride. They are our friends,'' said Mr Muean.
Courtesy of the 2010 Hadi Temple Shrine Circus(Turkey Festival) Elephant Department
Arthur Jones
Arthur chortled that people used to call him crazy but once he made millions he was eccentric. He was even a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and buddies with Hollywood’s John and Bo Derek. He built a two-mile-long runway next to his ranch and jetted everywhere, once owning three 727's.
“I don’t know many people who have three jets in their yard,” I told him upon our initial meeting in 1985. His retort: “Well, where do you keep yours?”
All this form a man who ended his formal education before high school then spent a lifetime learning – incessantly. In his dying days, he was still reading several books per week.
I’m sure Arthur became a pilot in the military and I don’t know if it’s true, but I once heard him claim to have been at Pearl Harbor. He also bragged of being a mercenary fighter pilot and emphasized that it wasn’t for the cause . . . “I just liked flyin’ and killin’.”
Before Nautilus, Arthur was the patriarch of Wild Cargo, which aired on TV back when we were relegated to black-and-white broadcasts and offered but three channels.
Arthur Jones--One of the sorriest, saddest chapters in the annuals of captive animal history
Arthur’s father, mother, grandfather, and great grandfather were all physicians. His half sister and half brother also became doctors. “The reason I never went to medical school along with my siblings,” Arthur told Szimanski, “[was that] I was not inclined to work 24 hours a day.” As it turned out, Arthur only worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Szimanski. “[Arthur] says he read his father’s entire medical library at least twice before he was 12 and every book in the Seminole [Oklahoma] library before he was 14,” Szimanski writes. The Chief of Police in Seminole issued Arthur a permit to carry a concealed weapon when he was in his early teens. “I know you have a pistol,” he told Arthur. “I know you need it; in the likely event you have to use it, it will be better all around if it is legal.” Arthur dropped out of school in the tenth grade and was penniless when he left home. He went broke “more times than he can count.” And eventually made the Forbes Fortune list of the 400 richest people. Arthur’s Nautilus revenues, rumored by the media to be as high as $300 to $400 million, actually peaked in the mid-1980s at $50 to $70 million a year. Nautilus was a private company and the actual numbers are confidential. Inge Topperwein is Arthur’s longest continually serving employee. He hired her in Africa while “filming elephant culling” in 1966. Asked what she did by Carol during our visit to Florida, she dutifully replied: “Whatever is necessary.” Always a stabilizing factor, according to Szimanski, Inge became Arthur’s sixth wife in 1994. She continued working for him.
Arthur In Africa - Trip to Get Elephants
Baby Elephants In Africa - Trip to Get Elephants
Terri - On the Beach Arthur Jones fifth wife
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