Owner Agrees to Move Elephants, Liger After Villager Complaints
An owner agreed to relocate four elephants to Surin within a week and a liger and white lion to Pattani within six months after Songkhla villagers complained of foul odors, loud roars, and safety risks.
Songkhla: The owner has agreed to move four elephants back to Surin province, while the white lion and liger will be relocated to Pattani, after villagers complained of danger, unbearable elephant dung smell, loud roars, and sleepless nights.
On November 2, 2026, at the Village 2 Community Hall in Ban Khlong Chik, Tha Kham Subdistrict, Hat Yai District, Songkhla, villagers gathered to meet with Hat Yai Deputy District Chief Wiratikiat Suwannarit, Tha Kham SAO officials, Songkhla Livestock Office, and Hat Yai Public Health officials to find a resolution. The complaint was that people from outside the area had constructed a facility to keep four elephants, one white lion, and one liger, causing severe distress as waste and dung flowed into drainage canals, spreading foul odors across the village, and raising safety concerns that elephants might break loose.
Deputy District Chief Wiratikiat led relevant officials and village leaders to inspect the complained-about site. They found a perimeter wall over two meters high with a well-secured automatic gate. Inside the approximately 1.5-rai area, the front section housed two elephant calves aged 3-4 years in a collapsed pen. Next was a large dome tent housing a male elephant. The first chain held a 40-year-old long-tusked elephant, a former performer, and the other chain held a 10-year-old elephant.
Inside the enclosure for the white lion and liger (a lion-tiger hybrid), there were large two-story cages with curved iron bars on top to prevent jumping. The liger keeper possessed a valid permit under the law, but the white lion is pending the keeper's appeal of a court ruling that found the animal was being kept without a permit; the appeal period is one year after the verdict.
During the inspection, the caretaker presented elephant identification papers and legal ownership documents for all four elephants under the Draught Animal Act B.E. 2482, confirming the elephants had been moved from Surin province.
Deputy District Chief Wiratikiat explained the situation to affected villagers to ease their concerns. Following discussions, the keeper agreed to move all four elephants back to Surin province within one week. The liger will be moved to a site in Pattani province.
Songkhla Livestock Chief Pinij Sawatdirak revealed that the inspection confirmed four draught elephants under livestock authority responsibility: two calves aged 3-4 years and two adults, all with valid sale and transport permits. Villagers complained of distress from elephant dung odor and loud elephant vocalizations preventing rest.
The keeper agreed to move all four elephants out within one week, starting November 3, 2026. The elephant owner will apply for transport permits and coordinate trucks for the move to Surin. The liger and white lion will be relocated within six months, pending construction of standard-compliant enclosures at the new site per provincial resource regulations.
Regarding the short-chain hobbling of elephants, this is a traditional Surin elephant-keeping method, not animal cruelty. The elephants are given relaxation time and all four are well-trained, obedient to mahout commands. The long-tusked elephant is a former performer; the other was a working elephant bought out of compassion by the owner.
Village resident Pricha Chaikul, 70, whose house sits directly opposite the facility, provided additional testimony.
