Because of a revision of Thai law, the importation of 2 elephants will be delayed

Oct.7 2004 Mainichi newspaper (Miyazaki)

On October 6 Miyazaki city said that it was not told of the revision of a Thai national law regarding exportation. Therefore the importation of two elephants has been postponed. From the October 1 to 4 Mr. Komiya, a deputy mayor, stayed in Thailand to investigate the issue.

Because Miyazaki city was informed the elephants were captive bred it did not think that permission for importing endangered species, which is supposed to be submited to the exporter, was needed.

However, Thai Customs demands that Japan request permission. This is based on the revised national law that aims at strict regulations on captive bred animals as well as wild ones.

However, when the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry gives permission for importing captive bred animals, the issue is meant to be dealt with as a special case, or the Ministry needs to revise the law. Therefore it will take more time to resolve this situation.

A director of Surin Culture Association is visiting Miyazaki soon. Mr.Tsumura, the mayor of Miyazaki city said " The biggest reason for this confusion is that we have not been told about the strengthen of regulations. I did not expect such a mess."