Bangkok's Begging Elephants

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra is reportedly going to rid the streets of Bangkok of begging elephants within the next 12 months. Well, I never! There I was thinking that the begging elephants had been banned years and years ago. Even in Pattaya they disappeared off the streets for a while. Occasionally they come along Soi LK Metro but not very often. A good thing too - it's very depressing to see the animals being taken along traffic-filled streets so that tourists can fund the activities of the blokes with them. What a pity the previous attempts to take them off the streets didn't work. Maybe the Mayor of Pattaya will adopt the same policy here.