Surprising to most newcomers, elephants are a common sight on the streets of Bangkok, especially in tourist areas but actually all over, whereby their owners (mahouts) ride them to locations with a lot of pedestrian traffic, and charge people to feed the elephants, as well as sometimes other tricks.

Once, I paid to have an elephant pick me up with his trunk and gently raise me into the air ... after watching a lot of other people do the same.

Unfortunately, some slow moving elephants have cause traffic problems, sometimes there is an accident with an elephant (a very difficult situation!), and of course there are the big mounds and trails of elephant poop from time to time.

Well, those times are coming to an end.

Elephants have now been outlawed from Bangkok.

The authorities will also be embedding a microchip into their ear to track them, as well as collecting a DNA sample.

Details from The Nation:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009...l_30103883.php