It's initially a camera click sight -- a baby elephant walking along the street with its mahout, tourists giggling as they feed the pachyderm bananas or sugar cane.
But wait, where is the mother and why isn't the baby hanging out with the herd aka the scenes made famous by National Geographic?
It would be easy enough to blame the mahout. After all, he's the one who owns the elephant! For most of these men, it's the love of their elephant that brings them to the crowded city because they have run out of options for feeding them.
So whose the real culprit? Apparently its a collusion between greedy timber barons and governments who fail to stand up to them. As the forests have disappeared, so has the centuries old employment of the elephant-mahout partnership.
Why bother blogging about it since there's not much we can do after the fact?
The reason I blog in situations like this is not for ego but in the hope that readers will be more aware of the fragile nature of the elephant's future and that they will consider supporting organizations like the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand. Learn more
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It's initially a camera click sight -- a baby elephant walking along the street with its mahout, tourists giggling as they feed the pachyderm bananas or sugar cane. 
