Pakkanut Bansiddhi

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Instructor at Chiang Mai University

Background Approximately one-third of Asian elephants are managed under human care, participating in educational, cultural, religious, and tourist activities. Management conditions vary considerably among venues, raising questions about whether welfare needs are consistently being met, particularly for Asian tourist camp elephants. To evaluate the...

Simple Summary Rabbit endotracheal intubation is often challenging for anesthetists. Employing an endoscope guided by adjusting the angle of head extension can significantly aid anesthetists in accurately locating and executing rabbit endotracheal intubation, reducing the risk of breathing difficulties during the process. This study explores how sp...

Welfare is a fundamental aspect of animal management and conservation. In light of growing public awareness and welfare concerns about captive elephants, there is an urgent need for comprehensive, globally coordinated efforts for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) that participate in religious, logging, or tourist activities in range countries where...

The international travel ban instituted by the Thai government in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected how tourist camp elephants were managed, with reductions in exercise opportunities, longer chaining hours, and diminished food provisioning. This study was conducted to determine how those changes affected health and we...

The international travel ban initiated in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected how captive elephants were managed in Thailand. A lack of tourists and associated income meant elephants were chained longer with reduced food provisions, had fewer mahouts, and limited exercise like riding, which likely affected health and welfare. F...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the tourism industry, especially in Thailand. Starting in April 2020, the Thai government banned international travel and all elephant tourist camps closed. A wide variety of management changes were implemented because of the lack of income from tourists. This study surveyed 30 camps that cared...

Simple Summary Sedation in standing procedures is commonly performed in elephants. To successfully and safely initiate standing in elephants, chemical restraint drugs should provide sufficient sedation with minimal complications (i.e., recumbency, significant physiologic alterations, and prolonged recovery). This study investigated the sedative eff...

Female leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) often oviposit in locations with high risk of predation, human activity, flooding, or erosion; thus, influencing hatching rates. It has been hypothesized that the relocation of these nests would significantly increase hatching success. In this study, we measured various nest traits to determine...

Stereotypies are abnormal behaviors found in a wide range of animals that have been used as indicators of poor welfare. Elephants used in tourism have been reported to perform stereotypic behavior, but the occurrence has not been systematically assessed. The aims of this study were to ascertain the percentage of stereotypic behaviors exhibited by t...

In Thailand, many elephants are used in tourism, with populations sustained by breeding of animals that are in captive habitats. Even though there are programs to promote breeding, there is not success in all camps. In this study, there was summarization of reproductive performance data of 407 elephants (150 males, 257 females) at seven tourist cam...

Simple Summary In Thailand, captive elephants are used in tourism and involved in a variety of activities, such as feeding, bathing, riding, or just observation. The welfare of these elephants has been a topic of intense debate in recent years, resulting in divergent opinions on what are or are not appropriate uses. This paper summarizes the curren...

This review paper is a synthesis of results from multiple studies that we have conducted over the past several years using similar methodologies to identify factors related to welfare of captive populations of elephants in North American zoos and Thailand tourist camps. Using multiple conservation physiology tools, we found that, despite vastly dis...

Elephant camps are among the most popular destinations in Thailand for tourists from many countries. A wide range of management strategies are used by these camps, which can have varied impacts on health and welfare of elephants. The objectives of this study were to examine relationships between FGM (fecal glucocorticoid metabolite) concentrations...

This study investigated how camp management and tourist activities affect body condition, adrenocortical function, lipid profiles and metabolic status in female tourist elephants. We compared twice monthly serum insulin, glucose, fructosamine, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL),...

Background: Variation in management across elephant camps likely has differential effects on the well-being of elephants. Methods: This study calculated body condition, foot health and skin wound scores (WSs) for 122 elephants from 15 elephant camps in Chiang Mai province, and examined relationships to management factors using a multi-variable m...

Additional measures of well-being would be beneficial to the management of a variety of species in human care, including elephants. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is an immune protein associated with pathogen defense, which has been demonstrated to decrease during times of stress, and increase in response to positive stimuli. This paper describes the devel...

We previously found relationships between body condition and physiological function affecting health and welfare of female tourist camp elephants in Thailand, and used that approach to conduct a similar study of bull elephants in the same camps (n = 13). A body condition score (BCS) was done every other month, and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (F...

Elephant tourism in Thailand has developed into an important socio-economic factor after a logging ban initiated in 1989 resulted in thousands of out-of-work elephants. However, the welfare of captive elephants has been a topic of intense debate among tourists, scientists and stakeholders because of the range of working conditions and management pr...

We previously found relationships between body condition and physiological function affecting health and welfare of female tourist camp elephants in Thailand, and used that approach to conduct a similar study of bulls elephants in the same camps (n = 13). Elephants received a body condition score (BCS) every other month, and fecal glucocorticoid me...

Numbers of wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) have been decreasing gradually throughout Asia due primarily to human activities, such as poaching, and habitat encroachment and destruction that lead to human–elephant conflict. Sustainability problems exist in captive populations as well, where morbidity and mortality rates are high and reproducti...

Background Elephant camps are among the most attractive destinations in Thailand for tourists from many countries. A wide range of management strategies are used by these camps, which can have varied impacts on health and welfare of elephants. Methods This study surveyed 33 camps with 627 elephants in northern Thailand to quantify the types of man...

Studies in western zoo elephants have found relationships between body condition and physiological function, and identified mitigating management strategies to optimize health and welfare. A similar methodological approach was used in this study, which evaluated a body condition score (BCS; 1 = thinnest, 5 = fattest) every other month and fecal glu...

We describe the use of handheld X-ray uorescence, for elephant tusk species identi cation. Asian (n = 72) and African (n = 85) elephant tusks were scanned and we utilized the species di erences in elemental composition to develop a functional model di erentiating between species with high precision. Spatially, the majority of measured elements (n =...

Feto-maternal blood incompatibility causes hematological defects that can result in abortion and neonatal anemia and may lead to calf loss, including in elephants. The aim of this study was to examine blood compatibility in Asian elephants using the indirect antiglobulin technique, for use as a breeding management tool to reduce the risk of elephan...