Revered ‘white’ elephant in Saraburi draws many visitors each day

Plai Ekachai, which is owned by Golden Elephant (Thailand) Co Ltd, has been ratified by experts and the chief of the Royal Elephant Stable as an exceptional animal with the seven attributes of a “white elephant” that is required by law to be presented to the King and regarded as owned by the state.

Thanabadee Promsuk, 38, the owner of Plai Ekachai and president of Golden Elephant, assigned dozens of staff to take care of visitors who come to pay their respects and snap photos with the revered elephant.

Plai Ekachai has been chained under a large tent and several mahouts are taking care of the rare elephant.

With Plai Ekachai having the seven attributes of a royal elephant, Thanabadee said his company is now awaiting documentation before it transports the special 36-year-old animal to the Royal Elephant Stable.

Thanabadee said Plai Ekachai has been ratified by ML Pipatnachat Disakul, chief of the Royal Elephant Stable, and experts as being qualified to become a royal elephant.

He explained that a delegation of the Royal Elephant Stable chief visited his conservation centre in late 2018 and certified that Plai Ekachai has seven attributes of a white elephant, which are white eyes, a white palate, white nails, white hair, white skin, white tail hair and a white genital area.

Thanabadee said he bought Plai Ekachai in a southern province in 2009 for about a million baht.

He said Plai Ekachai has golden and white hair all over the body and the elephant doesn’t like to be bathed by mahouts.

Thanabadee also said he placed Plai Ekachai under the tent for public visits for about a month now as he awaits the document from the Royal Elephant Stable.