But the elephant's scarred ears and the lean mahout's vacant stare tell a different story. The elephants have come to town to beg. As urban elephants become a fact of life, Thais are increasingly questioning their continued domestication.

The elephant has always figured prominently in Thai history. Thai princes of the 15th-century Ayuthaya-Era fought their Burmese adversaries on elephant-back in epic battles over control of the fertile central plains. Folk belief holds that a pregnant woman ensures an easy birth or merely good luck by crawling under an elephant's belly.

Today, elephants with dusty white or pinkish coloring are revered as portents of good luck. These "white elephants" automatically become the property of the Thai Monarch. Each November the famed elephant roundup - featuring elephant tug-o-war, soccer matches, and mock battles - is still held in Surin province to recall the glory days of man's symbiosis with the elephant.

More recently, the elephant has stayed in the forest to haul logs, but the end of legal logging put an end to the usefulness of its domestication. Thailand's recent economic crisis also created sudden social dislocations throughout the country, resulting in the migration of mahouts and their charges, not just to Bangkok, but to many other large Thai cities as well. The poor have always flocked to urban areas for the promise of a livelihood, but these particular poor happen to be bringing the world's largest land animals with them.

Elephants have become a staple in nightlife and market areas, wading in among crowds of passersby. The mahouts accept money from tourists for a chance to feed the elephant a few withered greens. Outside towns, in the provinces, elephants earn just 3000-4000 Baht (US$ 80-100) per month as a tourist attraction, while in Bangkok 10,000 Baht (US$ 260) is the norm. However, the move has been far from pleasant for most elephants.

Elephants are too big, too sensitive, and too intelligent to comfortably tolerate wandering the narrow streets and sidewalks of a densely populated metropolis. Elephants block traffic and are occasionally hit by cars. There are few opportunities for a bath. They often become lonely, dehydrated, and sick. Many seem to have a haunted, panicked look in their eyes as they continually roam the city streets.

Despite all this, it has been difficult to keep them out. Although there are statutes barring elephants from entering large cities, the police realize that if they arrest the mahout, they will be unable to control the animal and there are no proper facilities for holding it, let alone for buying the 200 kilos of greens and 200 liters of water it needs each day. The best that can be done is to register the creatures in an effort to track the extent of the problem.

Regular media reports of city elephants have spawned widespread opposition among the public to elephants being in cities. Sad stories of injured and sick elephants frequently appear on the front pages of newspapers. TV and radio announcements warn people not to encourage the mahouts' presence by giving them money.

Efforts are being made to create a decent living for the mahouts and their animals outside of Bangkok. "Elephant Art Academies" sell paintings made with random abstract brushstrokes from an elephant's trunk. A "Jumbo Village" has been set up in Surin province, home of most elephant handlers, to provide a safe environment for domesticated elephants and keep them from migrating to cities. Elephant hospitals now attend to injured animals.

Perhaps the keen attention of a sympathetic public is the elephant's best hope. Several advocacy groups have sprung up such as the "Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation". Natcha Siwalai, an aide at the Foundation, says those involved in elephant advocacy believe things may get worse before they get better. "It will be better in the future," she says, "but it will require the cooperation of a lot of people and be a long-term endeavor. The best thing we can do now is to insist on the strict enforcement of existing laws."

Elephant beggars are just part of the clash between man and elephant in Thailand, where deforestation and human population growth have literally decimated the elephant population. In the 1960's there were 29,000 wild and 11,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand. Today, only 2,000 wild and 3,000 domesticated elephants are left.

Misfortune may also befall domesticated elephants in other parts of the country. Those engaged in illegal logging are often drugged to work longer, then abandoned when they are injured. The frequent sale of these expensive creatures leads to emotional instability in the traumatized animals. In 1999, a domesticated elephant walking near the Thai-Cambodian border stepped on a land mine and lost the lower part of its leg. The ensuing public attention resulted in an unprecedented operation to heal the wound and the fitting of an artificial leg.

While Thais continue to ponder the impact of continuing their working relationship on these former beasts of burden and symbols of their nation, these intelligent and temperamental creatures with enormous needs are being forced to share space with humans - creatures with equally huge requirements. For the immediate future, elephants and their mahouts will continue to ply the streets, earning a difficult living in the big-city jungle.

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