Today, however, the story is very different．Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles for survival in a nation that no longer needs it．The elephant has found itself more or less deserted by previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a society in the western part．And while the elephant's problems began many years ago, now it has a very low national advantage．

　　How does the national symbol turn into ignored animals? It is a story of worse environment and the changing lives of the Thais themselves．According to Richard Lair, Thailand's expert on the Asian elephant and author of the report Gone Astray, at the turn of the last century, there may well have been as many as 100,000 national elephants in the country．

　　In the north of Thailand alone, it was estimated（估计）that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen．

　　This was at a time when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest---a habitat that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people．Nothing ploughs through thick forest better than lots of sure-footed elephants．

　　By 1950 the elephant population had dropped, but still to the number of 13, 397．However, today there are probably no more than 3,800, with another l,350 wandering free in the national parks．But now, Thailand's forest covers only 20 percent of the land．This deforestation（采伐森林）is the central point of the elephant's difficult situation, for it has effectively put the animals out of work．This century, as the road network grew, the elephant's role as a beast of burden decreased．

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