BANGKOK - ELEPHANTS idling outside discos or lumbering through traffic have been part of Bangkok's colourful nightlife for nearly two decades. Now authorities want to send them back to the jungle.

Several groups have already paid the estimated 500,000 baht (S$21,300) to buy an elephant and relocate it to a reserve in the countryside.

Half of the city's 200 elephants have been relocated since the programme began in March, and Bangkok Governor Sukhumphan Boriphat vowed in a glitzy press conference on Friday that the rest would be out within a year.

'Roaming elephants can cause accidents, especially at night, and even more importantly are harmful to themselves,' Mr Sukhumphan said at a ceremony that featured a marching band, a Thai film actress and several heavyset women who were recent participants in a Miss Jumbo beauty contest. 'It's important that we get elephants out of Bangkok as quickly as possible.'

This time, the campaign includes putting microchips in the elephants so officials can track their whereabouts, and trying to convince foundations to buy and relocate them.

Once in their new homes, the elephants will be trained to search the forest for their food.

Elephant owners can use the money to get into a new business, and those who refuse reasonable offers will be fined, city officials said.

'They are icons of our country,' said Mr Chookiat Prathipasen, deputy secretary-general of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, which has adopted 63 elephants and plans to take a total of 81.

'They should not be treated as pets. They should be treated nearly like humans.' -- AP