Underfed and chained up for endless hours, campaigners warn many elephants working in Thailand's tourism sector may starve, be sold to zoos or shifted into the illegal logging trade as the coronavirus decimates visitor numbers.

Before the virus, life for the kingdom's estimated 2,000 elephants working in tourism was already stressful, with abusive methods often used to 'break them' into giving rides and performing tricks at money-spinning animal shows.

With global travel paralysed the animals are unable to pay their way, including the 660lb of food a day a captive elephant needs to survive.

This undated handout from the Elephant Nature Park released last week shows an elephant at a camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand where many camps have been shuttered by the government due to fears of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spreading

An undated handout from an elephant camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand shows a herd of elephants, underfed and some chained up, due to a sharp drop in tourism since the coronavirus outbreak

In this file photo taken on February 12, 2020, tourists ride elephants in Chang Siam Park in Pattaya

Elephant camps and conservationists warn hunger and the threat of renewed exploitation lie ahead, without an urgent bailout.

'My boss is doing what he can but we have no money,' Kosin, a mahout - or elephant handler - says of the Chiang Mai camp where his elephant Ekkasit is living on a restricted diet.

Chiang Mai is Thailand's northern tourist hub, an area of rolling hills dotted by elephant camps and sanctuaries ranging from the exploitative to the humane.

Footage sent to AFP from another camp in the area shows lines of elephants tethered by a foot to wooden poles, some visibly distressed, rocking their heads back and forth.

Around 2,000 elephants are currently 'unemployed' as the virus eviscerates Thailand's tourist industry, says Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association.

This photograph from 28 March shows an elephant foraging for food next to the drought-stricken area around Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai. Many camps have been shuttered across the region due to fears of the transmission of COVID-19

In this 13 March file photo tourists watch elephants rescued from the tourism and logging trade at the Elephant Nature Park in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai

This handout from ChangChill taken and released on March 28, 2020 shows elephants chained up at an undisclosed camp near Chiang Mai, where many camps have been shuttered by the government due to fears of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spreading

This file photo from 12 February shows an elephant lifting a tourist with its trunk in Chan Siam Park in Pattaya

The lack of cash is limiting the fibrous food available to the elephants 'which will have a physical effect', he added.

Wages for the mahouts who look after them have dropped by 70 per cent.

Theerapat fears the creatures could soon be used in illegal logging activities along the Thai-Myanmar border - in breach of a 30-year-old law banning the use of elephants to transport wood.

A locator map shows Chiang Mai, where elephant parks are being shuttered down due to dwindling tourists since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic

A 13 March file photo shows a group of elephants gathering together to eat at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Pictured: Photograph taken on 28 March shows an abbot from a nearby temple touching the trunk of an elephant at a camp in Chiang Mai, where some reserves are asking monks for food to feed the animals after business plummeted when coronavirus measures were implemented

An elephant rider, known as a mahout, is pictured foraging for food with his elephants close to the Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai on 28 March, 2020

Others 'could be forced (to beg) on the streets,' he said.

It is yet another twist in the saga of the exploitation of elephants, which animal rights campaigners have long been fighting to protect from the abusive tourism industry.

For those hawking a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the giant creatures - whether from afar or up close - the slump began in late January.

Chinese visitors, who make up the majority of Thailand's 40 million tourists, plunged by more than 80 per cent in February as China locked down cities hard-hit by the virus and banned external travel.

Pictured: The mahout and his elephants forage for food in the jungle near Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai on 28 March, 2020

This photo shows mahouts feeding an elephant rescued from the tourism and logging trade at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on 13 March, 2020

Pictured: A group of tourists watch a rescued elephant climbing the bank of a river at the Elephant Nature Park in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai on 13 March, 2020

By March, the travel restrictions into Thailand - which has 1,388 confirmed cases of the virus - had extended to Western countries.

With elephants increasingly malnourished due to the loss of income, the situation is 'at a crisis point,' says Saengduean Chailert, owner of Elephant Nature Park.

Her sanctuary for around 80 rescued pachyderms only allows visitors to observe the creatures, a philosophy at odds with venues that have them performing tricks and offering rides.

She has organised a fund to feed elephants and help mahouts in almost 50 camps nationwide, fearing the only options will soon be limited to zoos, starvation or logging work.

This handout from the Elephant Rescue Park taken and released on March 27, 2020 shows a mahout venturing outside the park near Chiang Mai to collect grass to feed the elephants in the camp, as a result of insufficient food supplies after the park was affected by dwindling tourist numbers due to fears of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spreading

This handout photo from the Thai Elephant Alliance Association taken on March 29, 2020 shows elephants and their mahouts near the Patara Elephant Farm near Chiang Mai, where camps have been shuttered by the government due to fears of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spreading

Elephants can be seen walking on 29 March, near to the Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai, where camps are being shuttered due to fears of the spread of the deadly coronavirus

Elephants can be seen foraging for food in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on 30 March

For those restrained by short chains all day, the stress could lead to fights breaking out, says Saengduean, of camps that can no longer afford medical treatment for the creatures.

Calls are mounting for the government to fund stricken camps to ensure the welfare of elephants.

'We need 1,000 baht a day (about £25) for each elephant,' says Apichet Duangdee, who runs the Elephant Rescue Park.

Freeing his eight mammals rescued from circuses and loggers into the forests is out of the question as they would likely be killed in territorial fights with wild elephants.

He is planning to take out a two million baht (£49,000) loan soon to keep his elephants fed.

'I will not abandon them,' he added.