The Department of National Parks of Thailand is preparing to bring home an elephant named Plai Sak Surin, one of the three Thai elephants living in Sri Lanka, using an Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane, in early July. Plai Sak Surin, also known as Muthu Raja in Sri Lanka, was given to the Sri Lankan government by Thailand in 2001.

 

Over 22 years have passed since Plai Sak Surin was sent to Sri Lanka for training to participate in the annual sacred Tooth Relic ceremony. The Thai Department of Marine and Coastal Resources recently received a complaint from the Rally for Animal Rights & Environment (RARE), a Sri Lankan animal rights organization, about the elephant’s heavy workload and neglect. Plai Sak Surin was found to be emaciated, with a visible spine, rough skin, an abnormal left front leg, sores on the hips, and thin foot pads due to excessive standing.

 

By Nattapong Westwood

Caption: Photo from Facebook

 

Full Story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/sri-lankan-abused-thai-elephant-set-for-uk-aided-rescue-expiresin-2

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-06-02

 

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well this is a nice change .....  normally it's Thailand miss-treatment of elephants that's being questioned,  like the monkey shows in the south and the tiger shows, all very cruel and all should be shut down,  place all the neglected and abused animals in a protected nature reserve / national park .

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

well this is a nice change .....  normally it's Thailand miss-treatment of elephants that's being questioned,  like the monkey shows in the south and the tiger shows, all very cruel and all should be shut down,  place all the neglected and abused animals in a protected nature reserve / national park .

Specially pure show animals...there can be sense in having work animals or snakes for the poison and also make some shows. But I guess that is the minority of cases. 95% can be closed

38 minutes ago, h90 said:

Specially pure show animals...there can be sense in having work animals or snakes for the poison and also make some shows. But I guess that is the minority of cases. 95% can be closed

the problem is Thais and Tourists go to these shows and as such are essentially supporting the cruelty.  If nobody went they would have to close .

In a famous show  south Phuket, I saw a white tiger in a small glass case, walking round and round in circles. This majestic animal was so beautiful, and huge , sadly loosing his mind in such conditions. Made me crazy mad , I wrote to the local newspaper and to the Mayor office  and TAT. I suppose nothing came of my actions. They also had about 30 elephants on stage . The zoo in Phuket attracts lots of very bad reviews too. I’d never go there, and wasn’t expecting this *show * to be like that. I was invited for the opening night. A shocker !

13 hours ago, steven100 said:

the problem is Thais and Tourists go to these shows and as such are essentially supporting the cruelty.  If nobody went they would have to close .

100% correct...

No visitors to these elephant camps then no cruelty issues.

The elephants would be living a normal life in national forests.

Not carrying tourists around on their backs, playing football or doing art-work.

We were told that sending a seriously sic foreign patient back home on a charted flight costs  hundreds of thousands of dollars and here they will spend this money on an sic elephant, many things don't make sense in the world and this is one of them.

you would think being a strong Buddhist country they would be totally against any form of animal cruelty ,   apparently not  '        do as I say '   not as I DO , 

15 hours ago, h90 said:

Specially pure show animals...there can be sense in having work animals or snakes for the poison and also make some shows. But I guess that is the minority of cases. 95% can be closed

nothing says i am one with the universe more than a selfie with a drugged up tiger. 

15 minutes ago, steven100 said:

you would think being a strong Buddhist country they would be totally against any form of animal cruelty ,   apparently not  '        do as I say '   not as I DO , 

Look at the 10 commandments in Christian religion...and how well Christian follow it...

Just now, h90 said:

Look at the 10 commandments in Christian religion...and how well Christian follow it...

I'm taking about Thailand and Buddhism ... nothing else.   but thanks.

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

100% correct...

No visitors to these elephant camps then no cruelty issues.

The elephants would be living a normal life in national forests.

Not carrying tourists around on their backs, playing football or doing art-work.

No they would not life in the forest as they are mostly elephants that are work animals since centuries or millennia.

An elephant camp if done nicely can be human...still not necessary but very different than dolphins, animals in small cages.

And of course there are really bad elephant camps...but from all the problems these are the least troublesome, specially as elephants like to play.

6 minutes ago, stoner said:

nothing says i am one with the universe more than a selfie with a drugged up tiger. 

How could people exist without facebook and camera on the mobile phone?

I guess they didn't had a meaningful life.

 

5 minutes ago, h90 said:

No they would not life in the forest as they are mostly elephants that are work animals since centuries or millennia.

An elephant camp if done nicely can be human...still not necessary but very different than dolphins, animals in small cages.

And of course there are really bad elephant camps...but from all the problems these are the least troublesome, specially as elephants like to play.

what a strange interpretation of what is cruelty to animals.

53 minutes ago, steven100 said:

what a strange interpretation of what is cruelty to animals.

What you want to do with the elephants....they can live as much in the forest as a poodle. You can't put them into the forest....and entertaining tourists in some good camp is a good job....and the elephants like it. I would put it on the same level as horses in the west or dogs. They should half or quarter the amount of elephants so there is enough profit to have a good care for them.

If you look at milk production or pigs (Thailand or west....similar bad) than the entertainment animals are already a lesser problem. I have seen milk cows with all 4 legs tied so it can not even do 1 step. When bring to the slaughterhouse they drag them or load them with the forklift as it never learned to walk. Compare that to an elephant that get much older than in nature by begging tourists for bananas...
 

Still in Thailand, there is the only gorilla spending his life in solitude in a stupid mall. And then they are worried about the elephant. Weird?!