Third Elephant Fatality In Past Week

[WaiWai]

:D

Elephant dies in fall from cliff

Governor orders probe into fears of overwork

Published: 2/06/2009 at 12:00 AM

A working elephant lost consciousness and fell from a cliff to its death in the third fatal accident involving elephants in the past week.

The 50-year-old male elephant, Plai Wilai, was hauling logs in a forest yesterday on the Banthad mountain range in Phatthalung's Kong Ra district.

Two other elephants were killed in the same province on Friday.

Plai Wilai's owner had hired him out to haul logs from the forest.

More details and photograph at http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1773...fall-from-cliff

-- Bangkok Post 2009/06/02

Edited June 2, 2009 by sbk

[CFIT]

When I read about the other elephant's suffering , laying on the ground for 12 hours after being thrown out of a truck, I just cringed.

Not sure about elephants but many other large animals cannot be prone for hours on end , their filtering organs will cease to function from the immense weight .

Now she will have to be suspended while her reportedly broken legs heal?

Sorry, but humane euthanasia has a purpose-

and I sincerely hope I'm wrong in this case .

[Johpa]

The Bangkok Post article also noted "A male elephant in Chiang Mai died on the same day after eating cabbages contaminated with a pesticide. Another two beasts fell ill before fleeing into a deep forest. Officials are still searching for them."

This should give everyone pause about eating cabbage in Thailand. My home in Thailand is near a large cabbage growing area and I would never eat one of those pesticide laced veggies. And if I remember correctly, about 20 years ago some folks out at the Mae Jo Agricultural College fed some pigs on a heavy diet of cabbages and they died too.

[garyh]

Is the RSPCA operating in Thailand?

[WaiWai]

I did come across a more positive elephant story in the BKK Post.

Journalist-turned-environmentalist Jittin Ritthirat is among a handful of wildlife advocates who have devoted themselves to protecting the elephants along with their habitat.

Ms Jittin, the manager and coordinator of the Kanchanaburi-based Elephant Conservation Network , has initiated a project to reduce conflicts between wild elephants and farmers in the western province and encourage local communities to help restore the 500,000-rai Salakpra wildlife sanctuary, a home to around 170 wild pachyderms

She recently won the Whitley Award, one of the world's top prizes for grassroots nature conservation. ...

She is the first Thai national to have received the prestigious award which came with a project grant of 30,000 (1.65 million baht)

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1773...aving-elephants

Please, all, do your best to support project such as these.

[jackdanielsesq]

When I first saw the headline I cringed, then relaxed, knowing they must have meant just another dumb tourist or whatever, feeding the big guy bananas and fruit on some BKK roadway & got whacked by the trunk. Of course now I am horrified - what a tragedy - they are magnificent creatures. They are a national treasure - please somebody, do something about it.

BR>Jack

[WaiWai]

Everyone, please, do whatever you can ...

For some reason, foreign efforts seem mainly to focus on "domestic" animals (cats and dogs) rather than native animals.

Both are important, but there may not be many of these wonderful, highly intelligent native creatures left, soon .

The abuse is appalling.

A quick google will let you know how the infant elephants are "subdued" in preparation for their lives of slavery.