Thai Elephant Gets Artificial Limb

[george]

Thai elephant gets artificial limb

LAMPANG: -- A Thai elephant that attracted worldwide attention when it stepped on a land mine and had its foot amputated six years ago has been fitted with a temporary prosthesis, a wildlife conservation worker said Sunday.

The 44-year-old female tusker, Motola, is expected to wear the lightweight, canvas shoe-like device for five to eight months until her leg is strong enough to carry a heavier permanent one, said Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital in northern Thailand.

Motola was injured in 1999 while working at a logging camp near the border with neighboring Myanmar, a region peppered with landmines after a half-century of insurgency. Her mangled left front foot was amputated at the hospital on Auguar 28 that year, and she has hobbled on three feet since.

Veterinarians at the hospital have been attaching the sawdust-filled prosthesis to Motola daily since Aug. 10 as a therapeutic measure to help prepare the sweet-natured beast for a permanent one to be made from fiberglass and silicone, she said.

"We have to mold her leg," Soraida said. "If it doesn't fit, then it doesn't stay."

In the meantime, the current prosthesis may be replaced by a heavier one, perhaps filled with sand, to further exercise and strengthen the elephant's leg muscles and tendons before veterinarians attempt to attach the permanent version, she added.

Motola's tragedy brought attention to the plight of Thailand's working elephants, whose numbers have declined to about 2,000 from some 10,000 in the 1970s.

--AP 2005-08-28