3,000kg elephant in Thailand struggles to get back on feet, allegedly overfed by tourists

3,000kg elephant in Thailand struggles to get back on feet

Mention adult elephants and chances are we would conjure up images of a gigantic mammal towering over most living beings, including humans.

An elephant in Thailand, however, is having difficulties getting on its feet, apparently due to its weight.

Last Saturday (21 Sept), village authorities in Krabi, Thailand worked together to rescue the elephant, which was reportedly overfed by tourists.

The 60-year-old elephant, Pangboonmee, was lying down in an oil plantation and was unable to stand since the previous night.

To lift the 3,000kg elephant, authorities even had to deploy an excavator.

Elephant’s legs couldn’t support its weight

However, the lifting operations proved unsuccessful even after three hours as Pangboonmee was unable to stand on its own.

Its owner, Somporn Prasert, subsequently administered a drug to ease its pain. Rescuers also readjusted the rope around the elephant’s body to avoid hurting it.

Despite using the excavator to lift the elephant, the animal’s hind legs lacked the strength to support its weight.

As such, rescuers had to lift the elephant onto a truck for it to be treated at a hospital.

Elephant was allegedly overfed by tourists

The owner alleged that Pangboonmee was previously kept in a pen at an elephant camp in Phuket, where tourists would visit and feed it fruits and sugarcane.

As the elephant did not venture out of the pen, she quickly became overweight.

Over the past month, the animal was tied up in a thicket in Mr Somporn’s palm oil plantation allowing it to adapt to the environment.

However, on the evening of 20 Sept, Pangboonmee had difficulties standing up after lying down.

According to Mr Somporn, he had informed the Southern Elephant Hospital but was told there were no available veterinarians at the time.

He then sought help from the village head, who arranged for the excavator to lift Pangboonmee and move her to the elephant hospital.

Also read: Elephant in M’sia zoo snatches & crushes visitor’s phone with its trunk

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Featured image adapted from Matichon.