Thread: Plai Sak Surin taken to elephant hospital after arriving home from Sri Lanka

A 29-year-old male elephant returned to his motherland to heal and rest, after he was given to Sri Lanka where he sustained injuries from 22 years religious parades and alleged neglect.


Plai Sak Surin, named "Muthu Raja" by Sri Lankans, landed in an Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport plane at Chiang Mai International Airport at 2.03pm after an almost five hour flight from Sri Lanka.


The plane left the airport in Colombo at 7.30am Sri Lanka time.


After the plane landed, officials took almost an hour to prepare to unload the cage Plai Sak Surin was in and transfer it to the back of a trailer truck.


Plai Sak Surin is the only elephant the Thai government has recalled after giving one to a foreign government as a gesture of goodwill.

After officials fully secured the cage on the back of the trailer truck, the truck drove away from the plane at 3.07pm to the joy of the many people who had gathered to welcome the bull elephant home.


Officials then made final checks and sprayed water over the cage to cool the elephant down. They also provided him with water to drink.


The trailer truck left the airport at 3.51pm for the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang province where Plai Sak Surin will receive treatment for the injuries he sustained.


The 80 kilometre journey was expected to take two hours.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa, and senior officials from his ministry, flew to Chiang Mai on Sunday morning to receive Plai Sak Surin and oversee the operation unloading him from the Russian transport plane.


Varawut and the senior officials were seen on the airport’s runway.


They left the tarmac at 3.50 pm before the truck drove off.


Varawut told reporters that veterinarians had checked and found that the elephant was fit for the drive to the elephant hospital in Lampang’s Hang Chat district.

When the trailer truck started driving out of the airport, hundreds of people shouted in joy.


“Have a safe trip” and “get well soon” were the most common phrases shouted.


The elephant was in a special cage decorated with paintings of the Thai and Sri Lankan national flags.


He left Thailand when he was seven years old as one of three elephants the Thai government gave to the Sri Lankan government in 2001 as a gesture of goodwill. The two other elephants are still at a zoo in Colombo.


Officials said it was fortunate that it was not too hot and clouds partially blocked the sun so that Plai Sak Surin did not have to cope with high temperatures upon his arrival home.


Officials accompanying Varawut to the airport, included the ministry’s permanent secretary, Jatuporn Burutpat, and Atthapon Charoenchansa, acting director-general of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.


Sak Surin’s plight became known in May last year when the Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (RARE), a non-profit that advocates for animal rights in Sri Lanka, alerted the Thai Natural Resources and Environment Ministry that Plai Sak Surin was allegedly being mistreated in Sri Lanka.


“Muthu Raja is a Thai elephant in Sri Lanka being beaten, bull-hooked and abused. When he is wounded and injured, no treatment is given, and his nutrition and hygiene are neglected,” RARE posted on its Facebook page on October 7 last year.


The Environment Ministry sought help from the Foreign Ministry to investigate.


Last month, the Environment Ministry sent a team of elephant experts to check on Plai Sak Surin and work with the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka to procure a travel cage and other equipment to bring him home.


The operation to transport Plai Sak Surin home started at 10pm on Saturday, Sri Lankan time.


The elephant was led inside the special cage with a grill over the top to enhance ventilation at 20 minutes after midnight.


A crane was used to lift the cage onto a trailer truck at 1.05am and the truck left Dehiwala Zoo at 1.05am.


It arrived at the airport in Colombo at 3am.


Veterinarians examined Plai Sak Surin’s condition at 3.25am.


After clearing customs, the elephant cage was loaded onto the transport plane between 4am and 4.50am.


About 40 officials cooperated to ensure safe transportation for Plai Sak Surin for the second flight of his life – this one taking him home after 22 years in a cage in a zoo in a foreign country.

Plai Sak Surin taken to elephant hospital after arriving home from Sri Lanka

Given he's spent 22 years listening to SriLankan I hope they don't use those metal bars on the poor thing whilst they gabble away in Thai.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

Given he's spent 22 years listening to SriLankan I hope they don't use those metal bars on the poor thing whilst they gabble away in Thai.

you have to be kidding me. How could you even think that?

Originally Posted by aging one

you have to be kidding me. How could you even think that?

What?

Sak Surin in quarantine at Lamphang elephant centre

update

Bloody hell, how many more are there?!

Thailand is seeking to strike deals with several veterinarian organisations in Sri Lanka to ensure proper care for Thai ambassador elephants, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said on Wednesday.

Care sought for other jumbos

Fans of Sak Surin can visit the elephant from mid-August

Members of the Sak Surin fan club, the Thai elephant recently repatriated from Sri Lanka, will have a chance to meet him during Thailand’s Mother’s Day holidays, between August 11th and 13th, after the end of his 30-day quarantine period.


Sak Surin is currently quarantined at the National Elephant Institute of the Forest Industry Organisation in Lampang province, which is opposite the Elephant Conservation Centre.


Suratchai Inviset, the director of the institute, told Thai PBS today (Friday) that veterinarians at the institute will collect specimens from Sak Surin for final tests on July 30th, with the results expected in one week, after which the elephant will be moved to the Elephant Conservation Centre for further medical treatment.


Although the Elephant Conservation Centre is located just the opposite the institute, he said a truck will be used and the elephant will be trained to enter and exit the vehicle, which will not be not difficult for a tame elephant like Sak Surin, said Suratchai.


Veterinarians from Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen universities, the Livestock Development Department, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the Zoological Park of Thailand are meeting this afternoon to work out a treatment plan for Sak Surin.


The elephant’s left front leg is still stiff and cannot bend, which is the result of wound and improper treatment while he was at a temple in Sri Lanka. His right eye is also has a cataract.

Fans of Sak Surin can visit the elephant from mid-August | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

^Wish I had know that before I stopped by the other day to see the handsome fellow. All there was at the Elephant Conservation Center was his shipping box.

Elephant Sak Surin due to leave quarantine next weekend

On Friday, the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang collected a final set of specimens from Sak Surin, a Thai elephant repatriated from Sri Lanka early last month.


Sak Surin is due to complete his period of quarantine at the National Elephant Institute, also in Lampang, around next weekend, depending on the results of the latest lab tests.


Mahouts are now training the elephant to get on and off a truck, to prepare him for transport to the Elephant Conservation Centre, which is located opposite to the institute, when the quarantine period ends.


A Thai blessing ceremony will be held on August 13 for the elephant before being moved.


The institute stated that Sak Surin’s fans will be able to meet him once a day at the conservation centre, soon after he settles in.


Sittidet Mahasawangkul, a senior vet, said that Sak Surin is general healthy, always in a good mood and eats constantly.

Elephant Sak Surin due to leave quarantine next weekend | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world