In dispute about mistreating jumbos, Thailand airlifts ‘gifted’ elephant from Sri Lanka

Due to a diplomatic disagreement about the elephant’s alleged mistreatment, a Thai elephant that had been given as a gift to Sri Lanka twenty years earlier was flown back to Thailand on Sunday. The elephant Muthu Raja, also known as Sak Surin, was surrendered to Sri Lanka by Thai officials in 2001. He was 29 years old. They did, however, seek its return last year after claims of abuse and neglect while it was at a Buddhist temple in the island’s south.

According to Thai authorities, the 700,000 USD one-way commercial aeroplane that carried the 4,000 kilogramme creature left from Colombo airport. The elephant will be confined to a nearby wildlife reserve after landing in Chiang Mai.

Before morning, Muthu Raja was brought in a specially made steel cage from his temporary residence at a zoo in Colombo. The elephant was flown with four Thai handlers and a Sri Lankan keeper, and two CCTV cameras tracked its condition during the voyage.

When Muthu Raja was rescued from its previous residence last year, Muthu Raja was in discomfort and covered in abscesses, according to Madusha Perera, the chief veterinarian at Dehiwala Zoo. Animal protection organisations assert that the elephant was made to work with a logging crew against its will and that its wounds, some of which were reportedly inflicted by its operator, were ignored.

According to Perera’s statement, the elephant will receive hydrotherapy once it is back in Thailand to repair a problem with its front left leg. Elephants are revered and legally protected in Sri Lanka. Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (RARE), the group that fought for the elephant’s release from the temple, expressed displeasure with its departure and is requesting legal action against those guilty for the animal’s abuse.

Outside the Thai embassy in Colombo, a nationalist party in Sri Lanka organised a protest calling for the elephant to stay in the country for an additional six months. According to Thailand’s wildlife minister, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the country is adamant about getting the elephant back. Varawut Silpa-archa, Thailand’s environment minister, did not address whether Muthu Raja had been mistreated but did say that the Thai government had stopped exporting elephants. Diplomatic missions in Bangkok are currently examining the state of elephants that were previously moved abroad.