Two more elephants step on land min

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Subject: Two more elephants step on land mines on Thai-Myanmar border  

Two more elephants step on land mines on Thai-Myanmar border 

BYLINE: THAKSINA KHAIKAEW 


DATELINE: BANGKOK, Thailand 


AP, 13 October 1999.    Two more elephants have stepped on land mines along
Thailand's strife-torn border with Myanmar, fast becoming one of the
world's most dangerous areas for the large beasts. 

The new injuries were reported by animal authorities Wednesday, nearly
seven weeks after veterinarians
amputated the left front foot of logging elephant Motola, whose leg was
shredded by a land mine. 

Tensions along the long border between Thailand and Myanmar, also known as
Burma, have risen
recently as Myanmar troops have reportedly massed against rebels following
a hostage-taking Oct. 1
at the country's embassy in Bangkok. 

The new victims include a 2-year-old male elephant who stepped on a mine
more than a week ago.
Both his hind legs were injured, said Alongkorn Mahannop, a veterinarian at
Bangkok's Dusit Zoo.
Other details were unclear. 

The other was a full-grown logging female foraging for food near a mountain
village over the weekend.
She was awaiting transportation to a hospital. 

The young elephant, named Phlai Um-boon, arrived Tuesday at an elephant
camp in Ayuthaya province,
70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Bangkok, in a truck. The blast ripped the
flesh on his rear legs to the
bone and injured his left eye. 

''His condition is critical and vets can only save his life if they can
keep the inflammation at bay and
successfully plant new tissue to cover his wounded legs,'' Alongkorn said. 

The vet ordered the elephant's transfer to the veterinary faculty of
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok,
where a team of surgeons will be assembled. 

The other elephant, Phang Pangkalu, 40, was foraging for food a few meters
(yards) inside Myanmar
when her footsteps set off two land mines. The first did no damage, but the
second shredded her right
front leg. 

Thai villagers were sheltering her Wednesday while trying to arrange
transportation hampered by muddy
roads to bring her out, said local veterinarian Chaiyaporn Ponchai. 

Sorida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation,
said space was being
prepared for the older elephant at Hang Chat Elephant Hospital in nearby
Lampang province. 

''We want to save her,'' Sorida said. ''We will see what we can do to save
her life once she arrives.'' 

The hospital was the site of the extraordinary operation Oct. 28 when vets
amputated the foot of
Motola, a 38-year-old logging elephant, in an operation followed by people
around the world. 

Motola has been recovering slowly but is said to be in good spirits. She
rejected an initial attempt to fit
her with a temporary prosthesis and has been hobbling about on three feet
for the past two weeks. 

The elephant is Thailand's national animal, but the population has dwindled
sharply over the past three
decades during the Southeast Asian country's rapid development. 

>From more than 11,000 domesticated elephants in 1965, there are now
believed to be as few as 2,500,
and another 2,000 in the wild. Many have been reduced to wandering the
streets of Bangkok, where
their owners use them to beg from tourists. 

Man of those still used in logging are concentrated along the northern and
western borders, scene of a
half-century of fighting between Myanmar's government and ethnic rebels. 


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