The woman behind return from Lanka of ailing elephant

Former Suphan Buri MP Kanchana Silpa-archa is one of the people who played a key role in securing the return to Thailand from Sri Lanka of an ailing male elephant, Saksurin, which is tentatively scheduled to be flown back home on  July 1st.

In an exclusive interview with Thai PBS, Kanchana, the older sister of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Varawut, recalled that, in August last year, she received a call from Sittidet Mahasawangkul, a veterinarian at the Forest Industry Organisation, asking for help to bring Saksurin back to Thailand for medical treatment, as the elephant had a badly infected wound, its living conditions at a temple in Sri Lanka were bad and it was not being given proper care.

She said that she was saddened when she saw a picture of the elephant, which was sent to her by Sittidet, and consulted her brother, Varawut, who is overseeing the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

She also said that the Thai ambassador in Sri Lanka was very helpful and arranged for a team of Thai vets to visit Sri Lanka to take care of Saksurin which, she added, marked the start of the process to bring the animal back home for proper treatment.

Thanks to the kindness of the abbot of the temple in Sri Lanka, Saksurin was relocated to a zoo, to be taken care of by a Thai mahout, Thongsuk Mali-ngam, who was flown from Thailand, initially for a period of one month, which was extended to almost six months, said Kanchana.

Thai vets were sent to Sri Lanka twice to treat the nasty wound on the elephant’s hip, once in August last year and again in November.Kanchana said that all the vets and others involved agreed that the best way to treat the elephant would be to bring it back to Thailand, initially, in January this year, but it was delayed because the elephant was in musth.

Ambassador Pote in Sri Lanka was instrumental in arranging the considerable amount of paper work for the elephant to be flown back, required because it is a species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).Meanwhile, in Thailand, an air transport cage was built.

Kanchana admitted that, while the task of repatriating the elephant may not appear to be difficult, without the cooperation of several governmental agencies, including state funding of a 24.7 million baht special budget, the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka, the Forest Industry Organisation, Minister Varawut, the mahout and the Sri Lankan’s who are assisting, this could not have happened.

She said that Saksurin is luckier than the many other elephants which have been sent overseas and have not had a chance to return home.

A team of officials from the Forest Industry Organisation, the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will be flown to Sri Lanka ahead of time to prepare for the elephant’s flight back to Thailand.Upon arrival in Thailand, Saksurin will be sent to the elephant hospital in Lampang for treatment and a peaceful retirement.( Thai PBS)