An ailing Thai elephant returns home for tender loving care after years of neglect in Sri Lanka

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — An ailing elephant that Thailand had presented to Sri Lanka more than two decades has returned to its native land to get medical treatment after animal lovers charged that he had been badly abused. The elephant, known in Sri Lanka as Muthu Raja, or Pearly King, was flown directly from the capital of the South Asian island nation to Chiang Mai province in the north of Thailand on Sunday on a Russian Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane. Controversy over his condition erupted in 2020 when the Sri Lanka-based Rally for Animal Rights and Environment group said the animal was in bad health due to years of hard labor and abuse, and that he needed urgent medical care. Thailand’s Environment Minister has said at least 19 million baht ($540,000) was spent on he repatriation.