Thais come to the aid of elephant

Thais come to the aid of elephant

BANGKOK (AFP): A group of Thai specialists will leave for Indonesia in two weeks to tend to a sick elephant and bring the animal back home, a government minister said Friday.

"The mission will leave Bangkok on June 17 ... and then travel by boat to (the Indonesian province of) Aceh," where they will try to rescue an ailing 35-year-old elephant named Plai Kingkaoe, said Pavena Hongsakul, the office minister for the prime minister.

Plai Kingkaoe is the sole survivor of a group of four of the animals sent to Banda Aceh in 1986.

He needs to return to his home in Thailand to recuperate, the minister said.

The specialists from the Thai Elephant Camp have already rescued six other sick Thai elephants in Indonesia.

Upon his return to Thailand, Plai Kingkaoe will be welcomed in the historical capital of Ayutthaya and then get some rest and recuperation.

Elephants have long been Thailand's national symbol. The Thai monarch previously had a stable of white elephants, and the pachyderms once graced the country's currency.