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Thursday 20 October 2011
Author: Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan
In both August and September 2011, more elephants injured by landmines in Myanmar/Burma arrived for treatment in Thailand.
Pa Hae Po arrives after a difficult trip from the Burma-Thai border at the FAE Hospital in Lampang, northern Thailand. September 2011. Photo: Friends of the Asian Elephant
Pa Hae Po , a male elephant, was the 14th elephant mine victim admitted for care at the the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) hospital in northern Thailand in mid-September. He lost a part of his left front foot to a landmine planted in the jungle on the Burma-Thai border. The previous month a female elephant named Pang also lost part of her foot to a landmine injury in Myanmar/Burma, while grazing after hauling logs. Pang was taken to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center's Elephant Hospital for treatment.
Most elephants injured by landmines in the border area are involved in the timber trade. Last year a female elephant was injured on the border while pulling logs (see "Myanmar/Burma: Producer of the World's Largest Landmine Victims". Severe flooding throughout the region made it difficult to bring the elephant across the river, back to Thailand, and transport of the elephant from the border to the hospital was delayed by a landslide. The injury is being treated and the elephant is expected to recover, despite the power being out at the FAE hospital due to the severe weather.
The ICBL has reported on elephants who have been victims of antipersonnel landmines in Myanmar/Burma since 1999. According to Soraida Salwala, Founder of the FAE hospital, most elephants victimized by landmines die in the jungle and never receive medical attention.
The FAE hospital is the only one in the world to provide mine-injured elephants with prosthetics, in conjunction with the Prostheses Foundation of Thailand, operated by Magsaysay Award winner, Dr. Therdchai Jivacate.
In Sri Lanka, wild elephants have also been victimized by landmines laid in the past during the civil war in the country. One elephant whose lower leg was lost to a landmine was reported this month to be in the care of the Pinnawala elephant orphanage in the Kegalle District, central Sri Lanka.
