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Siam Safari was the first company to start elephant trekking in
Phuket in 1994. Once, an elephant became sick and a vet in Phuket
treated it but, having no experience with elephants, he overdosed
it and an expert elephant vet from Bangkok had to be flown down
to save it. Thailand has very few vets experienced enough at working
with elephants and if an elephant becomes very sick the only hospital
is in Lamphang in Northern Thailand; at least two days' drive by
10-wheel truck from Phuket.
Mobile Elephant Clinic Project
Siam Safari contacted the Asian Elephant Foundation in Bangkok
and asked if they had a mobile elephant clinic. At that time they
did not so in 1995 Siam Safari donated 280,000 baht to the Foundation
to help them set up a mobile elephant clinic. The clinic came to
Phuket and was helpful but the clinic had to cover the whole country
and did not come often and could not come immediately in the case
of an emergency.
Siam Safari & Dusit Laguna - Joint Elephant Project
A project called 'Ivory belongs on elephants' was launched with
the World Wildlife Fund. Schoolchildren checked all tourist shops
in Phuket and if they were not selling any ivory products they were
given a sticker saying 'Ivory Belongs on Elephants. No Ivory Sold
Here.'
Reflective elephant leg bands were purchased and given to elephant
camps throughout Phuket so they could be seen at night on the road.
Siam Safari's Mobile Elephant Clinic Project
Siam Safari recruited its own specialist elephant vet Dr. Somchai
to take care of its own elephants in Phuket and Surat Thani. Also,
in his spare time Dr. Somchai has treated many elephants at other
camps in Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Surat Thani.
Some notable cases stand out:
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An elephant in Kamala cut its trunk on sharp bamboo and was
bleeding severely. Dr Somchai managed to stop the bleeding and
applied bandages. The elephant recovered in a few days.
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The Governor of Trang Province contacted Siam Safari over
a very dangerous bull elephant in musth. Dr. Somchai managed
to dart the elephant and calm it down so it could be moved to
a safer place.
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An elephant in Krabi was near death and could not raise itself
from the ground. Dr. Somchai spent the next 48 hours feeding
it dextrose solution by drip (nearly 100 bottles). After three
days it managed to stand and eventually had a full recovery.
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In Phangnga an elephant was bitten by a cobra snake and was
about to collapse, Dr. Somchai got some anti venom serum from
a local hospital and after an injection the elephant soon recovered.
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In Phang Nga a timber-hauling elephant fell off a truck and
was badly injured. Dr. Somchai spent many hours cleaning and
dressing the wounds and successfully prevented further infection.
The elephant fully recovered.
This mobile clinic project was paid for mainly by Siam Safari,
along with donations from people who went on Siam Safari tours.
Sadly, due to the tsunami, Siam Safari had to keep 40 elephants
and their mahouts for nearly a year with out any income as hardly
any tourists came to Phuket in 2005. Dr. Somchai went to work for
an elephant release project in northern Thailand and the mobile
elephant clinic closed down.
Siam Safari wants to start a new project to help the conservation
of Thai elephants and has started its own elephant sanctuary in
Mae Hong Son province. It is raising funds to help the elephant
hospital in Lamphang and would like to start the mobile elephant
clinic project again when sufficient funds have been saved.
It is easier to take a clinic to an elephant than to move a sick
elephant. There are no government funds for this project and a budget
of US$50,000 is needed to put this project in to operation and keeping
it running.
The project will be run by the
ASIAN ELEPHANT FOUNDATION OF THAILAND
61/4 Soi Pibulwattana 5, Rama VI Rd.,
Samsennai, Phayathai,
Bangkok 10400
Contact Khun Pittaya, tel. (02) 278 0924, fax (02) 271 4037
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