A Pattaya veterinarian and experts from Nong Nooch Tropical Garden are caring for a wild elephant shot in the leg in Rayong.
Dr. Padet Siriwong of Nernplabwan Animal Hospital joined experts from Nong Nooch’s elephant park to attend to “Nga Son,” a young male elephant twice found in villages in Khao Chamao District munching on fruit trees and crops.
Locals believe the short-tusked pachyderm is the same elephant that killed two rubber tappers in September. Wildlife officers had shot the animal with tranquilizer darts and transported it back to Khao Ang Lua Nai, but it didn’t stay on the mountain.
This time wildlife officers discovered that the elephant had a shotgun wound to its leg after being shot by a scared rubber tapper. The buckshot was still in the wound, which became infected.
On Oct. 27, the vet and a Nong Nooch mahout reopened the wound, drained the pus, then applied dressing. It will need to be cleaned daily for several days for the animal to recover.
Officials believe the Nga Son’s attack on rubber tappers might have been self-preservation after being harassed by humans.
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