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NEWS - Two More Elephants Step on L



Subject: NEWS - Two More Elephants Step on Land Mines on Thai-Myanmar Border

Two More Elephants Step on Land Mines on Thai-Myanmar Border

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Two more elephants have stepped on land mines
along Thailand's border with Myanmar, fast becoming one of the world's
most dangerous areas for the beasts. 

Animal authorities reported the injuries today, nearly seven weeks after
veterinarians amputated the left front foot of logging elephant Motola
after it had been shredded in a mine blast. 

Though Thailand has outlawed anti-personnel land mines and begun
detonating those that exist, some of its border areas with Myanmar and
Cambodia are still strewn with mines. 

The new victims include a two-year-old male elephant named Phlai
Um-boon, and a full-grown logging female. 

Phlai Um-boon stepped on a mine more than a week ago in Mae Hong Son
province, northern Thailand. The blast ripped flesh on his rear legs to
the bone, and his left eye was injured, said Alongkorn Mahannop, a
veterinarian at Bangkok's Dusit Zoo. 

"His condition is critical, and vets can only save his life if they can
keep the inflammation at bay and successfully plant new tissues to cover
his wounded legs," Alongkorn said. 

The elephant was ordered taken to Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok
for treatment. 

The other elephant, named Phang Pangkalu, 40, detonated two mines over
the weekend while she was foraging for food a few yards inside Myanmar.
The first mine did no damage, but the second shredded her right front
leg. 

Mountain villagers were sheltering her today, and transportation was
hampered by muddy roads, local veterinarian Chaiyaporn Ponchai said. 

Sorida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation,
said space was being prepared for the her at Hang Chat Elephant
Hospital, in nearby Lampang province. 

The hospital was the site of the extraordinary Oct. 28 operation, in
which vets amputated the foot of Motola, a 38-year-old logging elephant,
while the world watched by TV. 

Motola was recovering slowly, but was said to be in good spirits. She
rejected a temporary prosthesis, and for two weeks has been hobbling
about on three feet. 

The elephant is Thailand's national animal, but the population of
domesticated elephants has dwindled from 11,000 to 2,000 over the past
three decades with the Southeast Asian country's rapid development. Many
have been reduced to wandering Bangkok's streets, where their owners use
them to beg from tourists. 

There are just 2,000 Asian elephants in the wild.