Posted by A rare elephant round-up ritual has been performed in Trat to return a stray wild elephant to its natural habitat.
The bull elephant Plai Thang blundered into humans last week, but mahouts have conducted a rare round-up ceremony to truck him back to a wildlife sanctuary.
The ritual, which took place yesterday, is usually only seen in shows for tourists in Surin, a province long renowned for the skill of its elephant handlers in capturing and training wild elephants.
Plai Thang, a bull elephant aged about 28 years, strayed from its wild herd in Chanthaburi’s Khlung district into a local neighbourhood in tambon Nongsamed in Muang district of Trat on July 3.
It was captured and placed in chains by local mahouts on July 15.
Mahouts ride trained elephants to approach Plai Thang, restrained with a rope.
The animal was safely moved to Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary in Chachoengsao. It will be released into the wild today.
Elephant experts and mahouts from the Elephant Study Centre in Surin and veterinarians from the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department were called in yesterday to transport the elephant to the wildlife sanctuary.
About 7am, elephant shamans performed ancient rituals to ask permission from deities to handle the elephant.
They devised prayers and citations for the ceremony.
Plai Thang, middle, is led to a truck before being moved to the Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary in Chachoengsao. It will be released into the wild today.
After the ceremony, the mahouts used four trained elephants to surround Plai Thang and used lassos to hold and pull the elephant.
They failed to move Plai Thang in the first round of the process, as the wild elephant resisted. Vets used a tranquilliser gun to calm it down before the mahouts tried again.
After 30 minutes, Plai Thang was pulled on to a 10-wheeled truck and carried on the truck to the Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary in Chachoengsao.
The ancient round-up ceremony was performed in the past to capture wild elephants which handlers hoped to turn into work elephants.
Surin revived the ceremony to attract tourists decades ago.
Chatchawal Pisdamkham, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office, said Plai Thang strayed from its herd probably because it has grown up and wants to have its own herd.
Sawai Wanghongsa, head of the wildlife research centre in Chachoengsao, believes the elephant belonged to a herd of 18 elephants which once lived in the Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary.
News item courtesy of www.bangkokpost.com
