Muthu Raja to fly back to Thailand in seven days; Operations underway to familiarise with conditions in a flight cage

Officials from Thailand have said that the ailing Thai elephant will be flown from Sri Lanka in seven days.

Training for a Thai elephant in Sri Lanka, named Sak Surin or Muthuraja, to familiarise it with conditions in a flight cage has been proceeding satisfactory, with the animal getting along well with the Thai mahouts.

This was confirmed by Atthaphon Charoenchansa, the Director-general of the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

He said that Muthuraja was trained to enter and exit the cage and to stay in the cage for up to two hours at night, with the cage doors shut on both sides and its legs tied with ropes to the four corners of the cage.

Atthaphon said officials will move to the next step on Wednesday, by using a crane to lift the cage, with Muthuraja inside, from the ground onto to a truck, adding that officials must exercise greater caution for this exercise, which will continue until the elephant is flown from Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai on July 2nd.

Muthuraja will be moved from the Dehlwala Zoo in Colombo to the airport on July 1st. It will be loaded onto a chartered flight at 7.30am the next morning. The flight is expected to arrive in Chiang Mai the same day at about 1pm.

For safety, Atthaphon said another team of veterinarians and mahouts will be deployed to Chiang Mai airport on July 2nd, to assess the condition of the elephant upon arrival.

If the elephant is in good shape, it will be trucked straight to the elephant conservation centre in Lampang on the same day. If it appears to be stressed and tired after the 6-hour flight, however, officials will have it sent to Chiang Mai Safari to rest, instead of Chiang Mai zoo as originally planned.

Muthuraja was presented as a gift from the Thai government to Sri Lanka at the age of 10 in 2001.