Krabi has been chosen for the first elephant hospital in the country’s South to treat animals which have been injured while working in plantations and in the tourism industry.

More than 800 elephants work in rubber plantations and at tourist sites in the southern provinces, but there are limited veterinary services in the area to treat the animals, National Elephant Institute director Worrawit Rothjanaphaithoon said.

The institute comes under the umbrella of the Forest Industry Organisation.

“Although the institute sends a mobile clinic to the South every year to look after the elephants’ health, it is not enough because the team of vets cannot handle serious cases,” Mr Worrawit said yesterday.

Seriously injured elephants have to travel hundreds of kilometres to a clinic in northern Lampang province for treatment, a process which is extremely costly.

BANGKOK POST