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Published on October 11, 2007

Royal project tests showed the level of toxicity found in grass the elephants were being fed was safe for consumption.

As well as the deaths of Phang Joi and Phang Grandma from extremely bad digestion, three other elephants were ill from the same symptoms.

Night Safari senior official Suphoj Maythaphirat said on Tuesday the illness was caused by them eating too much old grass in a single sitting.

He said insecticide in the grass - bought regularly from three communities in Tambon Mae Hia, Suthep and Nong Khwai - could also be a reason for the deaths.

Representatives of the three communities submitted grass samples to the Lampang Animal Nutrition Research Centre yesterday. They said the grass was free of toxins and did not cause the elephants' deaths.

The communities' manager for animal food, Buntarika Khamboontha, said the zoo bought 4.76 tonnes of Bana grass each day plus two tonnes of corn, bananas and other fruits. The villagers thoroughly cleaned the produce before packing it for delivery.

Buntarika said the villagers felt the elephants died because of zoo officials' poor under¬standing of feeding the animals and not contaminated grass. She said grass often contained water in the stem and therefore it was necessary to dry out - for the water to evaporate - before they gave it to the animals.

Night Safari senior official Preecha Ratanaporn said yesterday the three sick elephants, Phang Salinee, Phang Paen and Phang Linda, had recovered.

He said the royal project's test results on the Bana grass indicated toxic material from organophosphate and carba?mate groups were found in the sample but at a level deemed safe for elephants to consume.

He said the zoo would sepa?rate the old parts of the grass before feeding the elephants from now on and would estab?lish its own lab to test the qual?ity of the animals' food.