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Published on October 26, 2007

The elephants - all female - were aged between 15 and 40 years old.

Veterinarian Pattarapon Manee-on said the jumbos apparently suffered badly before each of them died one after another.

"There was no trace of gunshots," the vet said. He believed the elephants died either from contaminated food or disease.

Pattarapon said further examinations were needed to determine the exact cause of the animals' deaths.

A forestry official said the elephants may have died from pesticide-laced fruit because local farmers had sprayed a chemical on their plantations.

"The farmers were unhappy that the elephants had raided their plantations and destroyed their crops," he said on condition of anonymity.

The Nation