Elephants found dead had so much pain before they died

Following a discovery of the dead elephants - all female aged 15 to 40 years old on a mountain ridge in Chanthaburi's Khlung district, veterinarian Pattarapon Maneeon said the bodies were much decomposed but they managed to get some meats, bones, abdomen fat, grass in stomach and maggots for testing. He warned that the jumbos were dead for two months thus traces of disease or chemical might be degenerated and gone, but he would try contacting Medical Science Department, National Institute of Animal Health and Faculty of Veterinary Science at universities to see how they can help with testing.

Director-General of the National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department, Chalermsak Wanichsombat said he would ask labs at Kasetsat University and Mahidol University to help test evidences. Personally not believing that they died from chemical contamination but probably from a disease outbreak, he said he wanted scientific results to confirm the cause of death first. 

Pattarapon said it appeared that the jumbos did not die instantly and might suffered a great deal as they appeared to be struggling, which matched the residents' comments of hearing elephants' cries in agony. The spot they were found had other elephants found dead before thus it was probably a graveyard, where these six elephants suffered food contamination from elsewhere went to die. Judging from the jumbos' position with their heads close together, he said the elephants might have gathered their trunks as they were all from the same herd. Saying that the comment that the jumbos were poisoned was a bit too harsh on villagers, he said it was possible that the elephants might indirectly receive agriculture farming chemicals from water sources or they caught a disease from domestic animals. Pattarapon said officials were now looking for other 2-3 elephants of the same herd and survey the wooded area for risky factors that could lead to the jumbos' death.

These deaths sadden him because it was a loss of the already shrinking elephant population and the six should have been useful to ecology system and, since an economist's estimation of one elephant life was Bt17 million, this meant the country lost Bt120 million in tax money, Pattarapon said.

The Nation