Thai vets perform mercy killing on drug-addict elephant
Utusan Express, 9 July 2002

BANGKOK - Veterinarians have put to death an elephant that went blind and suffered years of painful side effects after being hooked on drugs by its owner, officials said Monday.

The 56-year-old cow elephant, Khamee, made headlines in 1994 when vets at Lampang Elephant Hospital, in northern Thailand, found that it had been addicted to amphetamines.

Its owner fed the synthetic stimulants to the animal to keep it awake at night so it could haul logs in an illegal lumber operation in a nearby jungle.

The hospital bought Kahmee for 80,000 baht (US$1,900). The vets weaned it off drugs, but its medical condition deteriorated. No action was taken against the owner.

Hospital director Preecha Phuangkham said it was put it out of its misery Sunday with injections of anaesthesia.

``Some people might object to this method but we think that allowing the animal to die peacefully is better than letting it live in torture,'' Preecha said.

He said Khamee had been unable to stand, was easily frightened due to nerve damage and had stopped eating.

In recent years, the hospital, about 510 kilometres (320 miles) north of Bangkok, has carried out mercy killings on seven sick or injured elephants, Preecha said.

Currently, eight elephants are being treated at the hospital, he said. Khamee was its first case of drug addiction.

Elephants have traditionally been used in Southeast Asian jungles for logging. Even after logging was banned in Thailand in 1989, many owners continued to cut trees clandestinely at night, forcing the animals to work by feeding them amphetamines.

Illegal logging has now been almost eradicated in Thailand.

The elephants are now mostly used for transport in tourist spots and in entertainment shows. More than 2,500 elephants are registered as domestic animals in Thailand. - AP