Elephant Bill

Teresa joined me again today for the weekly feed at Doi Kam. A few of the pack were there to see us and get fed.

On the way up & back down, stopped to try to catch the TvT female around Royal Flora. Still the males got in the way but she did get some food from us. Called her Daeng.

The growth of the tumour is about the size of grapefruit and is bloody and a vet has told me, very painful.

Visited shelter to collect Jack, Misha and Patchok for their 1st Heartworm jabs at the vet today and to our surprise, Kam had given birth to her pups overnight. She was proudly feeding them, laying under one of the salas and all 6 looked healthy.





Today Karin, Teresa & I took the Heartworm cases to the vet and then went to Lamphun to perform a follow up visit on an adoption.

We eventually found the address, despite the adopters attempts to put us off we felt, and to our total disbelief, found a puppy that had 1 month previously been happy go lucky and was now very scared and frightened of any one touching it. It was in a cage and when the people took it out, it was firmly held and not allowed to play naturally. Furthermore, it just stayed in one spot, not inquisitive, seeking play toys or making friends. Momo bit me when I tried to touch him and his eyes spoke volumes. We told the adopters we were not happy and removed the puppy from the home.

We then went to the Lampang Elephant Reserve and looked for a dog that a kind person in America told us about. Apparently the dog 'Bill' had been kicked in the head 2 years ago by an Elephant and today, wandered about the reserve in a sad state. After a very protracted exercise, we managed to catch Bill using a tasty sandwhich laced with Sedaline sedative. Strong doggy, walked for ages after eating it but finally gave up after being surrounded by some of the reserves vetenary team.

We took Bill to our local vet and found that she had no movement in her jaw and could only lick through one side of her mouth where there was a gap in her teeth. The other teeth were badly infected and caked with debris, much of it was Elephant poo and the vet removed twigs, stones and so much rotting material that made the air in the clinic putrid. It would appear that she found poo was nutricious and soft, whats more, readily available!

Blood tests were carried out too and apart from her obvious poor diet and therefore low blood count, she has a clean bill of health. She seemed to have been previously sterilised too.

Took Bill back to the shelter and gave her a thorough clean & spray to remove the lice, flea and tick infestation. She smelt a lot better already.