Sak Surin to get a welcoming ceremony

The National Resource and Environment Ministry will hold a Bai Sri Su Khwan welcoming ceremony for Thai elephant Sak Surin after his 30-day quarantine finishes, minister Varawut Silpa-archa says.

According to Mr Varawut, the ceremony will be held at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) in Lampang, where the 30-year-old elephant has been treated since being flown home from Sri Lanka on July 2.

The ceremony will be held once the elephant has undergone a blood test and is given a clean bill of health.

The TECC will allow the public to meet Sak Surin after the ceremony. The elephant will live with other elephants at the centre pending his full recovery, said Mr Varawut.

Sak Surin was one of three Thai elephants gifted to Sri Lanka in 2001 as goodwill ambassadors. He changed hands many times before ending up at the Kande Viharaya temple in Aluthgama, in south Sri Lanka, where he carried holy relics during annual Buddhist parades.

The tusker was allegedly abused and neglected before being taken to the National Zoological Gardens last November, according to Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (Rare), a Sri Lanka-based animal organisation. (bangkokpost)