Elephant dies after month of treatment for gunshot wounds, 40 bullets found in the body

Caitlin AshworthPublished: 16:27, 11 January 2021| Updated: 16:46, 11 January 2021

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Elephant dies after month of treatment for gunshot wounds, 40 bullets found in the body

PHOTO: Matichon

A wild elephant died yesterday after nearly a month of medical treatment for gunshot wounds. Officials say more than 40 bullets were found in the body. The 3 tonne elephant had also attacked and killed a park officer last month who was trying to bring the elephant in for treatment.

The elephant, around 20 to 25 years old, was being treated by veterinarians at the Kui Buri National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan. After the elephant died, border patrol police scanned a metal detector over the body. They say more than 40 bullets from various firearms were found in the elephant’s body. Some were under the elephant’s eye, in its trunk and lodged in its leg bones.

Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.