An elephant that was considered a “real-Dumbo” recently died after being forced to dance for tourists in Thailand for far too long.
Earlier this year, the elephant went viral when the charity, Moving Animals, revealed horrific footage of the emaciated animal being forced to dance to rave music and “play” musical instruments at Phuket’s Zoo in Thailand.
The charity then launched a petition to rescue the elephant and place him in a nearby animal sanctuary. The petition then gained traction with over 200,000 signatures.
Moving Animals has sadly revealed that the elephant’s back legs became so weak they snapped and a week later — he died.
“This is a tragic and horrific end to Dumbo’s heartbreakingly-short life,” the co-founder of Moving Animals, Amy Jones said.
“His skeletal body clearly suggested that he was unwell and could be suffering from malnourishment and exhaustion. And yet the zoo did nothing until receiving international criticism.”
“Under their care, this baby elephant broke both of his back legs, and the zoo did not even realize for three days. I can’t bring myself to imagine Dumbo’s suffering during this time.”
“For Dumbo to die whilst under the so-called ‘care’ and ‘treatment’ of the zoo shows just how neglected these animals are in captivity.
“We hope that Dumbo is now finding the peace that he was so cruelly denied in his life, and that his tragic story will urge Thai authorities to finally put an end to these outdated animal performances.”
The vet who treated Dumbo shared with The Phuket News how “It was the worst.”
The vet shared that the elephant became injured following a “horrible accident” after his “front legs became stuck in some mud while he was holding himself up with his back legs on dry ground.”
“First, he tried to lift himself out with his back right leg, but the bone was too thin and too brittle, and the stress on it caused it to break.” she continued.
“So, he tried to push himself out of the mud with his back left leg, and that broke, too.”
Staff at the zoo were able to get him out of the mud but they did not know his legs were broken.
He was then treated by the zoo’s vet before he was later taken to the hospital.
The vet says when he arrived that he was “very weak” – and it was then that they found his back legs were broken and began treatment.
But three days later — he was dead.
The charity went on to say that the zoo did not break any laws in the country and they are free to acquire another baby elephant if they so chose to.
The zoo manager, Mr. Pichai, shared with The Phuket News how he was “deeply saddened.”
“Nobody wants to lose something they love. We did the best we could do to protect him.” he shared with paper.
“Phuket Zoo [continues] to make many animals perform, including monkeys, crocodiles, and other elephants. We must stop this from happening – it may be too late to save baby “Dumbo”, but it is not too late to stop the zoo from hurting other animals,” the petition reads.
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