Sak Surin (elephant)

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Sak Surin, also known as Muthu Raja, is a 29-year-old elephant that was gifted to Sri Lanka by the Thai royal family in 2001 to be trained as a carrier of religious relics.[1] However, after allegations of abuse and neglect while housed at a Buddhist temple in the south of Sri Lanka, Thai authorities demanded its return.[2] Muthu Raja was flown back to Thailand on a commercial flight that cost $700,000.[2]

Muthu Raja was returned to Thailand after allegations of abuse and neglect while housed at a Buddhist temple in the south of Sri Lanka. Thai authorities demanded its return. Animal welfare groups said the elephant had been forced to work with a logging crew and that its wounds, some allegedly inflicted by its handler, had been neglected.

After Muthu Raja arrived back in Thailand, he was placed in medical quarantine.[3] He will undergo hydrotherapy to treat an injury on his front left leg.[4] The possibility of his return to Sri Lanka after receiving medical treatment has yet to be discussed.[2]

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