We thought there was something fishy (fruity?) about Tuesday’s blame of the usual, seeded suspects in the death of a young elephant in a Phetchaburi province national park.
One day after authorities seemed to collectively shrug and blame some fallen fruit for the 7-year-old bull’s sudden death, an autopsy yesterday found a more convincing cause of death: a bullet in its gut. Not to mention the 16 shotgun pellets buried in its skin. Science, we congratulate you.
Wednesday’s autopsy came one day after the elephant’s body was found alongside a road running through Kaeng Krachan National Park. Veterinarian Burachat Tanpradit of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Dept. found the 11-millimeter bullet inside the elephant’s stomach, which he believed also damaged the animal’s spleen and lung.
Stepping once more into theory, authorities now say the gunshot wound might have been inflicted by a scared tourist, and villagers might have unloaded a few shotgun blasts into the kingdom’s most-revered animal to keep it away from their crops, Bangkok Post reported.
Photo: kcdsTM
