An elephant keeper faced the unpleasant task of extracting 50lbs of dung from a constipated jumbo’s bottom in Thailand.
The 60-year-old elephant, Boon Peng, was suffering abdominal pains and struggling to walk at his enclosure in Chiang Mai.
Vets arrived and found Boon Peng was constipated, partly because he had been eating fresh grass that was not part of his diet.
The animal’s keeper, Kiettisak Kaweakn, donned a pair of full-length plastic gloves to reach inside the elephant’s rectum and scoop out the vast chunks of excrement.
Constipated elephant has 50lbs on dung pulled from bottom
Elephant keeper Kiettisak Kawekan reaches to extract vast chunks of dung from 60-year-old jumbo Boon Peng’s bottom after the animal became constipated in his enclosure
Keeper Kiettisak Kawekan demonstrates the size of the problem – showing the lump of dung which was larger than his own head
The keeper, also known as a mahout, even demonstrated the size of the problem by posing next to the lump which was larger than his own head.
Anchalee Kalamaphichit, manager of the Mae Sa elephant camp, said the animal had been gorging on fresh grass from a nearby field instead of specially ground up dried grass.
Vets said Boon Peng’s slow metabolism and sluggish bowel movements had also contributed to his discomfort on Tuesday evening.
Kalamaphichit said: ‘We usually feed the elephants with ground grass because it is better for their digestion but the old stubborn jumbo sneaks eating the grass on the field.’
The elephant’s keepers perform the unpleasant task at the Mae Sa elephant camp in Thailand on Tuesday evening
Vets arrived and found Boon Peng was constipated, partly because he had been eating fresh grass that was not part of his diet
Elephant keepers pose with the animal at the Thai enclosure where vets said Boon Peng had become constipated after eating the wrong kind of grass
The camp manager added: ‘A younger elephant could be OK, even though it’s not ideal for them. But an older elephant with a slower metabolism with struggle to digest it fully.’
The elephant was lucky to have his mahout available because scooping out the elephant dung from the rectum is not an easy process, she explained.
She said: ‘I think the mahout is the only person that the elephant would trust enough to allow to do this.’
The vet said that the old jumbo could have become sick if the lump of dung clogging his back passage had had not been removed.