BANGKOK – An elephant fitted with an artificial limb 10 years after stepping on a land mine has had a minor setback, damaging the device attached to her left front leg.
Soraida Salwala of the private group Friends of the Asian Elephant said Thursday that 48-year-old Motola bent the prothesis when she lay down on it.
Motola, who weighs three tons, was fitted with the custom-made device Sunday at the Elephant Hospital in Lampang, northern Thailand.
Soraida said the device was removed for repair by its makers, the Prostheses Foundation, which also produces artificial limbs for human amputees. It will be reattached on Saturday.
In 1999, Motola underwent amputation surgery after her left front foot was shredded by a land mine blast near a logging camp along the Myanmar-Thai border.
