Vet Drains Rescue Elephant's Abscesses All Over Its Body 🐘😨 | Bondi Vet Clips | Bondi Vet

These abscesses are huge, I mean they make grapefruits look small. You can feel the pus inside them too. So it's important we get as much pus out of those as we can. All these abscesses is that they all arise from the same cause. This hard life these elephants have had to lead. The elephant is such a strong symbol of Thailand, yet the reality of the elephant's plight here is anything but strong. There are only 2,200 left in the wild. We've got one elephant called Buangan, she's an old lady. She needs some treatment for her abscesses, she's got half a dozen abscesses over her body and maybe you could help and check on her and help to clean it out. All glamorous jobs, right? Yep, only for you, special jobs. I've done plenty of abscesses in dogs and cats, but I get the feeling with an elephant it might be entirely different. At the Wildlife Friends Foundation in Thailand, Chris is helping out the boss, Edwin Week. That's an abscess there? Yeah, that's one of the abscesses on his treatment. Nine rescue elephants are now permanent residents at the centre and most have chronic, long-term health issues. She's been used heavily in the tourism industry and before that in the logging industry, so she has had these abscesses probably years before she was rescued. She had about a triple amount of abscesses when she was brought in, but the treatment has been taken over two years now, so it's a matter of cleaning really well every other day. And that's why I'm here. To treat a girl this size, it's going to take a team effort. So we've got some volunteers. Two girls from Australia, one from Canada, and they're going to help you. Hello, how are you going? So you guys can help. Band together a bit of Aussie spirit and triumph over the Dutchman here. About time. These abscesses are huge. I mean, they make grapefruits look small. You can feel the pus inside them too. So it's important we get as much pus out of those as we can. Thailand has about 2,200 elephants in the wild and approximately 2,500 in captivity. The problem is that captive elephants are placed under the livestock laws, so they can be bought and sold just like a cow, a horse or a buffalo. But we have no animal welfare laws, so the treatment of elephants in captivity is hard to control. And that's one of our biggest problems. So you got a favorite in there amongst the corn, the pineapple? She really likes the corn. Yeah? Yeah. Elephants are being exploited, working long hours, going through heavy training sessions with a lot of cruelty. I think that's one of the biggest problems we really have when it comes to animal welfare. It's not only the local tourism industry now demanding for these elephants, even China as a growing nation now wants these elephants. And you know, when there's a demand and there's a lack of enforcement, that's going to be illegal trade. That is deep. Yeah, huge. The really hard thing to accept about all these absences is that they all arise from the same cause. This hard life these elephants have had to lead. Oh, there we go. The worry with Boer is, given her history in logging and in tourism, that perhaps mohuts may have hit her with sticks. Those little sticks break the skin, bacteria get underneath the skin, and from there set up infections. Now I've got it clean. The plan is to try to get as much of this antibiotic cream up there as we can. And then with any luck, this might just stay in there. Just make sure that that environment in there, which is now sterile, stays as close to that as possible. All right, next one. There we go. Here's the leg. It's almost like she knows I'm out there somewhere and just isn't quite sure where, so just starts kicking in all directions. While this is an uncomfortable thing for Boer to go through, it's just such a small part of a day. The rest of the day is filled up with play, filled up with food, and filled up with love. And it's miles away from her old life. So I think after we've had a bath together and I've tended to your wounds, we now know each other quite well. So it only makes sense that I'd feed you as well, yeah? You're going slow for a change. We're in a forest area and it wouldn't surprise me if we encounter some heavy traffic. After releasing the rogue monkey, Chris and Edwin are heading back to the rescue centre. As we're driving along, Edwin's going quite slow and has this smirk on his face. I know something's up. Look, there's an elephant here, right next to the village. All of a sudden, I see exactly why Edwin's on the go slow. A big male elephant up here, just on the side of the road. Yeah, and you've got to realise that this is not one of the elephants at our rescue centre. This is a wild one. I mean, he could pick this car up if he wants to, push it over to the side. He could do anything he likes. There was another one just behind there in the bushes as well. Incredible to see them this close when they're wild. I mean, you're used to seeing elephants in zoos and appreciating their size and their majesty, but when he's here and now just turning, just have a look here. That would be a freak out. There's more there. Yeah. Look at him, how he impressive kind of walking. I guess this is really what it's all about for you though, Edwin, isn't it? It's actually seeing the animals in the wild and rescuing them is great, but to see them not needing rescuing must be even more special. Yeah, it is great. It's great to see them in the wild. It's a pity that they're along the road. In Thailand, Chris and wildlife warrior Edwin Week have encountered a daily problem. There's a road going right through the forest. It's actually quite a busy road. And people are throwing food out of the cars, feeding the elephants over there. This has changed behavior of the elephants. The elephants are actually waiting for food now instead of foraging themselves. Look at her, she's in protection mode. The tail up, see the tail being higher up and then when she looked at us, the ears wide open like that. This kind of roadblock is not easy to be ignored by people, even with a large car. These elephants can stop you and they can do a lot of damage to your car, your property, or if you're on a motorbike to you. Motorcycle riders can just get swiped off their bikes. Only a few weeks ago, a monk was killed when he went out to try to feed one of the elephants. It's dangerous. You don't know that he might not even want to kill somebody. They don't know their own strength. And, you know, that's one of the problems we face here with these elephants. And they get so close to people so often, they lose respect. Thousands of people pass through this road every day, up and down. And that's one of the problems. You see, here they're starting some kind of fencing to stop the elephants coming out of the jungle. But it ain't going to stop them. Without electrical fencing, that ain't going to work. The elephant is such a strong symbol of Thailand, yet the reality of the elephant's plight here is anything but strong. There are only 2,200 left in the wild. And those, as we've seen here, are pretty vulnerable. Every day in Thailand, it's an ongoing struggle to get the right balance between people and animals. Edwin's passion is finding that balance. I think a very important message is that we should not exploit wildlife. Whether it's for tourism, in a zoo, a circus, wildlife needs to be in the wild. Do you want to have a go breaking that in half? I want it to be possible to close down this place, that we're not needed anymore. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. There will always be a need for wildlife rescue centers like ours. Second best would be to grow in size, give the animals more space and a better life than they already got. The rescue center here survives entirely on donations. They get food from some of the local farmers in return for care of their animals. But financially, a lot of the donations come from Australia and from other countries all around the world. In you go, start scrubbing. What's this? Get in and you'll find out. You serious? Yeah. I thought this was the quiet time. For the elephants, sure, yeah. Volunteer's work is never done. While the money makes a huge difference, there's nothing that can replace the care, the time, the love shown by the volunteers that work here. I actually just wanted to see him with his shirt off. It's always great to have a vet extra, you know. It's like tools. You can't have enough of them. For that, it's been a great week. Can you feel that? I really need all the help I can get. Any vet, nurse, whatever, we need people to help all these animals. Oh, you're a good girl. The first couple of years when I did this work, I would go on a rescue and see an elephant badly treated or see a monkey in a very tiny cage. And I used to get furious with the owners. There you go. I realized after a couple of years that that approach doesn't really work. If I want people to support our work, I need to make sure they understand what's wrong and what they've done wrong without making them feel guilty. That's amazing. Yes, I still get angry. But I won't show it. I'm determined to help the animal. And I always tell myself and the animal in question that this is the day everything is going to change. Everything that happened is over. And from now on, things are only going to get better. I really think what being here has taught me is the fact that when you travel to a place like Thailand, you have to do it with open eyes and be aware of what you're seeing. That photo on the street with that amazing animal or that elephant ride, sometimes it comes at a cost. And it's not just financial.