ELEPHANT GETS ARTIFICIAL LEG

LINK TO "THE EYES OF THAILAND"

LINK TO "CRIPPLED ELEPHANT MERCY KILL" "
This material is From THE OUTDOORSMAN WITH BUCK MCNEELY TV SHOW

LINK TO "INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES"

STORY:

Not long ago while I was traveling in Sri Lanka, a man told me about a very unusual elephant with only 3 legs.

It took some doing but I tracked this mythical creature down to an Elephant orphanage in a town known as Pinnawalla.

But when I got up close, I didn't need to put my glasses on to see this wasn't the animal that was advertised. She was a female named Sama, who had all four legs, but was missing one of her feet. And it wasn't because she was born that way. It was because she stepped on a landmine...

Now just in case you don't know what a landmine is, its an explosive device hidden under the ground that explodes when someone or some thing steps on it. They're used mostly by military during times of war. But the problem is when the war is over, they forget where they hid them all. So what do they do? Put up a sign that says there are landmines around and go home!

Now I know that thousands and thousands of people are injured by these things every year, but what I didn't know is how badly it is affecting elephants - all over the world.

There are no statistics recorded on how many elephants are injured or killed by Landmines globally, but according to Windy Borman, who made a film on the subject in Thailand, it's more than you think.

"In Thailand and Myanmar, we know of 90 elephants that have stepped on landmines. So we know it's a really big problem."

Windy's film focuses the efforts of Soraida Salwala to help injured elephants in Thailand by opening the world's first elephant hospital.

"In 1999, she actually received an elephant that had stepped on a landmine," Windy told me in a interview.

At this point nobody knew how to treat an elephant with a landmine injury, but Soraida assembled a team of veterinarians and doctors to figure it out.

They succeeded and the elephant was saved.

"Since then she has been able to treat 14 elephantst hat have been injured by landmines ," Windy says. "Of those, they were able to save 4 and provide 2 with artificial limbs so they could walk again."

So that brings me to the question of the day. What do you think is the best way to protect elephants from landmines?

A.) Good medical care?
B.) Teaching them how to avoid Landmines?
C.) Getting rid of all the landmines?

If you picked "C" - getting rid of the landmines, then I would agree with you. If there are no landmines in the first place, we wouldn't have to worry about elephants stepping on them!