Motola the elephant has taken a significant step in treating injured animals worldwide. Ten years ago, she lost her foot and most of her left leg after stepping on a landmine.
Yesterday, Motola, fitted with a cutting-edge prosthetic limb, cautiously but happily ventured out of her enclosure.
Motola, now 48, has successfully adapted to her new artificial leg after losing her limb in a landmine explosion.
She briefly left her enclosure during her initial stroll with the prosthesis, joyfully grabbing and spraying dust with her trunk.
“It has gone very well—she has walked around twice,” said Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation in Thailand. “She hasn’t yet put her full weight on it, but she’s doing alright.”
Elephant keepers carefully assisted in fitting Motola’s artificial leg, highlighting the challenges elephants face today.
Motola sustained her injuries in 1999 while working at a logging camp on the Thai-Burmese border, an area plagued by landmines from decades of civil war.
While foraging for food during a lunch break, she accidentally stepped on a landmine, leading to the loss of her leg.
The Prostheses Foundation members meticulously adjusted the prosthetic leg to ensure a perfect fit.
Over the past three years, Motola wore a temporary device to strengthen her leg muscles and tendons in preparation for the permanent prosthesis.
The operation to fit the prosthesis required enough anesthesia to render 70 people unconscious, earning it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Motola’s artificial leg was crafted by the Prostheses Foundation, which is known for manufacturing limbs for human amputees.
The Elephant Hospital, established by Soraida in 1993 in northern Thailand, is the world’s first.
It has provided care for thousands of elephants, addressing medical issues ranging from eye infections to gunshot wounds.
Wild elephant populations have drastically declined, while domesticated elephants, once used in Thailand for logging and transportation, have decreased from 13,400 in 1950 to 2,500 today due to modernization. However, tourism remains a growing industry that employs elephants for trekking activities.
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