This elephant who lost his leg due to a poacher’s snare trap now has a new life with a prosthetic limb.

His heartwarming pictures are worth looking at.

Chhouk the elephant was found almost near to death in a Cambodian forest when he was less than two years old. He was severely malnourished and nursing his infected wound.  

Wildlife worker rescued the animal and took to live in an outdoor enclosure where he was fitted with a prosthetic leg by Cambodian medics.

According to Chhouk’s rescuers, the prosthesis is so comfortable that the elephant becomes angry if he cannot wear it.

Nick Marx of Wildlife Alliance Rescue and Care, who takes care of Chhouk in the forest after finding him a decade ago, said the elephant had seemed ‘sure to die’ when he found him. 

‘He was in a bad way and seemed sure to die. He was badly injured and so very thin. It seemed only his fighting spirit was keeping him upright,’ he said.

‘The WWF team had captured Chhouk, meaning Lotus, named after their patrol station and had tethered him around the neck to a tree – a sensible decision to stop him wandering off.’

The elephant was sedated, treated and his injured leg bandaged before being transported to Phnom Tamao through a treacherous track out of the forest.

‘I was extremely worried for the track was rocky and undulating. If Chhouk fell he could injure himself further,’ Nick said.

We sedated him every week, his wound was cleaned, small fragments of bone and damaged tissue were removed and the leg was re-bandage,’ said Nick. 

‘The healing powers of wild animals can be amazing and each week when we undressed the leg we could almost see the skin re-growing down the leg and around the under-side of the remaining stump until it was completely healed, with the skin finally covering the entire area once again.’

His rescuers say the elephant is now habitual to the prosthesis that he becomes ‘uncomfortable’ if he is prevented from wearing it. 

‘He gets angry if he cannot wear it. If he gets a sore on his stump, which happens now and again due to friction or dirt getting inside the shoe, and he cannot wear the prosthesis he gets irritable,’ said Nick. 

The prosthetics’ new design is easy to handle, it is ‘lighter, stronger, and quicker for staff to change, said the charity worker. 

‘The new shoe quickly got Chhouk’s approval and he was running around his enclosure within minutes of trying on the new shoe,’ he said.

 

 

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