INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane carrying Muthu Raja took off around 7:40 am, the airport manager said.After touching down in Chiang Mai the
elephant will be quarantined at a nearby nature reserve.Veterinarians had prepared to airlift the Asian elephant from Sri Lanka back to its
home country of Thailand this weekend after it spent more than two decades at a Buddhist temple.The Thai royal family gave the elephant as a
religious processions.However, the activist group Rally for Animal Rights and Environment, or RARE, raised allegations it was being
Thailand planned for Sunday.According to reports, two big abscesses the elephant was suffering from when it arrived have mostly healed
routine had included veterinarian check-ups, bathing in a small pond and practice getting into the container that will carry him on the
Three Thai and one Sri Lanka elephant tenders also will be on the plane.Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament earlier this month
that he expressed his regret to the Thai prime minister over the treatment of the elephant during trip to Thailand in May.--With agencies
