Heroin addict elephant Big Brother goes home after three year detox

Lilith · September 5th, 2008, 02:40 PM

Heroin addict elephant Big Brother goes home after three year detox

A heroin addict elephant who was kept doped up with drug-laced bananas by animal smugglers will return home this weekend after emerging clean from a three-year detox programme.

Big Brother, a four-year-old bull Asian elephant also known as Xiguang, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by the illegal traders, who used the spiked bananas to control him.

Months later, police arrested the traders at the Burmese border and freed Big Brother, only to notice that he was behaving strangely.

As the elephant showed repeated signs of distress, making continuous trumpeting noises with streaming eyes, he was confirmed to be suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms.

Big Brother was sent to a wild animal protection centre on China’s tropical island province of Hainan for rehab, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency.

There followed a year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage. After a year vets started to reduce the dose and gradually weaned him off his addiction.

Now clean, Xiguang and three other elephants held by the smugglers are expected to arrive on Saturday at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of his home province of Yunnan on the Chinese mainland.

Xiguang’s return would cap a 1,500-km journey home, Xinhua said, and mark another step in the elephant’s triumph over addiction.

The Asian elephant is an endangered species, with fewer than 33,000 left in the in wild, according to the WWF animal charity. The animals are killed by humans because they destroy fields and cultivated crops in their search for food. They are also hunted by poachers for their ivory, despite the international ban on the trade.

foofur · September 9th, 2008, 06:58 PM

wut????

i mean really, wut???

Black Is The Night · September 28th, 2008, 07:06 PM

Why would drug smugglers waste drugs on an elephant, no making money from that surely. Poor dumbo but sounds likes he going to make a full recovery

azziman · October 9th, 2008, 04:28 PM

Bizarre, just bizarre

September 5th, 2008, 02:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
Lilith Post Whore Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 446	Heroin addict elephant Big Brother goes home after three year detox Heroin addict elephant Big Brother goes home after three year detox A heroin addict elephant who was kept doped up with drug-laced bananas by animal smugglers will return home this weekend after emerging clean from a three-year detox programme. Big Brother, a four-year-old bull Asian elephant also known as Xiguang, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by the illegal traders, who used the spiked bananas to control him. Months later, police arrested the traders at the Burmese border and freed Big Brother, only to notice that he was behaving strangely. As the elephant showed repeated signs of distress, making continuous trumpeting noises with streaming eyes, he was confirmed to be suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms. Big Brother was sent to a wild animal protection centre on China’s tropical island province of Hainan for rehab, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. There followed a year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage. After a year vets started to reduce the dose and gradually weaned him off his addiction. Now clean, Xiguang and three other elephants held by the smugglers are expected to arrive on Saturday at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of his home province of Yunnan on the Chinese mainland. Xiguang’s return would cap a 1,500-km journey home, Xinhua said, and mark another step in the elephant’s triumph over addiction. The Asian elephant is an endangered species, with fewer than 33,000 left in the in wild, according to the WWF animal charity. The animals are killed by humans because they destroy fields and cultivated crops in their search for food. They are also hunted by poachers for their ivory, despite the international ban on the trade. __________________ "The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." - George Carlin

September 9th, 2008, 06:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
foofur ____________ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Above you. Posts: 756	wut???? i mean really, wut??? __________________ FUCK YOU

September 28th, 2008, 07:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
Black Is The Night and so is my day Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: UK Posts: 1,611	Why would drug smugglers waste drugs on an elephant, no making money from that surely. Poor dumbo but sounds likes he going to make a full recovery __________________ Nature can be lethal but it doesnt hold a candle to man - Samuel L. Jackson

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October 9th, 2008, 04:28 PM	#4 (permalink)
azziman Hello Dave Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,195	Bizarre, just bizarre