Last hope for wildlife

Hospital: 'Working' or displaced animals get treatment, safe haven

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The patient lay prone on the operating table. An IV line snaking from his left leg, near the wound from the tranquilizer dart that sedated him. Yong, a pig-tailed macaque rescued from a life harvesting coconuts, was being treated at Thailand's only NGO-run wildlife hospital.

He is one of dozens of animals treated each month at the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) facility.

Patients range from delicate sugar gliders intended as pets, to some of the hefty rescued elephants that roam WFFT's expansive facility in Phetchaburi, southwest of Bangkok.

The wide variety can be a challenge, said vet Siriporn Tippol.

"If we can't find the right equipment, we have to DIY: use what we already have or modify based on the specifications we need."

She described strapping an extension handle onto a laryngoscope designed for cats and dogs so it could be used during surgery on bears and tigers.