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| Thai Wildlife > Elephant |
Traditional Herbal Remedies for Thai Elephants
2. Materials and Methods
Elephant handlers throughout Thailand were interviewed on their use of herbal medicine. Interviews were conducted at five elephant camps in the greater Pattaya area, six camps around Chiang Mai, two villages in Surin, four Karen villages in the northwest and at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang. A total of 372 mahouts were employed at the elephant camps, but we limited our interviews to those that used herbal medicine and could provide us with new information i.e. many mahouts at one camp often used the same herbal remedy.
Fifteen mahouts, one elephant camp manager, six traditional veterinarians and one elephant veterinarian practising modern medicine therefore provided information on herbal remedies for elephants. A standard questionnaire was followed for each interview.
Each person was asked about his use of herbal remedies for a given list of common elephant ailments. For each remedy, plant name, part of plant used, method of preparation, administration, dose and frequency of treatment were recorded. Wherever possible, plants were photographed and samples were collected. Scientific names were determined for as many plants as possible.
During the interview, each mahout was asked his opinion on traditional versus modern veterinary medicine and the traditional veterinarians were questioned about their view of the status of the Thai elephant in the future. The condition and management of elephant camps were observed and general abilities of the mahouts were noted.
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