Spitting Into the Wind

It never ceases to amaze me how people can be so cruel to animals. One news item last week reported than an Asian elephant had become addicted to heroin after being fed bananas spiked with the drug and underwent a detox program. He was among six elephants lured by animal smugglers along the Sino-Myanmar border in China.

Four-year-old male elephant Xiguang and his companions having their meals in a wild animal protection centre in China's southernmost Hainan Province.

Xiguang received methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage. He was illegally captured by traders in 2005 in south-west China. When police arrested the traders and freed the elephant, it was found to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

The elephant's eyes kept streaming and he made continuous trumpeting noises, the Beijing News newspaper's website reported.

It is thought that the traders fed the elephant bananas laced with heroin to capture and control it. Xiguang was sent to a wild animal protection centre on Hainan island in south-west China for rehab.