Temple elephant in Sri Lanka to return to Thailand after neglect allegations

Asian elephant Muthu Raja in a water pond at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Vets are preparing to airlift an 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 where activists alleged it was abused.

The Thai royal family gave the elephant as a gift in 2001 to Sri Lanka’s government, which in turn gave it to the temple where it was named Muthu Raja and given honoured roles in religious processions.