Elephant gives up on heroin and wild life

Melbourne, Oct 20 : An elephant that was once addicted to heroin was weaned off the drug, but in the process, he no longer became fit to return to the wild.

The four-year-old bull elephant, which is referred to alternately as "Big Brother" or "Xiguang", had been fed heroin-laced bananas in China.

The animal went through a lengthy rehab course after traders captured him in southwest China in 2005, and used spiked bananas to control him.

"Three years of domestic life and a huge amount of rehabilitation medicine have changed the physical situations, odours and habits of Xiguang," the Courier Mail quoted a Yunnan Wild Life Park manager as saying.

Xiguang will divide his time between two wild life parks in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

ANI