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Controversial Thai Elephants Land in Australia |
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| AUSTRALIA: August 2, 2006 | ||
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SYDNEY - Eight Thai elephants, whose shipment to Australia was earlier blocked by animal welfare protesters, arrived on a remote Australian island on Tuesday and will be kept in beachside quarantine before being sent to zoos.
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"The elephants are in great shapes, they are used to travelling", Sydney's Taronga Zoo spokesman Mark Williams told Reuters. The elephants, which flew out of Thailand on Sunday, will be kept in quarantine on Australia's Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean for three months, Williams said. Last July, the Australian government approved the import of the elephants, with five bound for a new A$37 million (US$28 million) enclosure at Taronga Zoo and three for a zoo in the southern city of Melbourne. The animals will take part in a conservation breeding programme, but Australian animal welfare advocates say zoo life puts elephants at risk. Animal welfare protesters in Thailand tried to prevent the elephants being sent to Australia, arguing that several were caught illegally in the wild. The activists forced the temporary abandonment of a bid to ship the elephants to Australia in June by blocking off a quarantine site.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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