Eight elephants today boarded an aeroplane in Thailand bound for after weeks of delays caused by animal rights protestors. Following a long legal battle between the Australian government and animal welfare groups, protestors had blocked the animals' transportation to the Thai airport. Today, a Russian airfreighter finally left for the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, where the elephants will be kept in quarantine for three months before being transported to two Australian zoos.
However, protesters followed the convoy to the airport, and have vowed to continue their campaign, saying the pachyderms were born in the wild and are banned from trading under international agreement.
