Please don't feed the animals

by Nicole Weston, Posted Apr 15th 2006 @ 10:06AM

Most people are already aware that you should not give your dog chocolates - but what about your elephant? Elephants are largely vegetarian and apparently like chocolate quite a lot. That doesn't mean you should let them indulge, though. Raja, who at 45 is the most famous elephant in Sri Lanka, has become very ill after eating too much chocolate and other fattening foods. The chocolates, deep-fried cookies, sweet rice and fermented pineapple slices were fed to him by fans while celebrating the Buddhist New Year.

The monks who care for the elephant found him in great distress, writhing on the ground, the day after the celebration. A vet said that his digestive system could not cope with the fattened and processed foods or "the cookies... literally are soaked in oil." There is now a sign outside his enclosure which reads "Do not feed the elephant."

[Image Yahoo!]

Source

Filed Under: Vegetarian, Newspapers
Tags: animal, asia, buddhist, chocolate, elephant, fattening, fried cookies, fried food, india, monk, new year, pet, pets, raja, sri lanka, temple, unhealthy