RATCHABURI: A female sun bear cub saved from a forest fire in Ban Kha district is recovering well from the festering wound on her right front leg.
Anurak Sakulpong, a veterinarian at the 3rd Wildlife Assistance Centre in Chom Bung district, said on Thursday the cub was initially frightened when they began treating the injury. It was an open wound about 2 centimetres wide and 1cm deep, and there were maggots in it.
He washed the wound daily and applied an antibiotic, and the cub was now recovering well, Mr Anurak said.
The cub is female, about four months old, and believed to have been separated from her mother by the forest fire in Chalerm Pkrakiat Thai Prajan National Park in Ban Kha district on Monday. The blaze had been burning in the national park for three days. About 2,000 rai of forest was destroyed.
The cub was found by an assistant village chief near the Huay Makrut reservoir near Ban Phu Hin in tambon Ban Bung, Ban Kha district.
She has now been given the name “Chao Ban Kha’’, after the forest fire at Ban Kha district.
Chao Ban Kha is triving, being fed with milk six times a day, vet Anurak said.
Tarasak Niphanan, chief of the 3rd Wildlife Assistance Centre, said the cub would be cared for until she was healthy and strong, then returned to her natural habitat. This process would take a long time as the cub would have to be trained for about six months to be able to care for herself in the forest, he said.
People wanting to provide support for the medicine or milk for Chao Ban Kha could visit the wildlife assistance centre any time during working days, he said.
The female sun bear cub is fed milk six times a day. (Photo by Saichol Srinuanchan)
(Photo by Saichol Srinuanchan)