Baby Elephant 'Dumbo' Dies at Thailand Zoo After Breaking Hind Legs While Forcefully Performing for Tourists (Watch Video)

In an unfortunate incident, a baby elephant named Jumbo died after his hind legs fractured while performing at a Thailand zoo for tourists. Video of the baby elephant dubbed 'Dumbo' being "forced to rave" for the entertainment of visitors had gone viral last month. The video showed a weak calf being forced to dance at the Thai zoo. As per reports, the three-year-old had to perform at least three times a day. Eventually, the little one began to suffer from an infection and collapsed. While it performed till April 13, the Dumbo fell terribly sick following which it was taken to a veterinary clinic only on April 17. A scan showed that baby elephant had broken its back legs and three days later the animal died. Elephant Creates Chaos During Temple Festival in Kerala's Palakkad; Topples Car, Injures Mahout (Watch Videos)

Campaign group Moving Animals, which filmed the video of the baby animal being forced to do tricks had been demanding its release since early April. They had also organised a petition that received more than 220,000 urging that the animal be free. Following the death of Dumbo, Moving Animals took to Facebook condoling its death saying, "We are devastated to announce that 'Dumbo' has passed away." Baby Elephant Nudging Man to Play With It Will Hit You Right In The Feels (Watch Video)

Their Facebook post reads, "The campaign calling for his freedom from Phuket Zoo revealed his skeletal body to the world, which raised concerns that he was ill. It now turns out that he had an infection in his digestive tract, and he became so weak that his back legs snapped beneath him. Despite this, the zoo did not realise his legs were broken for three days, until the baby elephant was finally taken to an elephant hospital. For 'Dumbo' to die whilst under the so-called 'care' and 'treatment' of the zoo shows just how neglected these animals are in captivity." After ‘Failing to Find a Girlfriend to Mate’ Angry Wild Elephant Creates a Ruckus in China (Watch Video)

Here is the Facebook post:

Here is the video of the elephant being mistreated in the zoo:

Meanwhile, a zoo veterinarian told Phuket News that keepers only released that the baby had broken its legs on April 17. However, Pichai Sakunsorn, manager of Phuket Zoo, denied that Dumbo was abused or neglected. He added that the infant was a valuable asset to the elephant. Moving Animals urges tourists to pay to see animals in captivity.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 18, 2019 10:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).