From an AP story by Krishan Francis headlined “A temple elephant in Sri Lanka will be airlifted back to Thailand after allegations of neglect”:

Veterinarians are preparing to airlift an Asian elephant from Sri Lanka back to its home country of Thailand this weekend after it spent more than two decades at a Buddhist temple where activists alleged it was abused.

The Thai royal family gave the elephant as a gift in 2001 to Sri Lanka’s government, which in turn gifted it to the temple where it was named Muthu Raja and given honored roles in religious processions.