Beijing

An Asian elephant that was addicted to heroin is ready to be released after finishing a three-year rehabilitation programme.

The four-year-old bull, named Xiguang, became addicted to the drug after illegal traders laced bananas with heroin to trap and pacify him when he was captured on the Chinese-Burmese border in 2005. When he was found with six other elephants two months later he was suffering withdrawal symptoms.

Xiguang was taken to a protection centre on the Chinese island of Hainan, where he was given daily methadone injections in doses five times larger than those given to people.

The elephant has recovered and is due to be returned to the Yunnan Wild Animal Park in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, tomorrow.

The Asian elephant is threatened with extinction. There are only 25,600 to 32,750 wild elephants left in the tropical forests of Asia, according to the World Wildlife Fund conservation group. (AP)

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