Vets treated an injured elephant found hobbling through a forest in Thailand.

Wildlife officers rescued the wounded bull, Plai Saeb, 3, from the Namtok Khlong Kaeo National Park in Trat province on May 19.

They tranquilised the jumbo and began treating the festering wound on its left hind leg and what appeared to be bullet wounds near its bottom.

Doctors cleaned the pus and maggot-infested wound before administering antibiotics, painkillers, and a tetanus vaccine. They also collected a blood sample to check if the elephant was ill.

Wiwat Lekwong, an official of the Khlong Kaeo National Park, said volunteers were monitoring elephant herds in the area when they spotted Plai Saeb limping across the woods and refusing to put weight on its hind leg on May 16 evening.

He said: 'The volunteers immediately made a report because they were worried the injured elephant would be more aggressive and attack the villagers.'

Officials believe the elephant may have been shot by some locals trying to protect their crops from being eaten.

Park staff said they were monitoring Plai Saeb's condition.

Thailand has up to 3,500 elephants in the wild. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in the country at the beginning of the 20th century.

The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.