Footprint tests clear celebrity elephant of murder rap

BANGKOK (AFP) - A veteran performing elephant has been dramatically cleared of killing a worker at the world AIDS forum after footprint and forensic tests, police said.

The elephant, called Absolute Handsome and with a screen credit for a slow walk-on part in Alexander the Great, was cleared after officers checked his tusks for signs of violence.

Absolute Handsome, 'Sud Lor' in Thai, had been the prime suspect in the killing of Somsak Klangkaew, 55, who was grabbed by an elephant and smashed to the ground.

"The doctor collected and tested blood stains on his tusks but they found no sign of blood stains or any sign of human flesh at all thus it's unlikely he's the killer elephant," said Lieutenant Colonel Theera Monthong of the Thai police.

The man in charge of the elephant show, Sompast Meepan, had maintainted that the 22-year-old bull was a victim of mistaken identity and the real killer was a stray rogue beast.

Police are now searching for the guilty elephant.

Twenty elephants were hired by the Thai government for the 15th International AIDS Conference at a cost of two million baht (50,000 dollars).

The conference, which has attracted 17,000 delegates, ends on Friday.