BEIJING - A CHINESE elephant who spent three years in rehab after animal smugglers got him addicted to heroin is not able to return to the wild despite being cured, state press reported on Monday.

Four-year-old Xiguang and three other elephants who the smugglers also captured had been taken to an animal protection centre on China's tropical island of Hainan to recover from their ordeals.

While they are all fit again, they are no longer able to live in the wild, Xinhua news agency cited an official with a wildlife park in southwestern China's Yunnan province where they are now residing.

'Three years of domestic life and a huge amount of rehabilitation medication has changed the physical situations, odours and habits of Xiguang and the other elephants,' said Ms Pan Hua, the park's deputy manager, according to Xinhua.

'They may become the target of attacks by other beasts if they are sent back to the wild. Some are easily irritable now and may hurt humans. They can't go back to the wild anymore.'

Xiguang became hooked on heroin after the animal smugglers laced bananas with the drug to capture and tame him, according to Xinhua.

Police caught the smugglers and rescued the elephants on the border between China and Myanmar in 2005, Xinhua said.

Xiguang was identified as having problems distinct from the other elephants because his eyes were always streamed with tears and he made continuous trumpeting noises, previous press reports said.

At the Hainan animal protection centre, his three-year rehab included regular doses of methadone five times stronger than required for humans trying to recover from heroin addiction, Xinhua said. -- AFP