BANGKOK: A partly Australian-funded wildlife rescue foundation whose chief spoke out about the illegal poaching of baby elephants in Thailand has been raided and had 103 animals taken away by Thai parks officials.

Several Australian witnesses say many of the animals, including endangered species, were injured during the raids on the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand centre by up to 100 armed men, some of whom wore balaclavas to hide their identities.

Heated stand-off... Sydney vet and the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand manager, Lucy Clark, confronts Thai park officials during the raid.

The raids over four days followed claims by the organisation's founder and director, Edwin Wiek, that more than half the elephants in tourist camps across Thailand had been illegally caught in the wild when they were young, sometimes by poachers who shot their mothers or other members of their herd that tried to protect them.

"I would say between 100 to 250 baby elephants are smuggled from the wild each year," said Mr Wiek, a Dutchman who has worked to protect abused animals in Thailand for years.