We got to see something so wonderful and touching today we couldn’t help but write about it right away.
For many pictures of elephants, follow this link. http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/ElephantNatureParkChiangMai?authkey=Gv1sRgCK7d8uedurriFQ&feat=directlink
We spent the day at “Elephant Nature Park”. It is a reserve outside Chiang Mai and was established by Lek Chailert –a woman who made it her life’s work to protect Asian elephants. A major focus of the park is education, some of which we are passing on below.
Elephants are the symbol of Thailand with significant religious, royal and cultural significance. They “built Thailand, acting as tanks during war time and bulldozers during peace time”. 100 years ago Thailand had 100,000 elephants. By the late 1980s this number decreased to 25,000, most of which worked in the logging industry. Since the outlawing of logging in 1989 (an environmentally friendly move that has been great for the country’s forests) the working elephant population has fallen to about 5,000. While the ~ 1500 wild elephants remain protected in Thailand, working elephants are considered livestock and are unprotected. Elephant mahouts (the handlers) have had to turn to street begging, trekking (carrying tourists on their backs) and logging camps in the surrounding countries for work. The conditions are generally deplorable, which has resulted in the rapid loss of elephant life. Some elephants are kept on amphetamines to keep them awake and working around the clock; others are beaten and prodded with large nails; and many are continuously under stress living on city streets and carrying tourists at trekking camps. Additionally, almost all working elephants are separated from their mothers at a young age in order to be “broken” in a brutal ritual designed to make them completely subservient to their owner. The video of the “breaking” was gut-wrenching and brought tears.
Lek has a different approach. She established the nature reserve to rehabilitate injured working elephants and protect abandoned young elephants. The people at the park only use positive reinforcement and are dedicated to making a change in the Thai elephant tourism industry. They realize elephants are vital to tourism but they want to make a change to establish a positive situation good for the tourists, mahouts, and most of all –the elephants.
Through the generous help of donors, volunteers and eco-minded tourists, Lek built a nature reserve that now houses 32 elephants. All 32 elephants are able to roam the grounds and interact positively with tourists and other elephants. There are no unnatural activities the elephants have to do and instead the tourists are able to feed and bathe the animals, and observe from a respectful distance. Volunteers can stay for up to several weeks if they want to help out with the day to day activities. There was no elephant riding at this park, but that was okay by us.
For us, it was just a day trip, but a day we will always remember. We were able to feed “Jokia” and “Mae Perm”. Jokia is a blind female elephant whose eyes were poked out by her owners in a work camp as punishment after the poor conditions caused her to lose her baby, and she refused to work. To feed Jokia we had to first caress her trunk so that she could know where the food was coming from. She was so gentle despite the enormous size and appeared happy with her best friend Mae Perm – the two never leave each other’s side (hence we got to feed them both). We saw an elephant that lost half of her back foot in a landmine explosion at a logging camp and another elephant had clearly suffered broken legs and hips due to an accident during a forced mating at a work camp. Many of the other animals suffered emotional abuse, but are now on a firm road to recovery due to the love and care of the handlers at the park. At the camp, the elephants are free to establish family groups and interact like natural elephants in an environment protected from all abuse. Although the animals are on the road to recovery and appear to live happy lives now, Lek said that some may never recover from the emotional and mental abuses that they endured for years.
There is no way to explain how majestic and beautiful the animals were and how awesome it was to see them in this way. Some elephants were mischievous (the teenagers), others were gentle and friendly. They had their own personalities, their friends and family groups; the juvenile elephants would play and the adults would keep them in line.
As day visitors we were able to feed the elephants in the morning and afternoon; a process that entailed handing the elephants large amounts of bananas, melons and pumpkins which they would grab with their trunks and place into their mouths. We also got to go into the river with them in the morning and afternoon and bathe the elephants. This was a process which entailed wading into a river next to a standing, sitting, or laying down elephant and throwing buckets and buckets of water on their heads and backs. The brave tourists (like Erika) even got up to the Elephants and helped scrub them while they were in the water. The elephants clearly enjoyed the refreshing break from the hot sun.
We also saw two young babies –an 11-month and a 1-month old. When the 11-month old bathed we had to all move to viewing platforms because of the protective mothers, but it was awesome to watch the young elephant splash in the water and play with his mom and aunt. The one month old was ADORABLE. She kept running around between mom and her aunt and rolling in the dirt and even fell asleep in Lek’s lap.
After two feedings, two bathings, and lots of elephant watching, we came back to Chiang Mai with hearts full of love for these beautiful animals and a hope for a better future for all Asian Elephants. If you make it to Chiang Mai we highly recommend a visit to the park. If you do not, please keep in mind the elephants of Thailand – they need everyone’s help to secure a better future. This has definitely been one of our favorite things in our travels so far.
For more info: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm
We spent the day at “Elephant Nature Park”. It is a reserve outside Chiang Mai and was established by Lek Chailert –a woman who made it her life’s work to protect Asian elephants. A major focus of the park is education, some of which we are passing on below.
Elephants are the symbol of Thailand with significant religious, royal and cultural significance. They “built Thailand, acting as tanks during war time and bulldozers during peace time”. 100 years ago Thailand had 100,000 elephants. By the late 1980s this number decreased to 25,000, most of which worked in the logging industry. Since the outlawing of logging in 1989 (an environmentally friendly move that has been great for the country’s forests) the working elephant population has fallen to about 5,000. While the ~ 1500 wild elephants remain protected in Thailand, working elephants are considered livestock and are unprotected. Elephant mahouts (the handlers) have had to turn to street begging, trekking (carrying tourists on their backs) and logging camps in the surrounding countries for work. The conditions are generally deplorable, which has resulted in the rapid loss of elephant life. Some elephants are kept on amphetamines to keep them awake and working around the clock; others are beaten and prodded with large nails; and many are continuously under stress living on city streets and carrying tourists at trekking camps. Additionally, almost all working elephants are separated from their mothers at a young age in order to be “broken” in a brutal ritual designed to make them completely subservient to their owner. The video of the “breaking” was gut-wrenching and brought tears.
Lek has a different approach. She established the nature reserve to rehabilitate injured working elephants and protect abandoned young elephants. The people at the park only use positive reinforcement and are dedicated to making a change in the Thai elephant tourism industry. They realize elephants are vital to tourism but they want to make a change to establish a positive situation good for the tourists, mahouts, and most of all –the elephants.
Through the generous help of donors, volunteers and eco-minded tourists, Lek built a nature reserve that now houses 32 elephants. All 32 elephants are able to roam the grounds and interact positively with tourists and other elephants. There are no unnatural activities the elephants have to do and instead the tourists are able to feed and bathe the animals, and observe from a respectful distance. Volunteers can stay for up to several weeks if they want to help out with the day to day activities. There was no elephant riding at this park, but that was okay by us.
For us, it was just a day trip, but a day we will always remember. We were able to feed “Jokia” and “Mae Perm”. Jokia is a blind female elephant whose eyes were poked out by her owners in a work camp as punishment after the poor conditions caused her to lose her baby, and she refused to work. To feed Jokia we had to first caress her trunk so that she could know where the food was coming from. She was so gentle despite the enormous size and appeared happy with her best friend Mae Perm – the two never leave each other’s side (hence we got to feed them both). We saw an elephant that lost half of her back foot in a landmine explosion at a logging camp and another elephant had clearly suffered broken legs and hips due to an accident during a forced mating at a work camp. Many of the other animals suffered emotional abuse, but are now on a firm road to recovery due to the love and care of the handlers at the park. At the camp, the elephants are free to establish family groups and interact like natural elephants in an environment protected from all abuse. Although the animals are on the road to recovery and appear to live happy lives now, Lek said that some may never recover from the emotional and mental abuses that they endured for years.
There is no way to explain how majestic and beautiful the animals were and how awesome it was to see them in this way. Some elephants were mischievous (the teenagers), others were gentle and friendly. They had their own personalities, their friends and family groups; the juvenile elephants would play and the adults would keep them in line.
As day visitors we were able to feed the elephants in the morning and afternoon; a process that entailed handing the elephants large amounts of bananas, melons and pumpkins which they would grab with their trunks and place into their mouths. We also got to go into the river with them in the morning and afternoon and bathe the elephants. This was a process which entailed wading into a river next to a standing, sitting, or laying down elephant and throwing buckets and buckets of water on their heads and backs. The brave tourists (like Erika) even got up to the Elephants and helped scrub them while they were in the water. The elephants clearly enjoyed the refreshing break from the hot sun.
We also saw two young babies –an 11-month and a 1-month old. When the 11-month old bathed we had to all move to viewing platforms because of the protective mothers, but it was awesome to watch the young elephant splash in the water and play with his mom and aunt. The one month old was ADORABLE. She kept running around between mom and her aunt and rolling in the dirt and even fell asleep in Lek’s lap.
After two feedings, two bathings, and lots of elephant watching, we came back to Chiang Mai with hearts full of love for these beautiful animals and a hope for a better future for all Asian Elephants. If you make it to Chiang Mai we highly recommend a visit to the park. If you do not, please keep in mind the elephants of Thailand – they need everyone’s help to secure a better future. This has definitely been one of our favorite things in our travels so far.
For more info: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm
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