Sri Prae’s Present
Sunday October 28th approximately 5:20 a.m. – The roosters had yet to crow when the peaceful pre-dawn stillness was broken by roars and rumbles of elephantine proportions. Concerned staff sprang from their beds, frantically searching for flashlights, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and set out to investigate the origin of the disturbance. We were amazed by the sight of a newborn elephant calf lying beneath Sri Prae!!
Sri Prae arrived to ENP two years ago. In fact her two year anniversary is coming up on November 6th. Sri Prae’s front left foot is damaged from stepping on a landmine and she is also a victim of forced breeding. Since her arrival she had never shown an interest in any of our males (until a recent fling with Tong Suk which took us all by surprise) nor had they shown an interest in her, at least not to our knowledge. Though we are not completely sure at this point, we believe that she may have arrived already pregnant.
Her little bundle of joy weighed in at 98.90kg and is 85cm tall. He was named Navaan which translates to ‘gold’ in Cambodian language. He is tall and sturdy. Sri Prae is proud and content, already an incredible mother. Malai Tong has secured the position of first auntie and we are hoping that Jarunee will be able to take on the role of second auntie in the upcoming days. Yet another happy outcome from this birth is that Dam has been appointed the mahout of Navaan! Dam is one of our most competent mahouts, he genuinely loves elephants and is greatly respected by staff as well as volunteers who have visited ENP numerous times throughout the years. Dam had decided on a career change after Mae Kham Geao’s passing, trying his hand at welding. Thankfully the birth of Navaan pulled Dam back into the world of caring for elephants. We could not ask for a better caregiver; Dam is like a proud father!
We cannot express what an incredible surprise this new arrival is for the Park!! To ensure the safety of Navaan, he and Mae Sri Prae will be kept inside the shelter for the first month of his life after which they will start to venture out farther afield.
November 5th one week later: Navaan is growing steadily, getting stronger, more playful and inquisitive with each passing day. He has experienced his first ‘bath’ and has met many members of our herd. The Faa Mai Chang Yim family group has paid many a visit to Navaan and Sri Prae, expressing great interest and excitement in the new arrival. Malai Tong holds vigil outside of their shelter. Jarunee edges closer every day and Mae Kham Paan is expressing quite an interest in Navaan, lingering outside of the enclosure for as long as she is allowed. Kwanjai who is ‘next door neighbor’ stretches her trunk tentatively in their direction and seems to be experiencing maternalistic memories from her past. It is simply impossible for anyone, whether human or elephant to not be moved by this little life form bursting with joy. He brings a smile to your face and opens your heart. He is a miracle.
Here at ENP we do not encourage reproduction and are not actively trying to impregnate our fertile females to create babies of our own. Having said that, we do allow our elephants the freedom to make their own decisions whenever possible. We have had two natural, free choice procreative acts in our herd which led to the births of Faa Mai and Chang Yim. Our elephants spend on average eight hours a day roaming freely, though they have a schedule with the park guests for bathing and feeding a few times a day. When a female and male elephant have a mutual interest in each other and are in a free roaming situation, it is extremely difficult to keep them apart without micro-managing them or getting aggressive (which we do not condone). As long as both elephants are consenting and there is no stress or chance of injury we allow them to do what comes naturally in this situation. It could be more stressful or dangerous to try to keep them apart. Since our goal for the future is to release our healthy elephants to the wild (in cooperation with the Thai government), chemical birth control to suppress hormonal surges for our bulls is not a safe or healthy option.
These pregnancies and subsequent births caused mixed emotions for us. On one hand, it was heartening to know that given the freedom to roam and socialize, some of our elephants were physically and mentally healthy enough to be reproductively viable. Also it was rewarding to know that elephants who had been exploited in the past could now choose to reproduce on their own terms and that babies created from this union would never be broken or put to work. On the other hand, having babies of our own takes up valuable space which could have been utilized by an elephant who had already been subjected to torture and abuse and was in dire need of rescue. Whether or not we can be sure that babies born here will have the future of freedom that they truly deserve is another concern.
At this time we can only continue to move forward and hope that our dream to release our young and healthy elephants in a protected sanctuary to roam forever free will come true.
