For one lucky 65-year-old elephant, her life of trekking came to an end on 25 March 2014. Kwan Jit, meaning sweet heart in Thai, stepped into a new life of freedom at Elephant Nature Park, joining more than 30 other rescued…
And so it begins ... Before arriving to Elephant Nature Park on the last day of February 2009, Mintra spent her whole life as a street begging elephant. Mintra seemed to develop slowly, possibly because of her dislocated hips. Though…
Through the years, we have had various enrichment toys for our elephants placed around the park. Many elephants make good use of the “toys,” while others pay little attention to them.
At the moment, we have a few elephants who are confined to their shelters while they are being treated for abscesses or foot problems. Once again, we have taken to creating enrichment toys to help ease their boredom while stimulating their sense of curiousity and problem solving.
We roam around the park looking for tires, branches and discarded boxes that can be used safely. We take a trip to the jungle and cut off bamboo branches that have already been knocked down by elephants and find other plant life that might be interesting. We then snatch up bundles of elephant grass and banana leaves. From there we head to the elephant kitchen and find various fruits and veg that can also be stuffed into the boxes and tires.
Editor’s Note: We’ve invited our intern, Sofiya, to contribute to Save Elephant Foundation’s blog and document her experiences with some of our projects.
For most of my life elephants and monkeys have been my favorite animals. You can imagine my excitement when I found out I was selected to intern at Save Elephant Foundation here in Chiang Mai, which meant I would be traveling to Thailand where my two favorite animals happily reside.
After a couple days settling into the office I had the opportunity to volunteer at the park. There are several different ways to visit Elephant Nature Park, from day visits and overnight stays to week-long volunteer opportunities. Since I arrived later in the week I missed the general tour and information which week-long volunteers receive at the beginning of their stay. Before I could join the volunteers in their duties, I was scheduled to walk around with the day visitors and familiarize myself with the park grounds as well as catch up on what I had missed.
At 8 a.m. I got picked up at the office with a group of day visitors and we embarked on an hour long ride to the park. In the van we had the opportunity to hear details about the park and were shown a documentary centered around Asian elephants and the park itself. Our day visit guide, Sai, was incredibly knowledgable, friendly and open to every and any question we had about the park and the elephants.
New Year’s Day is a special day, filled with hope. We hope for a happy and healthy year ahead for the elephants and all other animals and humans in the care of Elephant Nature Park. We hope to continue to understand each other and work towards better communication and cooperation. We hope to become better people. We hope to inspire others to care more about animals, the environment and our mother Earth.
For the past eight years, ENP has been fortunate to start each year with a special volunteer group known as the “Power of One.” They arrive on January first, bringing with them their own special blend of peace, love, happiness, inspiration and HOPE. Their visit is a perfect start for the New Year!
The Power of One strike a pose during their show.
Close your eyes and imagine ... eating a picnic lunch in the jungle, surrounded by elephants who don't have to work but get to enjoy just being elephants! This is now a reality, thanks to the launch of the new…
Becomes first international foundation in country to work with government and locals CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 03 January 2014 – For Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, founder of Thailand's Save Elephant Foundation, nothing happens overnight. In this case, her work and perseverance…
Education and knowledge are the keys to change. This is something we have learned over and over, not just with visitors who come to Thailand and to our projects, but also with other elephant camps.
When Erawan Elephant Retirement Park opened in July, 2013, Save Elephant Foundation was able to take five elephants from trekking camps, street begging and performance shows and move them to a new home … in retirement. Now, almost six months later, we are happy to report that these elephants are enjoying their freedom. This project came about because Lek worked hard to establish relationships with camps in Kanchanaburi and educate them on how to help their elephants lives become better.
An integral part to all of our projects is education that expands beyond just our world of visitors and volunteers. We continue to educate elephant camp owners and hope we can help improve their lives in captivity.
Over the past few years, we have had several camps open next to us at Elephant Nature Park.
The nearby trekking camp with their elephants. This is no longer their world, thanks to the hard work and education they have received from Lek and SEF about how to better their elephants lives.
Often overlooked, 60-something year old Mae Thai — a grandma auntie on the Faa Mai side of our largest family group — has been at Elephant Nature Park since December 2002. She became one of Tong Jaan’s aunties in late 2005, not long after Tong Jaan and Mae Bua Tong’s arrival. She has remained a loyal auntie to Tong Jaan ever since and has helped look after some of the new arrivals as well. Mae Thai’s protective nature sometimes gets the best of her. Though most of her fellow herd members are quite social and friendly with other elephants when they wander over to visit, Mae Thai will often try to chase them away!
Thai (over Dok Mai) shares a precious moment with her family herd.
