Advertisement
Published: March 16th 2016
hell! We cleaned all the elephant houses out, and were visited by two elephants who came over to say hello. We got to pet them and they seemed happy to hang out with us for a little love and a photo op. Not long after the big ladies moved along, Jodi, a very passionate elephant advocate who has been at the elephant park for years came to our group. She is a tiny redhead from the northeast who moved to Thailand years ago. She is always covered from head to toe in long sleeves, pants and a hat with a huge brim and a flap that covers her neck as well. Somehow even though you can't see her, you know it's her every time. She gathered our group to tell us that Lek (the woman running the place) has now issued a no touch rule in the park. She started telling us that our guide knew this and too nice to enforce the new law. Thai people like our guide Jane really try to always accommodate. You see, there had been the very first tragedy at the park since opening in 1992 the week before. A friend of a Mahout came
looking for a job, he couldn't be hired because his paperwork couldn't go through because of his visa or something. He still thought that if he could prove he could do the job he might have a chance. He took food to a new elephant (one far off that we would not see) the poor girl had mental problems from years of abuse and was unstable. No one knows what really happened, but he went into the pen with her and was killed. Very sad all the way around. So, the park is in reactive mode scared that the government will close them. The elephants we are exposed to have been there for years and are very predictable, they are never without their mahouts to guide them, and they must approach you, so they feel safe and happy. We will see how this shakes out. After our morning work detail Dave and I visited the dogs, there are about 500 that they have rescued. We are toying with the idea of an international adoption (of a sweet little Thai pup) still wavering a bit, but I think we may have to. They treat their animals so well here at the
park, which of course makes me so happy. People adopt these dogs from all over the world, but not enough people, so I might just be on the campaign wagon to have all my friends adopt one 😊
We had great massages before dinner, the local village woman come set up shop at the park and for 8 bucks I got an incredible hour long foot and calf massage, while Dave went with the Thai massage. We had dinner with some new friends Steve and Megan, and as it has been going, exhausted and asleep by 8pm .
Advertisement
Tot: 0.114s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0628s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
Do Thai dogs speak English!?