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Published: February 13th 2011
Monday 1-24 to Sunday 1-30
We spent the last week volunteering at an elephant sanctuary called Elephant Nature Park. It’s a private non-profit that’s been working since 1995 to rescue abused and traumatized elephants from their owners, to give them a better home and a non-abusive place to retire. This is an amazing organization that was started by one woman, Lek, who came from a family of mahouts (traditional elephant trainers). She couldn’t stand to see the abusive practices Thais used to break and train wild elephants (a case where traditions should not be preserved): inhumane separation of babies from their moms, using chains and ropes to hinder the movement of the elephants, using hooks and boards with nails to physically punish them. As a result, her family has banished her and the government fights her tooth and nail, threatening to close the sanctuary because it’s “bad” for the tourist industry. Basically, she’s one little woman fighting an uphill battle against a culture and a corrupt government that does not want to change its ways and does not care about the plight of this endangered animal.
Starting with only 4 elephants, the refuge has grown to 35 today, some of
which are babies. She’s rescued elephants that have suffered broken limbs from forced breeding programs, been blinded by owners who stab them in the eye as punishment, elephants hit by cars, orphans who lost their mothers, elephants whose tusks were ripped out to sell the ivory or lost a limb from land mines, elephants that are essentially drug addicts – having been given narcotics to make them submissive; or been physically deformed from forced labor in the illegal logging business. They’ve shown us several documentaries on the “hidden” treatment of elephants in Thailand; it’s unbelievably heart-breaking and a shame more people don’t know what really goes on. As a tourist, you see elephants begging on the street (the equivalent of a dancing monkey) or you can hire them as transport while trekking through the jungle. And arguably, it looks like it might be fun to ride atop an elephant; but you have to question why the guide carries a sharpened hook and why the elephant sways back and forth incessantly (a sign of stress). People have no idea what horrible, bloody, inhumane treatment these animals are subjected to. I urge you, if you’re reading this, to google or youtube the
truth behind elephant training (a “crush” is the holding pin they use the beat the baby elephants into submission). It’s unconscionably brutal and such a conundrum from a culture that reveres the elephant as a sing of royalty and wealth but cares nothing for its personal safety or sanity. I’m so glad there is someone like Lek that continues to fight on behalf of animals that can’t stand up for themselves. I only hope she continues to be successful and expand her program without the government shutting her down. If you’d like to check out the organization (make a donation?), go to elephantfoundation.org.
OK, background information aside, our week volunteering at the sanctuary was not all doom and gloom. It was actually really fun and it felt good to give something back on this trip. Before we got here, I thought we’d be able to help out more with caring for the elephants, but upon arrival and getting a better understanding of what it takes to care for a retired elephant, it makes sense that we weren’t allowed to get too close to them. Many of the older elephants are still very scared of humans and the babies, while
ridiculously cute and rambunctious just like toddlers, are completely unaware of how big and strong they are. Each elephant is assigned a mahout who stays with them all day and sees to their personal care and safety. The elephants are allowed to roam freely around the 155 acre park, but the mahouts make sure they don’t wander outside of the park (as elephants who have done that before have been shot); make sure they get their bath; feed them; keep them away from other elephants they don’t get along with; administer their medicine; etc. They’re kind of like personal babysitters. Each day, we had the opportunity to participate in some of the daily activities of the elephants. There were two feeding times, which we could help hand the elephants baskets full of watermelons, cucumbers, etc. (Wow, do elephants eat a lot! They have to eat about 10% of their body weight a day, which is a ridiculous amount of food when you’re one of the largest land animals!) And one of the more fun jobs was to help bathe the elephants each day in the river before their daily mud bath. The elephants can really bathe themselves, but the do
like to play and splash in the water, so for the amusement of the paying guest, the sanctuary gives us buckets which we can use to toss water on the elephants and help wash off the previous days mud and dirt (which act as the elephants self-administered insect repellant/sunscreen). You get wet and it’s a lot of fun to see the elephants rolling around on their backs or completely submerging themselves in the river with a trunk as a snorkel. A few times they would even spray you back with water; you just had to be careful of the fresh elephants turds floating past you.
The mud bath was another sight to see, especially with the two 4 year-old babies they had, who loved to roll around on each other and wrestle in the mud. After the mud bath, came scratching time. All over the park there are tree trunks rubbed bare from elephant scratching. With skin and inch thick, the elephants get rid of bugs and parasites by scratching. Their rough skin up against the pole sounds like the world’s loudest sandpaper and the elephants look like their in absolute heaven try to satisfy their itch. [Nick Note:
One can stand on a platform held up by wooden columns and it is awesome as one sways back and forth from the elephants rubbing against it.] One of the most amazing sights we witnessed during mud-time was a local funeral. In a nearby village, they set off fireworks after a cremation ceremony (something the park had been made aware of was going to happen). The sound scared the elephants really bad and, while you don’t want to scare the poor things, it was cool to see their reaction. The babies started screaming and running away, the older females immediately started running after them and surrounded them, corralling the babies inside a fearsome wall of females, who thumped their trunks against the ground in a loud, threatening sound. I have to say, as a kid you learn that elephants make one sound: the trumpeting sound of their trunks, but I was amazed at just how many different sounds they make! It was really cool to listen to all their different types of communication.
In addition to the daily routines, we were assigned several volunteer projects each day to help with the maintenance and upkeep of the sanctuary. We helped
wash and sort the elephants’ food; we harvested tamarinds (a laxative for the old ladies) and chopped tall grass (I gained some serious machete skills) as supplements to their diet. We made mashed “banana balls” for the older elephants with worn down teeth. We picked up elephant poo to make fertilizer and dug up a sand pit to make the concrete paddock floors more comfortable for the old ladies. The hardest work we probably did was to help rip out a retaining rock wall that had collapsed by the river – we both have the scars to prove it. It was a lot more hard labor than I think I’ve ever done, but surprisingly, it was actually fun. There was a lot of down time too, though. During which time, we got to meet a lot of very interesting folks from around the world who all came together to help the elephants. We met a young Australian couple who helped me solve the mystery of the disgusting Aussie burger I had had back in Cairns (apparently we weren’t even given a burger to begin with – it was a lentil burger). Not surprisingly, most of our conversations were about food,
but I was AMAZED that the Aussies had no idea what s’mores or Reeses were! How is it even possible to go through life without understanding that which is chocolate and peanut butter?!
One day we went to visit a local grade school that has a partnership with the park – the kids come on fieldtrips to learn more about the plight of the elephant (environmental education needs to start early!). Nick got to make bracelets and play soccer with the kids, while I tried to unsuccessfully help with a litter cleanup (they don’t really get the concept of picking up litter b/c there’ll still be more there tomorrow). Another fieldtrip for us was to visit the new property acquired by the nature park. They’re trying to expand and create a new site for the young male elephants (males are usually solitary except during breeding and are very aggressive around the old females and the babies). We stayed overnight and helped built mud bricks for the new construction (a much harder job than I realized) and harvested seeds to help plant new trees. All in all, it was a great experience and I’m very glad we did it. I
would recommend it to anyone who comes to Thailand and has the means. If I had to say one bad thing about it, though, it would have to be the 70+ dogs that live at the park. No offense to dog lovers, but that is just waaaaaay too many frickin’ dogs! Some of them the park has taken in as injured animals, others are dumped at the park by owners who no longer want them. All of them get spayed and neutered but there’s so many of them that they’ve formed territorial gangs that f’ing howl all night and won’t let you sleep. They’re constantly fighting and chasing the elephants. Even the elephants don’t like them! Ugh, I am seriously not a dog person after this experience.
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Shannon
non-member comment
Favorite trip so far
I love it! the story of the elephants and the woman taking care of them is amazing. I'm excited that you both were able to experince this. Baby Elephants!!!!!