IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I WAS NOTIFIED IN THIS MORNING’S EMAIL THAT THIS IMAGE I TOOK AT ELEPHANT NATURE PARK A FEW WEEKS AGO IS #332 IN FLICKR’S EXPLORE WHICH IS AMONG THE 500 PHOTOS CHOSEN BY FLICKR STAFF AS THE MOST INTERESTING PHOTOS OUT OF THE GABILLION LOADED BY MEMBERS THAT DAY!!!
The photo I call “LEKS SONG” is of Sangduen “Lek” Chailert who is the founder of Elephant Nature Foundation in Chiang Mai Thailand. This series of images were taken shortly after our orientation learning about how to navigate around the silent tippie toeing elephants as we enjoyed the rescue park for a full day of bathing , feeding, smooching and learning about these endangered beauties.
As a few others in our group of 10 were feeding some of the elephants (many more photos on the way) Gayle and I stood by the fencing to watch this scene in amazement. Lek slipped into the enclosure in silent elephant style, then sat under one of the two new babies and started to sing a sweet song in Thai to him. The song I chose for the video was not Lek but is a beautiful Hilltribe love song to highlight the mood of the day
I was mesmerized by this incredible human/elephant bond, and was lucky to have both my SLR and video camera on hand. This video below tells the very short story in photos and film how touching this priceless moment in time was. Lek and the baby were not 2 individual beings for those few minutes of bonding……..rather they were syncronized as ONE…moving in tandem…slowly to her sweet , soft song.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS VIDEO MUCH LARGER AND IN HIGH DEFINITION
or stay at the blog and click arrow below. There is audio with this video..ENJOY
WE ARE ABLE TO FOSTER MEDO FOR THREE YEARS THANKS TO YOU…WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!
Today I decided to contact Elephant Nature Foundation to see what elephants were in the Foster program currently and immediately my heart and soul was captured again by MEDO, who was one of the ellies I had taken numerous photos of in 2008. Below read her heartbreaking (but not too graphic) history before she was rescued .
I was going to wait and pick out our “foster child” when I got to the park , but in rethinking that strategy, I didn’t want to waste a moment of our precious days at the park doing money transactions and signing papers. It made sense to do this ahead of time so I can photograph and video Medo to my hearts content for us all to enjoy on the blog during the trip in February
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Photo by Sandra Miller 2008 of Medo at Elephant Nature Park
As foster parents to Medo for 3 years you will receive updates about Medo and more photographs of this very special elephant when I receive them. I will send emails to our special little “FOSTER HERD” as I get updates, and you’ll be able to view Medo’s biography, a photo, your foster certificate, a personal report from Jodi (a long-time park volunteer and close friend of Medo) about her life and progress since she has lived at Elephant Nature Park, and information on how you can further help save the Asian elephant from extinction.
Our girl has a big family to protect her and keep her from harm!!
Congratulations to the following list of new foster parents to our Mz Medo!!!
Karen Fones,Lois Dubs, Connie Etters, Lori Love, Sandra Meyers, Kathleen Zins Deb Hethorn, Gayle DiCesare,Catherine Crooks, Mary Susan Heise,Sandra Blust, Patricia Norman, Vonnie Almand, Beverly Eagan, Elizabeth Klemick, Barbara Black, Kathy Welsh, Dana Collum,Sandra Miller…and a couple of names yet to be added
SEE BELOW TO READ MUCH MORE ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GIRL MEDO
Medo was born between 1985-1987. Her Karen-language name is a reference to her extremely handicapped condition that resulted from two horrific past incidents she has endured. Medo was rescued from a remote area near the Thai-Burma border and arrived at Elephant Nature Park in the end of June 2006, thanks to funds kindly donated by Bert Von Roemer of the Serengeti Foundation and Connie Speight of the Elephant Umbrella Fund.
By the time Medo was eight years old, logging was already banned in Thailand. Sadly the industry still flourished after that, unregulated and with poor working conditions for the elephants. At less than ten years old, Medo was put to work in the illegal logging industry. She was really too young to be doing such heavy labor, and as a result of this became a victim of a serious logging accident, in which her back right ankle was badly broken. The bone never properly set, and to this day her original injury is evident, the ankle is misshapen and enlarged.
After Medo recovered from her injury, it was obvious that she would never be able to perform heavy work for the rest of her life. At a loss as to what to do with Medo, her owner decided to sell her. The man who bought her did so with the full understanding that she could not be used for the work that was typical for elephants without such a handicap. Unfortunately, she still had to ‘earn her keep’.
Medo’s new owner decided that since she was young and healthy otherwise, he would use her as a breeding elephant. In her mid-teens, it was deemed time for her to be impregnated. With no regard to whether she and her chosen ‘mate’ were compatible, she was chained to a tree by her front two legs, feeling quite vulnerable. As Medo awaited her fate, a big bull in musth was brought over and chained next to her. Under normal conditions he might not have taken an interest in her, but soon frustration, anger, testosterone and desire all took control of him and he attacked and mounted her savagely.
Medo collapsed from the aggressiveness of his actions. As she lay there in pain and misery, no one dared to try to come to her aid, as they were fearful of the musth bull. She laid there for two days, before they could get the bull away from her and assess her injuries. It seemed that she had a dislocated spine and a broken pelvis.
Not a lot is known about her recovery, but most likely, due to the remoteness of her location, she probably never went to a hospital or had a doctor examine her. Amazingly, after a lengthy time of rest, it was determined that she could still walk, but no camp would ever want to hire an elephant in this condition. Also it was obvious that she would never be able to get pregnant due to the severity of her injuries.
When Lek found Medo, she was working for a village dragging small logs from the forest to be used for building. Lek could not let her live another day of hardship and started the negotiations to buy her. Thankfully, now she will spend the rest of her days at Elephant Nature Park free to rest and relax and socialize.
If you would like more information about the Park and the Elephant Nature Foundation’s other projects please visit
LOOK FOR THIS NEW BATIK PRINT VERY SOON ON EBAY!!!
For some reason when I look at this batik I can smell sandalwood oil. I think I must have caught the true “essence” of Thailand and the elephants and the hues. I can’t wait to go back you guys!!!!
It’s amazing how each event and moment in our lives is so interconnected even though at first glance they seem unrelated. My eye injury was an unfortunate boo boo but then today I got an email from the Elephant Nature Foundation in Chiang Mai Thailand that put my problem into perspective instantly!
They initially wrote to thank me for the photos I took while visiting the park in February
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY IMAGES ON THE ELEPHANT NATURE FOUNDATION WEB GALLERY
While at the website I decided to peruse around as long as my eye could stand it and see how my foster boy MAX was doing. I came upon the story of Jokia again (the blind elephant Diana and I worked with ) and as I read it I realized that as tragic as her story was….. how lucky she is to be saved from such a terrible fate and how my problem is VERY insignificant compared to Jokia’s vision loss. Also I can’t help but think what pain that beautiful girl had to endure at the hands of her “keepers”.
Her story is below taken from the website. The photos above are of Jokia sitting and acting cute for me and Diana on such a HOT HOT day and me bathing her. The photo below is from the ENF website
Needless to say, Jokia has now become the newest foster member of my “herd” along with Max for the next 3 years. Jody who is her wonderful caretaker will be updating me on Jokia’s progress during the years to come!
— Jokia —
Photo from Elephant Nature Foundation website
Jokia was born around 1960 in a Karen village along the border of Thailand and Burma. She was rescued by Lek in 1999, and thanks for funding her rescue go to Amanda De Normanville and friends. Her name is a Rakhine word that means ‘eye from heaven’. Jokia’s story is one of the saddest stories of all the elephants residing at Elephant Nature Park.
During her younger years, Jokia worked in the logging trade to support the Karen family who owned her. However, in 1989 the logging ban in Thailand left Jokia and many other elephants unemployed. The owners were left with no source of income. The expense of owning a large animal with a huge appetite was more than they could afford. Eventually the family sold her to an illegal logging camp. was here that Jokia’s tragedy would unfold.
After a few years working illegal logging, Jokia became pregnant. She was forced to work her entire pregnancy. While pulling a large log uphill, wearing heavy logging chains, she gave birth to her baby. It rolled down the hill behind her. She was not allowed to stop working to tend to her newborn, to see if it was alive or not. By the time they returned to the baby, it was dead. After that, Jokia refused to work. She was depressed and heartbroken. The mahout used physical threats, but still she refused. Finally the mahout used his slingshot and shot rocks at her repeatedly until she was blinded in one eye. Jokia became resentful and dangerous. She worked for a few more weeks until her sadness and anger overcame her again. She hit her owner. The owner, who had no sympathy for Jokia, soon became impatient and decided a completely blind elephant might be more submissive. He shot her remaining eye with a bow and arrow.
Once completely blind she was forced back to work, but the owner’s idea backfired. Jokia became very stubborn. She would swing her trunk at people, and not respond to commands. She didn’t trust anyone and didn’t feel confident with her surroundings.
When Lek first came across Jokia, she was on a Jumbo Express. She heard an elephant, roaring and trumpeting in pain and anger. She followed the noise and saw a man beating Jokia very badly. Her body was covered with infected wounds and scars from past beatings. She had tears running down from her blinded eye and empty socket. Lek couldn’t believe the condition of this blind elephant.
Lek tracked down the owner, who agreed to sell Jokia. When Jokia finally made it to her first home with ENP, Elephant Haven, she seemed to know her life had changed forever. After an adjustment period, Jokia grew accustomed to her new surroundings and finally made friends with Mae Perm. Although Jokia will always be in a dark world, she has a best friend to protect and guide her. Now the two girls are inseparable, often accompanied by the young Hope and sometimes Somboon, both whom Jokia also feels comfortable with.
Ok…here is another surreal day that would take hours to accuratly describe but we will try to set the scene the best we can. At 8:30 am we were picked up by a driver from the Elephant Nature Park to head to the local market to help load watermelons (25 kilograms per bag) and tons of bananas filling up the back of a pickup truck..assembly line style!!
Now on to the park which took about an hour into the mountains outside of Chiang Mai. The elephants were in a valley surrounded by the local hill tribes high above!!! Our first order of “business” was to feed the elephants from a deck/platform which brought us very up close and personal with these magnificent creatures. We were told the stories of each of the 31 rescued ellies some which broke your heart absolutely in two!!!!!
After a fantastic spread of home cooked Thai food for lunch we were led down to the river with elephants and mahouts in tow to bathe these giant beauties!!!! Little did Diana and I know what an honor was to be granted to us. Because of my eye issues and cane, one of the staff “Jody” took us under her wing and gave us a private walk with 2 very important elephants elepants at the park.
Mae Perm and Jokia were the ellie girls we were introduced to on a very personal basis. Jokia was completely blind and Mae Perm is her helper and best friend. Diana and I just looked at one another with tears welling up in our eyes and said “they are just like US”!!!
At the time…while we were socializing with our elephant counterparts, we assumed that the other guest were also with grouping off and bonding with an elephant or two like us…and to our surprise when our girls moved off to graze and we turned around…we found all the other guests grouped around the mud wallow watching the elephants doing mud baths. We were the ONLY ones who got to have a one on one experience!!!!!!!
We also met a beautiful young male ellie named HOPE who was inspiring and stunning. Just a round elephant all over!!! One of the Karen villages contacted Lek and told her they had a one week old baby whos mother died of disease. She made a long journey into the forest and rescued him and has raised him at the park. He inspired a wonderful t shirt slogan in the gift shop which states “PEACE + LOVE = HOPE”. He was a hoot…a real ambassador for the park giving kisses to everyone. We have smooch marks to prove it!
Will update more with tons of pix to come. Check out the other posts at http://graffitigossip.com to catch up on all the blog entries and click on COMMENTS under each post to read comments and add your own.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT MAX’S VERY HARD LIFE
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FIELD NOTES FROM MAX’S PERSONAL MAHOUT
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Karl Cullen moved to Thailand from Australia 3 years ago. During that time he has
worked at Elephant Nature Park as a mahout to your fostered elephant, Max.
This is Karl and Max’s personal story of their time at the park.
I have been working at Elephant Nature Park as the mahout to Maximus, or Max, since August 2003. I began with a fair amount of general knowledge about elephants, but none about Max or about being a mahout. This meant the first 6 months were an anxious time. The responsibility of looking after an animal such as an elephant is huge, and a little daunting. I was determined to give it my best, but with the reservation that I would bow out gracefully if I ever felt it would be best for Max if I did.
Over three years later Max and I are still working together. I hope it remains that way for the remainder of his life. Whether or not Max shares this opinion can only be learned by asking Max!
I began work with Max at a time when he was in a very bad state, hardly resembling a living, breathing elephant. Seeing his health improve and watching him progress has been one of the most satisfying aspects of my time at the park. I will be forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a part of that in such a direct way.
One of the most wonderful results of spending time with Max has been the understanding I now have, both of Max and elephants in general. I’ve had a lot of guidance and support from the park’s mahouts and Lek, but it is Max who has taught me the really important lessons about being a mahout. I feel we have developed a relationship that more closely resembles a partnership rather than a traditional mahout / elephant relationship.
This is through understanding his personality, including knowing the things that make him more comfortable or uncomfortable. I also try to impart to him an understanding of the ways I would like to work with him. Over a longer period of time, that understanding will hopefully grow
infinitely.
The most obvious change in Max since his arrival has been his health. This has improved dramatically, to the point of him going twice into a period of musth. This is a very good sign he is feeling the way a bull elephant should be feeling. Added to this is his increased confidence, both around other elephants and people.
This has shown itself in both the interest he has shown in female elephants, as well as interest they have shown in him. He also has an increased intolerance towards people, which I see as perfectly natural for an elephant coming from his situation. Through this intolerance our understanding of Max increases, and wherever possible we can simply adjust our behaviour to accommodate his wishes.
This shouldn’t be mistaken for aggression on Max’s part; however he has shown in certain situations, discounting musth of course that he will act on this. I would say that Max and all elephants are gentle by nature, we simply have to show them the respect they deserve and we will witness this.
Max’s personality is difficult to define or put into words. His disability gives him the appearance of being a very relaxed and easygoing elephant as he slowly ambles around the park. I would agree with that, but I also feel there is an incredibly strong spirit that drives Max, as evidenced by the fact that he is still here at all.
He certainly enjoys the attention of the females, of which he receives plenty, though he always plays it cool, more James Bond than Austin Powers! He doesn’t have a particular female that he seems
fonder of but Tong Jan’s family, including Mae Bua Tong, Mae Thai and Mae Somboon, spend more time with Max than any other elephants.
He is terrified of Boon Khum, the dominant male, but can be friendly with Khan Min, he’s even sparred playfully with him at times. Phu Pa, the youngest adult male is generally swiftly dismissed with a shake of the head. At the same time Max, whilst not overly affectionate, is very good with the youngest elephants, and they are very fond of him, often gazing up at Max as he towers over them, probably dreaming of one day being as
big as he is.
Many thanks for fostering Max
Love Karl and of course, Max
