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Around this time Mr. Phu Kham's son Yod came into Jampaa's life. He
was also born in 1961, so was the same age as Jampaa. As they both
grew older and entered into their early teens, Yod started training
to be mahout (or kwan chaang) for Jampaa and from that time on,
until she arrived at Elephant Nature Park, they were mostly
together. Jampaa spent the 1970's working as a pack elephant and
trained to work in harness and drag logs for a logging company. It
wasn't until the early 1980's that she was old enough to actually do
any work skidding logs, but Jampaa had obviously been busy with
other activities as she gave birth to a bull calf in 1983. She was
given six months off work to rest after her baby was born. Because
of the risk to her new calf, her owner ceased working her in logging
and moved her to a Karen owned trekking camp in Chiang Rai where she
gave rides to tourists for the next three years. The baby was
allowed to stay with her during this period, but after this, both
Mae Jampaa and her baby were taken back to Lampang so the young bull
could start his "training". After Phajaan, Yod's brother was given
ownership of the little male and took him off to work and later he
was sold.
Mae Jampaa (she had earned the "Mae" or mother title since she
had given birth to her first baby) worked in Lampang in the trekking
and transport industry until 1992 when she was transferred to work
in Chiang Dao at Baan Pah Lai trekking camp. By 1995 she was back
home working "illegal" logging - but nothing over exploitive, just
doing light labor for a local village, dragging logs for small
building projects. In 1999 she was back to work in Chiang Dao again,
this time at Baan Dtap Dtua, where she worked for the next four
years. In 2003 Mae Jampaa started working at Maetamman elephant
camp, right down the road from Elephant Nature Park, until she was
given her retirement and came to stay at the Park permanently.
At some point in Jampaa's life she lost her right eye, but the
exact circumstances of how this happened were never explained. Most
likely the injury occurred during her years employed in the logging
industry, but we may never know for sure.
For the past three years, Jampaa's owner Khun Yod has been asking
Lek to buy her. His father bought her originally, but Khun Yod has
known her since she was eight years old and has been her mahout for
most of that time as well. As Khun Yod got older, he took on more
responsibility in his village and was asked to be the headman, which
would be a full time job. If he took this job he could not continue
to be Jampaa's mahout and if he gave the job of mahouting her over
to someone else, he wouldn't have the time to monitor the way she
was being treated. Khun Yod just didn't feel comfortable with this.
Jampaa, being a healthy elephant with a nice temperament, caught
many perspective buyers attention and her owner had many offers to
sell her over the past three years, all of which he refused. Khun
Yod didn't want her to go work as a street begging elephant, and as
he knew the trekking industry he really didn't want her in that line
of work either.
When Khun Yod first approached Lek three years ago to sell
Jampaa, his asking price was quite high. Lek wasn't interested in
buying her as she felt that Jampaa being healthy and loved, didn't
really need rescuing. As the years passed, her owner persisted. Khun
Yod loved the atmosphere of Elephant Nature Park and the lifestyle
that the elephants enjoyed here. He kept stopping by, the price went
down and finally, the time was right.
Darrick Thomson, a true champion for animals who is known and
loved by all here at the Park, wanted to rescue an elephant in honor
of his father. He had already rescued Mintra back in the beginning
of 2009 in honor of his mother, so he couldn't leave dad out! Jampaa
is also the same age as Darrick and she comes from a very unique
situation (that is sadly not common in the captive working elephant
world). Since her owner really loved her and wanted to make sure
that if he could not continue to keep her that she would have a good
life, neither Jampaa nor her owner, Khun Yod could be turned down.
Jampaa has joined the young and socially outgoing Mintra and the
shy Mae Dta Keow and they have formed a happy trio that often
becomes a quartet when Malai Tong joins them. Jampaa settled right
in and fits in perfectly with her new girlfriends, getting along
with Mae Dta Keow and enjoying the lively Mintra (who although the
youngest, is definitely the "leader" of their pack).
*Records and official documentation of elephants of more than 10
years ago are sketchy at best. The dates we use are our best
estimates.
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