Sri Nuan

Sri Nuan was a trekking elephant who worked in Surin. She was forced to work many hours a day without enough time to eat. After work each day, she was chained up near a rice paddy. One evening, she managed to escape to find food. The owner of the rice paddy was furious and shot her with a slingshot, blinding her left eye.

In 2003, Sri Nuan gave birth to a baby, Nong Ning. Her happy days with the little one only lasted eight months, before her owner sold the baby to an elephant show in Phuket.

In November 2005, a team from Elephant Nature Park spotted her begging outside their hotel when they were in Surin for the annual elephant festival. Antoinette van de Water resolved to buy her as part of her Bring the Elephant HOME project, which involved bringing two elephants across Thailand to Elephant Nature Park, while arranging educational and media events along the way. Upon Sri Nuan’s arrival at the park in January 2006, she quickly joined a new family group consisting of Mai Lai Tong, Sri Nuan, Mae Tok Koh, and Mae Tok Koh’s baby boy, to whom she has become a loving auntie. Sri Nuan has an extremely large head and broad shoulders, making her look almost like a bull elephant from the front. She can also be recognized by her blind left eye, her big ears, and her tail that is so long, it almost touches the ground.

*Records and official documentation of elephants of more than 10 years ago are sketchy at best. The dates we use are our best estimates.