The Arrival of Mae Bua-Tong and her baby
"By Sangduen Chailert"
Immediately after Elephant Nature Park’s announcement for help to rescue a
mother and baby elephant we were contacted by Ms Olivia Daniel and her parents
from the UK who visited our park in May and were willing to help with the
rescue. Olivia was a volunteer at Elephant Nature Park earlier this year
and she was determined to help rescue these elephants as a present for her 21st
birthday, on 14th July. With a lot of support from her parents, Tim and Sarah
Daniel, her dream has come true. Ele Aid UK also helped us to raise the
remaining funds needed to rescue the mother and her little baby.
On 1st July, 2005, Mae Bua-Tong (Golden Lotus) and her baby walked freely to the
park. The journey of the mother and baby from a nearby elephant tourist camp,
was a 3 hour walk. Olivia, together with some volunteers and our
staff accompanied their walk to the park. It was about 5 in the afternoon when
they reached their new home, just before sunset. All the other elephants had
already returned to their areas for the night.
When they first arrived both of them seemed quite nervous. Hope, our 5 year old
baby walked to visit and check out the new elephants. He was interested to know
whether the baby elephant was a boy or girl. He was very curious and tried to
play with the baby elephant. We didn’t want to upset the mother so we took Hope
back to his area.
We put the mother and her baby in the new shelter that we had prepared for them.
Three of our mahouts stayed beside them, but they couldn’t sleep at all because
the baby elephant kept walking out from the shelter all night to explore her new
environment. The mother wanted to follow her baby and in trying to do so she
broke down the roof and walls.
On the second day after sun rise the female elephants came to welcome the mother
and baby. They were so excited and everyone was reacting with much happiness
towards the little one. There was so much trumpeting, rumbling and talking,
which resounded throughout the surrounding valley. Mae Kalayore (also know as
Mae Keaw) walked to the baby first and tried to be friendly. Mae Perm talked to
Jokia, who is blind and told her about the new arrival. Mae Boon Ma, Lilly, Mae
Elu and Mae Kham-Sai showed great excitement and really wanted to be close to
the little girl. All of them were following, smelling and touching her with
their trunks, trying to win her over so they would be chosen as the nanny. This
went on for more than three hours, while we watched from the main hut. All the
female elephants kept walking up to Mae Bua Tong and her baby.
Finally the baby walked to Mae Elu and started to suckle, even though she has no
milk .The group of Lilly, Mae Boon Ma, Mae Kalayore and the others knew in that
minute that the baby had chosen her auntie. Mae Elu and Mae Kham-Sai had got the
honor of being the nannies. From that moment on we saw the three of them walking
together with the little baby elephant in the middle of them. Mae Elu was an
elephant who used to work in the trekking camps. She has had one baby, who was
sold and taken away from her when she was 2 years old. She became pregnant on
two other occasions but miscarried both times, while she was working hard taking
tourists on treks.
Mae Kham-Sai was a trekking elephant who was injured while working. Her skin was
cracked all over body and she had many psychological problems. Mae Kham-Sai is
very shy and it has not been easy for her to make friends since coming to the
park. Early in May she joined the herd of Mae Elu and Mae Boon Ma.
It is such an amazing sight to see the mother elephant giving love and affection
to the new baby. Welcome home to Mae Bua Tong and her baby girl. From today the
flowers in the park will bloom more.
**** Special Thanks for Mr Tim Mrs Sarah Daniel ,Miss Olivia Daniel . Mr Charles
David Begley , Rachel Jones and Ele-Aids UK********
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A new home to explore
Olivia welcomes our new baby elephant
Mother(s) and baby
Joining the herd
Enjoyng a new life
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