Boon Rod rescued - finds a new home

By Lek Chailert" 04 Aug 05

I searched for three days and nights for young Boon Rod. Three days of suffering, worry and pain. I called her owner first and he told me that Boon Rod is under medical care, in the hands of vets. He didn't say where. I called everywhere I could think of, anywhere Boon Rod may be treated but I had no luck. I took a car to search every nearby city and asked everyone I thought could be helpful.   One little girl elephant has both eyes infected and yet she still works.. It may seem easy to find an elephant, a huge creature, but it seemed easier to find a needle in a haystack. People give me wrong information and I wasted a lot of time.

Some people give me information about elephants walking the streets, but none of them were Boon Rod. When I found the other elephants it made me even more sad to witness more desperation and hopelessness. They should be the in the forests, not to under the shadow of concrete buildings and in the middle such pollution. Some of them are are in terribly bad condition  and they all looked sad and forlorn.

One little girl elephant has both her eyes infected and yet she still works. A baby elephant male has wounds caused by a deluge of mosquitoes bites. I start to cry as I drove pass these elephants leaving their pain behind me. I never gave up and I will always keep looking for Boon Rod. In my heart and prayers I know I will find her.

On the third day I saw a little elephant walking by a busy market with a mahout riding on her back. Boon Rod was back to work on the streets again. I jump down from the car to see and comfort her. The mahout is a little surprised to see me. I check her body. The leg wound where the car struck her is still swollen and her leaden eyes are so tired. She didn't even look at me at all this time. She looks blankly down the street and seems to have give up all hope. I pat her and talk to her though she seems not to be interested. She is in a sad state.

In that minute, without any plan, I decide that I will take her away. I will handle any consequences; Boon Rod must have a better life than this. I call to my lawyer, he is shocked at my suggestion and does not agree. He told me that I have to talk to the owner, but I know he has been playing greedy games since I met Boon Rod.

Two hours later our truck arrived. I told the mahout that I will take Boon Rod to the park and if he wants to go with me I will be happy to provide a life for him there as well. It takes only a couple minutes with the cooperation of Boon Rod to get her up to the truck. One of her mahouts joins us.

Boon Rod arrives at the park at 5 pm. When the truck stops she is impatient to get out and wander freely on the grass and to meet the other elephants again.  Many of her herd are waiting for her. She walks straight to them and they all talk together before heading to the food station. Our volunteers prepare welcome home food for her as she checks into the park.

She eats and eats until she is full. With her stomach bulging she follows her adoptive mother Mae Bua Tong and her little sisters to the grass field. An hour later she lay down and fell asleep in the field. It seems she had not slept for a long time. She is at peace now and looking forward to her new life in very different surroundings and amongst own kind. I sit quietly and watch her in deep, blissful, sleep snoring loudly in the valley.