Elephant Nature Park Newsletter

January 2009

Happy New Year.

I would to start this newsletter by wishing you all a happy and successful new year from all at Elephant Nature Park. We hope that your plans for the forthcoming 12 months can include a visit to see our herd.

The years have flown by since Elephant Nature Park moved to the present location, and the elephant herd has grown as well. For those of us who have been around for a long time, including those of you that have been making return trips over and over again throughout the years, it has been a treat watching Hope and Jungle Boy and Thong Jaan grow up. Hope and Jungle Boy are in the process of accelerated growth spurts it seems. They have become 'big little elephants' and both of them are now just about the same size of their respective number one aunties, (Jae Perm and Mae Keow).

There have been tears of joy and tears of sadness as new eles are rescued, some from horrific circumstances like Medo, Faa Sai or Mae Bua Loy, and then on the other side of it, hearts get broken when leased elephants that stayed with us for years, like Mae Tor Kor and Pupia, inevitably go back to their owners and a life of exploitation. Sadly, we can't save them all, at least not yet.....but ENP continues to do it's best to try to make the lives of the Thai elephant (and dogs, cats, cows and water buffalo) better, one elephant at a time. An important factor to saving elephants is inspiring humans to care enough about the world's dwindling elephant population, to want to try to do something about it. Just getting to share some time with some of our amazing elephants here in the park and hearing some of their stories are enough to do this. getting to know an elephant can change your life

The project could not exist without all of you wonderful animal loving people out there, who have continued to support the park through the years, with donations, fundraising, repeat visits, your hard work volunteering, by adopting an animal from the park, creating awareness back in your home countries, spreading the word about Elephant Nature Park and talking people out of the more traditional exploitative elephant tourist traps. We appreciate all of your love and moral support and all of the wonderful things you have done to help the park grow into such a wonderful place for elephants to exist peacefully. May we continue to make our park a better place for elephants so they may thrive for many generations to come?

Aura's family group is reunited and tong tae gets a new auntie

Dok Ngern and Mae Dta Keow have returned their attentions of Mae Boon and Aura. All four of them are enjoying weekly trips up to Elephant Haven once again; but with Mae Boon and Aura both being 'social butterflies' who enjoy the company of various elephants, the family group is still occasionally fragmented. With Aura off in one direction, Mae Boon somewhere else, Mae Dta Keow waiting patiently for Mae Boon to quit socializing with others and Dok Ngern following anywhere. Lately Mae Boon has been choosing to spend a lot of time with Tong Tae;s family, which works out well since aura, Dok Ngern and even Mae Dta Keow feel comfortable with this family group. Mae Dta Keow is the least interactive of the four, she is ok with most of the family members, but doesn't really know Mae Tong Dee or newcomer Mae Bua Loy well enough to really join in. Aura, on the other hand, has became great friends with Tong Daeng and spends lots of time with him. The two youngsters really enjoy pushing, shoving and rolling around together. One more great thing that has come out of these trips to elephant haven is that Mae Dta Keow and Dok Ngern are getting much closer and are now often seen together even when Mae Boon and Aura are not with them. This is important since, sadly, we must remember that Mae Boon and Aura aren't permanent residents at the park, even though they have been here for 3 years. When, and if, the day does arrive when they have to leave, hopefully Mae Dta Keow and Dok Ngern will continue their relationship and maybe one day in the future, Mae Dta Keow can become and auntie to a baby of Dok Ngern's.

Surin Elephant Round Up

Towards the end of November every year, the Surin elephant round-up takes place in the same name Thai province. This is a national elephant festival celebrating the importance of the elephant in Thai culture and history. Every year Lek goes to this festival with a group of volunteers and the occasional film crew, to observe the treatment and wellbeing of the elephants present at this event..Many elephants are bought and sold at the round-up and it has been quite a few years since Lek has been able to come home without buying an elephant in distress. This year was no exception, and when Lek and company met Mae Bua Loy, they knew they couldn't leave Surin without her.

One of the people accompanying Lek this year was long time park supporter and passionate elephant lover Singer Rankin, founder of the non profit 'world women work'. Through donations and fundraising World Women Work was able to provide the funds to buy Mae Bua Loy.

Mae Bua Loy is approximately 30 years old and originally came from Mae Sariang in the North where she worked as an illegal logging elephant. Her right leg was severely broken. after she healed from this injury she spent some time as a street begging elephant. many people complained about seeing an elephant walking the streets with such an injury, so the owner took her home. She became pregnant in 2005 and gave birth sometime in 2007. sadly her baby was taken away from her and sold in mid 2008. after this, the owner's plan was to try to set up a 'breeding program' (which is actually just a nice way of saying she would be forcibly mounted by a male in musth and her babies would be sold away from her at a young age only for her to be forcibly impregnated again over and over), Within a 4 month period she was mated forcibly by this male 28 times. Her baby had been taken away from her only months before and the last thing on her mind was accepting advances from a male. Even while she still had her baby and was still nursing the owner was trying to mate her. Of course, because of her heartbreak and distress over having her baby taken away from her, she didn't get pregnant and the owner decided to sell her. This turned out to be a stroke of good luck for Mae Bua Loy, as she ended up here at our park.

Upon arriving, when she first set eyes upon Tong Tae, she knew that she had to become one of his aunties. This would be the best cure for the heartache caused by losing her own baby. of all of the elephants ever to arrive at ENP Mae Bua Loy was the quickest to be accepted and settle into a family group. It seemed that the existing females in the group understood how she felt and were quick to make her feel welcome, and she immediately moved into the number one auntie position. She is unbelievably overprotective of little Tong Tae and is with him every moment. His mother, Mae Tong Dee can relax a bit more now with yet one more auntie and is often the furthest away from her little one, grazing peacefully. Knowing that there are more than enough caring females to look after her baby. Mae Bua Loy has settled right in and it is almost as if she has been here for many years already.

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Newsletters Past, Present, and Future

Readers and lovers of our Park eles, rest assured if we don't mention an elephant in every newsletter it doesn’t mean that something unforeseen has happened to that elephant. Some periods of time are not as newsworthy as others for all of our elephants. But this just leaves readers with more to look forward to in the next newsletter.

Lightening finds a new home

Lightening gets adopted and moves to Bangkok lovely little park underdog Lightening, has been with us since Sep 02. Even though Lightening has been around for a long time. She is a small dog and has a submissive manner so she never acquired any kind of dominant status. As the number of dogs slowly but steadily rose through the years. Lightening has a great personality and was well loved by staff and volunteers, but sadly she spent most of her time on the sidelines because she was often bullied by more dominant dogs. Barbara Bilgre came to volunteer in June 2008 and immediately fell in love with a few of the dogs here at ENP. She actually bonded with both Bhunder and Lightening but felt she could only adopt one of them as she has a dog at home already. She told us she would take which ever one of them would benefit more from the adoption, and as Lhunder is more assertive and moves rather freely around the park, it was decided that Lightening was the one who should get adopted. Barbara lives in bangkok and is a science teacher at buamrudee international school. In the past she lived in Belize for quite some time and worked as a Marine Mammal Biologist and also worked with the Humane Society in Belize to help reduce the stray dog population by organizing spay and neuter clinics and other events to raise awareness of the plight of homeless animals.

Another thing, She did to help was to adopt 2 dogs and a cat, who have travelled with her as her life moved on. One of those dogs passed away last January, but the other dog (whose name is Nash and he is now lightening's big brother!) and the cat, Crosby(who Lightening has learned to share the bed with!) are doing fine and are still with Barbara. Lightening is enjoying her new mom and family and is doing great. She loves living indoors and had no problem adapting to sleeping in her human mom's bed and hanging out on the furniture. She was able to adapt to taking walks in the city and is street smart and doesn't need a leash. She has made a few friends and one of them is a dog that lives at a 7-11 nearby. Soon Lightning's life will change yet again as Barbara is going to look for a new job, where she can live closer to nature with more space for Lightening and Nash to run and play. Thank you Barbara, for opening your arms to Lightening, as much as we love her, we know her life is better with you as her 'mom'.

Tong Deng Settles in

Tong Daeng settles in since his arrival in early September, Tong Daeng has been having the time of his life. Having never enjoyed the comforts of being in a family group before, or having Ele-friends like Aura, Tong Jaan and Faa Sai to roll and push with, he is making the most of his time at ENP. Tong Daeng is very confident, and often strays from his group to seek out his female playmates, or wanders off to get to know Max or introduce himself to the random female off grazing on her own.

Sometimes he attempts to play big boy elephant games with hope or Tong Suk. When this happens, he often finds himself in over his head rather quickly and tries to run away, which the big boys assume is just part of the game and they run after, chasing him (of course). At this point Tong Daeng's bravado fades and he yells out for family support. His mother and aunties, who do care for him, are much more concerned for the littlest member of the family, His younger brother Tong Tae, and feel that whatever the older Tong Daeng gets himself into, he should be able to get himself out of, as they can't afford to put little Tong Tae in danger going to his rescue.

Overall, playing with the bigger boys and getting pushed around is all part of growing up for young bulls, and a good learning experience for Tong daeng, who continues to get stronger and healthier each day he spends at ENP.

Mae Vie Lai News

An older female ele comes to stay for a medical leave and makes new friends Mae Vie Lai arrived at Elephant Nature Park on January 6th from a nearby elephant camp. She had an abscess that had been developing on the back of her front right foot and was causing her too much pain and discomfort to continue working. Her owner's contacted Lek and asked if she could come to stay at ENP to relax and receive treatment. as usual, all of our elephants were curious to see who this new girl was and many of our more outgoing eles took their turns coming up to give her a sniff, touch, rumble or trumpet.

One of the most socially interactive elephants in the park, who can get along with almost anybody, is Mae Boon. Mae Boon was probably the first elephant to approach Mae Vie Lai and has been spending a lot of time with
her since that time. In similar fashion to when Mae Kham Geao arrived, Mae Boon came over to Mae Vie Lai and started caressing her with her trunk, gently but purposefully touching her face and head, as if she remembered her. Most of the elephants here at the park have worked many places and changed hands many times before their arrival to ENP, and the possibility is always there that some of them could have worked together in the past.

As the days passed, the rest of Mae Boon's family group also warmed to Mae Vie Lai. Though she is only here temporarily, her time will pass enjoyably in the company of her new family group of friends.

Artists Elephant Painting Auction

Sam Frankowska featured artist of this edition's online auction this month's painting for auction is really something special!! It is the first of a series that the artist is in the process of painting. the elephant in the painting is Medo, and is titled 'Elephant Haven 1'. the medium is oil on canvas. The artist, Sam Frankowska is of British nationality but living in Norway where she teaches illustration. Sam has been to volunteer at our park four times in the past 2 years. Sam keeps coming back because she feels that elephant nature park represents hope in a world which is steadily being more and more depleted of its animals, plants, water, air and resources generally. Hopefully, we will have more of Sam's wonderful paintings up for auction in the future.

Hope for 2009

Occasionally we get emails from past visitors, or online elephant admirers who are loyal readers of our newsletters, wondering why there hasn't been any recent news on their favorite elephant. recently we heard from one of hope's fans (of which he has many) stating that they felt that if Hope (Our young bull elephant) was aware of the lack of press he was getting, he may not be too pleased with this. Well, it is true, that there is so much baby/mama drama going on in the bigger family groups, that they take up most of the ele gossip. As high profile as Hope is, he often spends his afternoons just hanging out and eating grass, or pushing on Mae Bua Kham (not really newsworthy items), not causing near as much trouble as you might be led to believe when you visit the park.

Power of One visit

On January first, the power of one, 56 people strong, descended upon elephant nature park. Culturally, creatively and spiritually diverse, it is always a rich and rewarding experience having this group here. They come from many places; America, Canada, Thailand, China and South Korea. They are old, young and inbetween, they are students and mentors. Every year before they leave their native lands, the coordinators of the program, Juelle and Donovan, tell everyone to pack light for themselves and bring an extra suitcase of things to give away. Besides coming to ENP and donating their time, hard labor and funds to help the eles, they also like to support others as well. During their stay at the park, they take a day trip to visit a few hilltribe villages where they give away blankets, mosquito nets, clothing, medical supplies, toys and books. They donate more of the same to be taken to a refugee camp and also bring loads of supplies to give to two schools in the south of Thailand where the Thai teachers and students who are with them come from. They held a mini fundraiser while they were here, with everyone pitching in what they could and came up with enough money to adopt all of the eles in the fostering program!!!

One of the most favorite events that happens during the power of one's visit is their 'talent show/presentation'. Throughout the week, after their work projects are finished, they spend time rehearsing for the gala affair that takes place on their last night. This group is certainly not short on talent! They sing songs (some of them original), do elephant and human impersonations and recite poetry. There is Thai dancing performed, by both Thai and non Thai performers. The group of Thai students gave a performance of the elephant song 'Chang Chang Chang' and gave the song a whole new tempo and feeling accompanied by a choreographed dance that looked like something out of MTV! The evening is rounded out by our very own ENP mahouts who are quite musically talented themselves giving an example of their cultural music and a bit of dancing as well. For everyone present, the event leaves you with a feeling of happiness and wellbeing to be at elephant nature park in general and to be part of such a globally diverse group of people all sharing our passion for elephants and our time together here at the park, where lives are changed and lasting friendships are made.

We will miss you until next year, power of one!