Welcome to yet another action-packed Elephant Nature Park newsletter. Though we are still grieving over the loss of Boon Khum and Max, Faa Mai has kept us busy with all of her first moments and she is growing up strong, confident and well taken care of. She also has a new playmate, Chang Yim, another exciting arrival for Elephant Nature Park. Besides Chang Yim's arrival, two "old ladies" became permanent residents in mid-June.

These days, with Facebook and Twitter, news from the Park gets out quickly and often well before the next newsletter is due out. But for some, the Elephant Nature Park newsletter is their main source of "ele-gossip," where you can get the "full story" with all of the exciting details.

So read on, and find out what has been happening with our herd…

Special Thanks

To Scott and Anna Murphy who turned their wedding day into a special day for the herd too

Meanwhile Greengates School in Mexico spent a lot of time in effort to help our herd

Welcome Chang Yim!

Finally, the moment we have been waiting for: Dok Ngern's baby has arrived. A beautiful male calf was born on July 12 at approximately 4:20 a.m. He was named Chang Yim (smiling elephant). Antoinette Van De Water, who fundraised to buy Dok Ngern, had been staying at the Park for a few days in anticipation of the impending birth, but was getting ready to make a trip back to the Netherlands. She had decided to stay one extra night and what a lucky decision that was, as she was there to witness Chang Yim's arrival. Mae Bua Tong and Faa Mai were close by and so excited about the birth of Chang Yim that Mae Bua Tong broke the fence so the two of them could come closer to welcome in the little bull calf.

Dok Ngern, who has been auntie to Faa Mai since she was born and sleeping in their shelter every night until her own birth was close, initially wasn't interested in sharing her private bundle of joy and pulled Chang Yim away from Mae Bua Tong and Faa Mai. It was as if she couldn't believe that this baby was really her very own and wanted to keep him all to herself.

This attitude lasted a few days, but soon Malai Tong moved in and became auntie to Chang Yim and spent all of her time with new mom and baby, even sleeping in the shelter. In no time at all Chang Yim was nursing from Malai Tong as well as Dok Ngern, who can now graduate to "Mae" Dok Ngern as she has officially entered motherhood.

Chang Yim and Mae Dok Ngern didn't spend as much time confined to the shelter as Faa Mai and Mae Bua Tong did (but there was no big sister still wanting to nurse from mama, which made things much easier). Chang Yim took his first trip to the river approximately one month after he was born and soon after that joined Faa Mai's family group on daily outings. They quickly became an extended family group, as the two little ones are often inseparable and are so confident and outgoing that both of them spend lots of time away from their mothers exploring on their own, or in the company of their protective aunties. Even Faa Mai's big sisters, Tong Jan and Faa Sai, enjoy looking after the little ones. Chang Yim loves Malai Tong so much that he sometimes runs to her more often than his own mother, Dok Ngern.

Now that "Mae" Dok Ngern has gotten over her initial over-protectiveness and possessiveness, she has become so comfortable with others caring for Chang Yim that she could very well become our new "part-time mom." Dok Ngern did spend a lot of time with Mae Boon (who was our other well-known part-time mom) and her daughter Aura, being a big sister auntie for Aura, and Mae Boon was definitely one of Dok Ngern's role models. Dok Ngern has also been lucky enough to spend her last 3½ years in the happy, healthy, elephant family atmosphere at Elephant Nature Park where there were many aunties who shared the job of caring for the babies. As a result of this Mae Dok Ngern is confident that her young one will be taken care of, even if she decides to wander off on her own for awhile, which she now often does!

As for Chang Yim, he is already showing us that he has a naughty streak. On many an afternoon when the day visitors get to experience the eles "up close," he will run up from behind and give an unsuspecting visitor a "ride" on his forehead as he playfully head-butts them from behind. Of course this kind of behavior is not encouraged as we want him to grow up to be a well-mannered elephant. If all goes as planned, hopefully by the time Chang Yim is the age of his mother, Dok Ngern, he can go to live at the New Haven where he won't have much interaction with humans at all. But in the meantime, he has to learn basic commands so that he can be controlled and safely interact with Park staff and guests. This he will learn through positive reinforcement training which is already being practiced.

Faa Mai Update

Little Faa Mai, at five months old, couldn't be happier now that she has Chang Yim to pal up with. Lots of wonderful, exciting changes have occurred in her life since the last newsletter. In early June, Faa Mai and her mother Mae Bua Tong along with her two aunties Malai Tong and Dok Ngern (who at that time was still heavy with child) finally joined the rest of the family group roaming freely about the Park.

Auntie Mae Thai and big sisters Tong Jan and Faa Sai had been waiting for this moment for some time. Tong Jan had lost the desire to suckle from her mother and was ready to begin her new job as a big sister. Occasionally Faa Mai tries to suckle from big sister Tong Jan's small nipples (though she has no milk of course). This used to scare Tong Jan, but now she has become used to it, and has even learned to move her front leg forward a bit to make it easier for little sis.

Mae Somboon, who is a part-time auntie to Tong Jan and Faa Sai, had once again became more interested in hanging around again. Faa Mai's family group often joined Tong Tae's family group, and at that time Mae Boon, Aura and Little BK were also still here. It was a beautiful sight to see this large group of elephants grazing together.

Not long after, Chang Yim arrived and life got even more exciting for Faa Mai. He would be a permanent resident, like Faa Mai and she wouldn't have to worry about ever saying good-bye to this playmate. Chang Yim quickly joined Faa Mai on the daily outings and their life settled in to a routine that goes something like this:

7:00am — They come out of their shelters to bask in the sunshine or frolic in the rain, practicing grazing in the grass and perfecting rolling in the mud. They wander from one mother to another, or sometimes both of their mothers wander far away from them and the two of them suckle from Malai Tong, one on each teat. Malai Tong is very watchful of the pair, and Faa Mai and Chang Yim feel quite protected in the company of their many aunties, who include Mintra, Mae Dta Keow, Mae Thai and Mae Somboon. Of course both Mae Bua Tong and Mae Dok Ngern are surrogate mothers to the other's calf as well.

Mid-morning — The group makes their way to the river's edge where the adults and big sisters have a drink and Faa Mai and Chang Yim splash around a bit. This can only happen on days when it hasn't rained a lot, and the river is not high and fast moving, as these conditions can be very dangerous and baby elephants can easily get swept away with the current. Thankfully, the mahouts are always watching the elephants and keep them away from the river when it is swift and deep.

10:45am — Faa Mai and Chang Yim (along with their mothers and auntie Malai Tong) make their way back to their shelters which are side by side, to rest in the shade and meet the new day visitors. Faa Mai is just starting to eat peeled, ripe bananas – about four a day, but she really likes pieces of watermelon! – and the visitors delight in feeding them to her. She is also just starting to try to eat grass. After feeding time, both babies take a nap. If Lek is here, Faa Mai falls asleep to a lullaby sung by Lek. The one she seems to like best is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" sung in Thai. Faa Mai loves Lek very much and sees her as yet another mother/auntie figure in her life.

1:30pm — Faa Mai and Chang Yim head down to the river. By this time the guests have went up to watch from the observation deck. Again, if the river is not too deep and fast moving (we are in the middle of the rainy season and the river can rise or fall rapidly) the family groups can go into the river where the mothers, aunties and big sisters surround the babies protectively so they don't float away. The calves roll and splash playfully, enjoying every minute. Once they emerge, a mini-mud bath is made for them, which they occasionally indulge in and then move out in to the field a bit. Soon after, the guests are allowed to come down and spend about 15 minutes up close and personal with Lek, Faa Mai, Chang Yim and their families, taking pictures as Faa Mai shows off and enjoying the amazing experience of getting to interact and be amongst these beautiful babies and their proud, majestic, maternal protectors.

2:00pm — They are once again grazing peacefully out in the back of the Park until about 3:30 when they return to the shelter for late afternoon nap and second feeding. After such an exciting day, Faa Mai sleeps well, waking up to nurse throughout the night and by the next morning, she is ready to seize the new day, a little bit bigger, stronger and more curious.

Tong Daeng's One-Year Anniversary

On September 15th, Tong Daeng will celebrate one year of living at Elephant Nature Park. He is still on lease, not owned by the Park and it is unsure whether he will become a permanent resident or not. In the meantime, he has certainly been enjoying his time here. Tong Daeng has grown quite a bit, and has became rather socially diverse. He still sleeps with his family group and sometimes spends a good part of the day with them, but he has really come to enjoy the company of older, childless females.

On any given day he can be seen spending time with Mae Lanna and Medo (Mae Lanna really seems to fancy him, Medo tolerates him) or sometimes Mae Kham Geao and her new friend Mae Tee (who seems to like engaging in pushing matches with him). Also, as of late, Tong Daeng has started to spend time with Mae Kham Sai, which is really good as she doesn't have any friends so she probably enjoys his company the most. He hasn't forgotten his young "girlfriends" and doesn't ever walk away from a good wrestling match in the mud or grass with Tong Jan and Faa Sai or even Mintra, whom he really has a lot of fun with.

Lucky for him, both Hope and Tong Suk have not been paying much attention to him recently, as they can be a bit rough and Tong Suk especially likes to practice mount Tong Daeng, much to his distress. He is enjoying the faster current and deeper waters of the rainy season river, and is in there frolicking whenever he gets a chance. Oftentimes he and Mintra float down a ways and then make their way up the bank on the opposite side of the river trumpeting and squeaking with joy and it is difficult to get them to come back across!

When Tong Daeng first arrived, he was very thin, but he was also quite aggressive and a bit unpredictable. This behavior was a result of enduring the crush (phajaan) and too much over-training afterwards. He became not more submissive, but more rebellious and hard to manage, bordering on dangerous. With his injured leg and looking a bit weak and subdued, we wanted to reach out to him and let him know everything would be ok, but as you would move closer to him, he would swing his trunk out in an attempt to strike you. In the mornings when he was out in the fields with his family group and our overnight guests would be out on their morning walk, when approaching Tong Daeng and his family, he would often come charging at the group of ele-watchers.

Finally, he was paired up with one of our most gentle-natured mahouts, a young man named Louwa, who really calmed Tong Daeng down. Soon Tong Daeng stopped charging the people out on the morning ele-walk, and in time, if his mahout was with him, Tong Daeng could even be approached. He still occasionally attempts to hit with his trunk, but he has became more gentle since his arrival one year ago.

We are happy that there was space available for Tong Daeng to stay at Elephant Nature Park and enjoy a carefree life, free of exploitation and hope that he is able to stay here for much longer.

Mae Tee and Mae Kham Paan Retire at Elephant Nature Park Thanks to Generous Volunteers

It is pretty exciting to think of how spending a week or two volunteering at Elephant Nature Park can change someone's life so much that they leave here thinking that they want to donate a large sum of money to help to buy an elephant's freedom. This actually happens quite often, and it sometimes seems that we have more people interested in donating funds for eles than we actually have space for elephants!

Recently both the ele-lovers and two old female elephants got lucky. New Zealanders Diane and Steve Franklin first came to Elephant Nature Park about one and a half years ago and fell in love with the project. On their first visit Aura captured their hearts. After making the trip to Elephant Haven with Pom and hearing that Aura would be taken back by their owners, they offered to provide the funds to buy Aura. Sadly, Aura's owners could not be persuaded to sell her to the Park, even though she has spent most of her life here.

When Lek heard about Mae Tee and Mae Kham Paan, who were working at a new elephant camp just a five-minute walk away from Elephant Nature Park, she contacted Diane and Steve to see if they were interested in rescuing an old lady in need of retirement and they happily obliged, so their funds bought the freedom of Mae Tee.

Mae Tee is approximately 65 years old and had only been working at that camp for about three months. She came to Chiang Mai from Krabi where she had worked as a "legal logging" elephant, pulling skids of logs that had once been rubber trees. This job had taken its toll and her wrist and ankle joints were worn completely out. Still she was sold to someone else who would continue to work her. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for her last owners to realize that she shouldn't be carrying tourists and that retirement was the best option for her. She is settling into life at Elephant Nature Park quite comfortably and has found a new friend in Mae Kham Geao (more on that in a minute!). Now the two older females are virtually inseparable.

Mae Kham Paan may be closer to 75 years old, and had only been at the nearby trekking camp for about a month. Before this, she had been illegal logging in Phrae. Mae Kham Paan befriended Mae Tee. Both of these females had been owned by the same man before they were sold to the camp. Mae Kham Paan was incredibly thin and too old and weak to work. All of her ribs were showing and you could practically count the vertebrae in her tail.

The two worn out old females were bought and arrived at Elephant Nature Park together in early June. At first, they stayed by themselves, but as the days passed, some of our more curious or just plain socially outgoing elephants ventured closer to meet them. Mintra was very interested in Mae Tee and Mae Kham Paan and spent a lot of time with them in the beginning making them feel welcome, and before we knew it, the shy Mae Kham Geao was moving closer to the two ladies and decided that she liked them. Sadly, for whatever reason, Mae Kham Paan didn't feel comfortable with Mae Kham Geao (gentle though she is) and bowed out gracefully to become a loner for the time being.

The funds for Mae Kham Paan's rescue came from two individuals; one being a big-hearted softie who wishes to remain nameless and the other is one of our on-site staff with a bit of an elephant addiction. Extra funds to help with her care were donated by two lovely Singapore girls who were volunteers. Despite Mae Kham Paan's emaciated condition, she has full flexibility in all of her joints and amazingly isn't covered with scars. It is suspected that a year or so from now, once she fills out, she may be similar to Mae Bua Kham (who is another one of our oldest elephants, but also one of our most robust), and look quite youthful for her age and have a lot of energy.

Once again we would like to give a big thanks to those who helped rescue these two elephants and to all who have helped to buy the freedom for the eles of Elephant Nature Park in the past as well. We couldn't have done it without your help! Because of your belief in Lek's cause, there are elephants living happier, healthier lives here at Elephant Nature Park.

Mae Kham Geao Has a New Friend in Mae Tee

Mae Kham Geao is also approaching her one-year anniversary of living at Elephant Nature Park, on October 1st. She is a bit luckier than Tong Daeng, as she was able to be bought and will enjoy the rest of her years living peacefully at the Park. Until recently, Mae Kham Geao was a solitary female and spent her days alone, but in mid-June two other older females were rescued and came to live at Elephant Nature Park. One of these two ladies was Mae Tee, and soon after her arrival she and Mae Kham Geao became friends and have been spending their days together ever since. It is quite interesting to see the difference in Mae Kham Geao, especially in her confidence, now that she has a friend. She has also become very vocal. She and Mae Tee rumble and squeak together to comfort and reassure each other.

It is always nice to see two elephants become friends, but in this case the female who arrived with Mae Tee is now on her own as a result of Mae Kham Geao and Mae Tee's new friendship. Hopefully Mae Kham Paan will soon feel comfortable with Mae Kham Geao and will join the new friends and the pair will become a threesome.

Mae Boon, Aura and Little BK – Gone For Good?

Again, the saga continues! In the last newsletter we were excited to report that Mae Boon and Aura had returned to the Park and even more excited about the birth of Phet Tae (or "little BK" as we called him). Mae Boon and Aura were loved by elephants and people alike and had lived at Elephant Nature Park as leased elephants for over three years. When they returned this time, their owners stayed with them to be their mahouts, thinking that they could prepare Aura for her career as a dancing/painting elephant while staying at Elephant Nature Park.

They refused to comply with Lek's ethics and codes for treatment and handling of elephants who stay in the Park, and most visitors and volunteers who caught a glimpse of them mishandling Mae Boon or Aura were quite saddened and shocked. As frustrating as the situation was, Lek was hesitant to ask them to leave because she feared for the health and well being of Plai Phet Tae, as he was way too young to be following his mother on trekking tours. In the end, the owner decided to take Mae Boon, Aura and Phet Tae out of the Park because he didn't want to comply with the Elephant Nature Park rules for treating/handling elephants. We at Elephant Nature Park are very sad to see them go as there is a good chance that Plai Phet Tae will not survive.

We hope the best for Mae Boon, Aura and "Lil' BK" and wish that there had been some way that we could have saved them from having to return to a life of work and exploitation. Sadly, not all endings are always happy.

Hope Has his First Pre-Teen Musth!

Our juvenile boys are quickly metamorphosing into confident young bulls. Both Hope and Tong Suk are very healthy young males, who have never been tortured into submission, have never worked and are both very robust. Max and Boon Khum, both dominant bulls whom the boys looked up to (and in BK's case, feared a bit), are now out of the picture and Khum Min (Kham Meun) is recovering from a sprained ankle so he is on the sidelines for the time being as well. All of these factors are adding up to early-onset puberty for Hope.

About a week ago, Hope got the idea that he was the new "big boss" of the Park and suddenly became very sexually aggressive, mounting Mae Thai (who usually would have pushed him away and never allowed this), Tong Jan and Faa Sai in one afternoon, and a few days previous mounted Mae Kham Geao as well. He is not at all aggressive with his mahouts or those individuals who he knows well or the average visitor or volunteer, but he is much more apt to chase mahouts he knows are a bit afraid of him and he is only responding to commands selectively.

His temple areas are swollen and he has a bit of temporal secretion as well. As a precaution, he is spending a bit more time on the chain. (When male elephants are in musth, they can be quite aggressive and can pose a real threat to other elephants and people. For this reason, males in musth in Elephant Nature Park are kept on a long chain with plenty of food and water at their disposal – not to mention the attentions of many a female admirer!)

When Hope is off his chain, he is under very close supervision by his mahouts, whose job it is to make sure that Hope is kept out of situations where his excitement could escalate into dangerous behavior, and well away from the older ladies and the family groups for the time being.

Hope's diet has been reduced and he is now only receiving banana tree stalks, his nightly corn stalk or grass ration and a bit of pumpkin. If winter melon and cucumbers are available, he can have large amounts of them, but no more bananas or bread for Hope for the time being!

It is not completely unusual for a male elephant of his age to show signs of early musth, especially considering the quality of his life so far. There have been instances of young males in zoos in western countries also exhibiting signs of early musth, as they are fed a high quality diet and are also not being worked.

In Asia, where young bulls are tortured into submission at around 2 years of age, and are put into working situations soon after that, most bulls are not healthy or robust enough to show any first signs of musth until their late teens/early twenties. Thankfully, first musth periods are relatively short (a few days to a few weeks) and not too aggressive. A young bull can usually still be handled, but with a bit more caution.

So now the next question is, will there be a little Hope running around the Park sooner than we originally thought? Everyone he mounted this time around was either too young or too old to be getting pregnant and he is still fumbling around a bit, not completely successful, but he did seem to be getting much closer to actually succeeding in his act of reproduction.

Surin Project Update

We have many great things to report on recent developments with Surin Project. As you all know, this is our chance to help the Provincial government of Surin to build a 2,000-acre sanctuary for rescued elephants. We now have a great team of seven mahouts dedicated to our cause, and we're caring for a family of seven lovely elephants during our visits.

Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe home for up to 300 rehabilitated street begging elephants – making this the biggest and best of its kind in the world. But before we're ready to accept all these new arrivals, our volunteers are hard at work preparing habitat: reforesting and planting targeted species of elephant food plants.

Going into this new tourist season in Thailand, we have planned visits to Surin on weeks starting:

• October 19
• November 16
• December 14
• December 28
• January 11

More volunteers are still needed!

To learn more about this exciting opportunity, or to apply, please email Surin@ElephantNatureFoundation.org.

You can follow the comments and photos from other volunteers on our Surin Facebook page.