A new name for a new elephant

Sometimes it takes a simple word to unlock personal beauty.

Ratree is an abused elephant from Surin. She has been with us for some time though she never slept properly for years and collapsed with exhaustion. She slept for 14 hours which is unusual as elephants normally only take a few hours kip. We hoisted up her up and we so worried as she offered us no co-operation. She was in deep sleep and not moving, her trunk was down as she lay there limp. Earlier she had acted very strangely and sprayed wet sand with her trunk.

Her name means dark night in Thai. It was the name given to her by her former owners. We had called this name out to her in an effort to get her to stand up. What we found was that her name made her afraid, it was full of connotations of the abuse she had suffered. A name change was what was needed; so we changed it to signify a new life. She is now called Jam Jam. With her new name came a new attitude and she soon found elephant friends and companions.