28th October 2012
Male
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Born at Elephant Nature Park
Solitary Bull
Navaan (gold in Cambodian) was born at Elephant Nature Park in the early hours on October 28, 2012, to a chorus of trumpeting and elephant gossip.
Navaan will never work and will never have his spirit broken in a phajaan. Though breeding is not planned or encouraged at ENP, nature does take its course and pregnancies have occurred in the past. SriPrae and Hope kept their romance a secret and Navaan was conceived beneath the ENP radar. It was with great surprise that we welcomed him on that early October morning!
Navaan is confident and demanding, and like his father Hope, likes to clown around and be the center of attention. He has collected a following of gran-nannies who are hopelessly devoted to him. Sadly, his nanny, Mae BuaKham, passed away of old age a couple of years ago. Navaan lives in a large bull enclosure with a swimming pool and is regularly visited by his mother, SriPrae.,
Warunee was born around 1959. Her life followed the tragic path of so many captive elephant before her. She was separated from her mother at a very young age and trained to work in the hauling logs in the forest. Warunee was then moved to the elephant trekking camp providing rides day in, day out with no rest. In June 2015, Warunee was rescued from the elephant trekking camp in Kanchanaburi and came to Elephant Nature Park. She quickly settled into her new life, retired from work and able to socialize with her own kind. Warunee has developed many strong bonds within the Kham La herd and her best friend is Dao Ruang.
Rattana Kham is one of the lucky ones. She was helped by Pra Arjarn Moche, who provided the donation allowing her freedom, and by Warattada “Meow” Pattarodom who organised funds for her shelter so she could be cared for in the sanctuary of Elephant Nature Park for the rest of her life. Located near Elephant Nature Park, her 4.5 KM walk which took 4 hours was a quite a journey to freedom in itself. It was the first time she didn’t have a chain around her neck or ankle. Shortly into the walk, Lek, Meow and the ENP team noticed something very wrong in her gait and movements – walking so so slowly and stopping only after three to five steps. She was also famished and foraging on everything in her path, even foliage elephants don’t normally eat.
Mae Baitoey (แม่ใบเตย) was born around 1976. She spent most of her life working in the trekking industry, catering to tourists who desired to ride her. During her time at the trekking camp in Kanchanburi, the owners also exploited her for forced breeding. In 2011, she gave birth to a baby girl named Kham La. Despite the profound bond between mother and baby, they were forcibly separated, and the owner subjected Kham La to cruel training for performing in an elephant show. Fortunately, we were able to rescue Kham La and reunite her with her mother, Baitoey, bringing them both to Elephant Nature Park for a fresh start.
Chang Yim was born at Elephant Nature Park on July 12, 2009. His name means Smiling Elephant. His mother is Dok Ngern and he has a little sister named Dok Mai. He is the second baby ever to be born and conceived at Elephant Nature Park from resident elephants. Chang Yim has not had his spirit broken and is trained using positive reinforcement target training so that we can perform any medical or husbandry care necessary. Chang Yim is a very lucky bull elephant as he will never have to do any kind of work. We hope that in the future we will be able to release him into a semi-wild forested area where he can reach his full potential.
Hope was born in August 2000. Hope’s mother was a trekking elephant who was forced to stop working due to illness. Hope and his mother were moving to stay in forest near the owner’s home in the hope that the return to her natural environment would aid her recovery. Sadly, this was not the case and she died. Hope was weak and needed special care. His owner could not afford to buy the milk formula needed to sustain him at such a young age. They contacted our founder, Lek, and asked if she would take care of him.