Elephant Nature Park

February 23, 2011 · Filed under South East Asia, Thailand, Written by Andrea, Written by Melanie

We are aware that we are behind on the blogs, but we wanted to get today’s blog written and posted as soon as possible; we’ll catch up with the last few weeks shortly.

This isn’t a very pleasant blog (we’re OK!! we just learned something not very nice!) so you may want to read with caution.

Today we went to an elephant park. We are in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand, where trekking with elephants is what Chiang Mai is known for. We researched a bit, and found out that the companies who offer elephant rides and treks aren’t necessarily ethical, so we chose a trip to The Elephant Nature Park where you’re able to feed and swim with the elephants, but riding them is forbidden.

On the bus on the way to the park, they showed us a documentary about the park and the elephants there. The lady who runs it (Lek) is a bit of a hero, she has devoted her life to saving and rehabilitating elephants who have been mistreated. The elephants were typically used for logging, until that became illegal in Thailand, and then there were thousands of ‘unemployed’ elephants roaming the lands, and they were then used as tourist attractions, for rides and such like. They are advertised as being ‘retired’ and it seems quite nice that they now have ‘jobs’ rather than being left in the wild to starve (because they don’t know how to forage for themselves.) The documentary showed us one blind elephant that had been rescued by Lek, who had had her eyes shot at with sling shots and arrows, because she had refused to work when her baby had fallen to its death down a hill during birth, while the elephant was working. But it also showed us happy scenes of the animals in the park, and we couldn’t wait to get there.

We arrived there at about 10am, and were shown firstly in to the ‘kitchen’ where the food for the elephants is prepared, we’ve never seen so much fruit in all of our lives! There were rows and rows of fruit, and huge baskets with each of the elephant’s names on, filled with their morning snacks!

We then went to feed the elephants, in the feeding pen. We had an elephant each, and a basket, and fed it each piece of fruit by hand. They were so cute, and so gentle, taking the pieces of fruit from our hands with their trunks. Melanie was a little bit of a wuss – they are huge!

Our guide told us all about the elephants, and their stories, and then we went to meet the babies of the park, who were born there. We weren’t allowed too close to the babies, because their ‘packs’ are very protective of them, and could have turned on us if they felt threatened.

We then had an AMAZING lunch! A Thai buffet – it was the best food we’ve had in Thailand so far. During lunch, we saw a load of Bison out in the park. We got up to go and investigate, and all of a sudden, saw a herd of cows, several dogs, and of course the elephants … all just chilling out together in the park! There was a little yappy dog who was chasing the calves, and every now and then getting frightened off by the bigger cows! This park seems to be a rescue haven for lots of different kinds of animals; there are 70 dogs living here, a Bear, and all the cattle, which Lek saved from slaughter.

The elephants have free roam of the park, they are able to go where they like, and socialise with one another as they would in the wild.

After lunch, we went to have a little bath with the elephants!! They walked out in to the river, and we followed with buckets (we, meaning Andrea – Melanie watched, and was on camera duty!) We then walked up to a platform to watch the family of elephants (including the babies) go for their baths! They were jumping on each other and falling about in the water, it was amazing to watch! The elephants then came for a little scratch against the posts of the platform we were standing on, which caused it to rock a little, but we all found it hilarious!

Lek also came out at this point. The baby elephant was obsessed with her, she was trying to have a conversation with a vet, and the baby elephant was all over her, trying to gnaw at her head playfully, wrapping its trunk around her. It thinks that she is its ‘human-mum’!!! The baby and its ‘elephant-mum’ allowed Lek to touch their tongues. A guide told us that the elephants don’t allow anyone else to do this. We then hung out with them for a while, and with Lek present, feeling the baby, we were able to get a bit closer. At one point, Lek was crouching down on the floor, and the baby stood over her, protectively, wanting her all to itself. There were also loads of dogs around that had followed Lek (she’s like the Pied Piper!) and the baby was gently kicking the dogs out of the way as if to say “She’s mine!!”

We were then taken to a conference room to watch a video. First of all, Lek came to speak to us all about the project, and the elephants, and told us several stories that bought tears to our eyes. One such story was about a Mahout (an elephant trainer) who was being interviewed for a job at the park. Lek is very strict with the Mahouts, she wants to know their intentions and feelings towards the elephants, she does not accept violence as a control method; only positive reinforcement (love and food!) Lek took the Mahout to meet one of the elephants. This particular elephant is a bit of a character, and will open it’s mouth to anyone on the off chance that it might get fed! However when this Mahout approached the elephant, it closed its mouth. Straight away Lek knew that the elephant had met this Mahout before. After some persuading the Mahout admitted to Lek that he had worked with her twelve years previously and had fed her poo when she did this as a cruel, unusual punishment. The elephant had remembered! The Mahout was asked to leave.

She also told us about how elephants were forced to mate – how the female would be shackled in a cage and have sharp implements placed in to her face, her ears, her eyes, so that she couldn’t move, and then the Male brought in. Quite often the females hips would get broken because she was too small for the big male. There is an elephant in the park whose back is a bit broken and has difficultly walking, as evidence of this. Females would get pregnant and give birth to their babies two years later, and quite often would kill the baby as soon as she’d given birth to it. They aren’t sure if this is because of mental health damage caused by the cruelty, or because she just couldn’t face bringing her baby in to the world knowing that she couldn’t care for it, and the atrocities it would face. Lek thinks it is the latter – elephants are very intelligent creatures.

We were then shown a documentary which brought all of this information together. It started out as a documentary about Lek and her work – but of course had to include the sad history of elephants in Thailand. We learned that any elephant used for work; for logging, for circuses, for carrying tourists about, the ones who dance, who paint … who can do any tricks at all, have to be trained first. Can you imagine trying to train a mammal that weighs several tonnes? They have to be broken first, emotionally and mentally. They do this via something called the ‘Training Crush’ It is a crush in the physical sense and in the mental sense, it is the breaking of the animals spirit and independence. Baby elephants (of about four years old) are taken from their mothers and pressed into a wooden cage and tortured solidly for up to a week. The goal is to break the elephant into submission through fear of pain. Their feet are prodded and poked with sharp tools, whilst someone is sat on top of them. For the elephants it is the first time anyone has mounted them. Sometimes they are poked in their inner ear where they are particularly sensitive to pain. They are also starved of food and water for the duration. When they are released, they are dragged with ropes and poked again, all the time encouraging them to trek through the threat / deliverance of pain. Lek told us that once the animal has been through this, it won’t even recognise its mother if it comes face to face with her again.

You should know that ALL elephants who seem to be ‘tame’ have been through this. If you are ever offered a ride on an elephant – it will have had to go through this to get to a point of letting you on its back.

We had to leave the room before the end of the documentary; we had been keeping a stiff upper lip while watching, but agreed that we could take no more. We walked out of the room, and were on the viewing platform over the river, where a couple of the bigger elephants were having a bathe. Upon seeing them, knowing what we knew about what they’d endured in their lifetimes, we both broke down. Several other people were in tears around us.

This is not illegal in Thailand. The government don’t care – elephants are classed as livestock, and there are no regulations here about how livestock should be treated.

Lek has created an amazing home for these elephants. But she said that this is only step one of her dream; she would like to see the laws changed, and for a rehabilitation programme to teach these elephants to roam free for themselves in the wild, without threat from poachers or further exploitation. Unfortunately this seems like a huge task for one woman to achieve, no one else seems to care. The numbers of elephants are dwindling fast due to ill treatment and if we don’t start paying attention to the crisis that exists (and has done for many years) the Asian elephant will become extinct.

Everyone wants to experience and see these magnificent creatures for themselves and that’s understandable. To do so, we recommend that you visit the ‘Elephant Nature Park’ an hour outside of Chiang Mai in Thailand. Instead of a 10 minute elephant ride you can have a full day, feeding and bathing with these majestic creatures. We had an incredible day!!! Absolutely unforgettable. The cost is little more than an elephant ride and goes towards helping the plight of the Asian elephant. You can also volunteer at the park for £240 a week, which covers accommodation and meals, and all profits go to saving the Asian Elephant! For more information on day trips and volunteering opportunities visit http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

 

(We have photos to add to this post, but the camera is currently out of battery so we can’t transfer them – nip back in a day or two if you want to see our day with the elephants!)