Elephant Nature Park

           This past winter vacation I travelled to Thailand, one of my favorite places in the world to visit, with my mother. The sole purpose of our trip was for volunteer work at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, which was run by a small woman by the name of Sangduen Chailert, or Lek. Despite her looks, Lek is incredibly strong-willed and inspiring and has dedicated her entire life to the much-needed salvation of Thailand’s elephants. After the government imposed a ban on logging in 1989, over 30,000 elephants were stranded and unemployed. The elephants no longer held any purpose in the lives of their mahouts and were either sold or set loose, which has led to many elephants wreaking havoc on farmers, destroying crops and plantations. This has instilled hatred amongst the Thais towards the very animals that had helped build their historic kingdom. Those of the Thai elephants that were sold found work in illegal logging businesses or were exploited as entertainers in circuses, beggars in Bangkok’s busy streets, and rides for ignorant tourists. Unfortunately, the elephants’ legal rights are equal to that of livestock, and so these majestic animals are often abused in unimaginably horrible ways, both physically and mentally, without any consequences. The plight of these gentle giants has caught the attention and compassion of Lek.

            In 1996 Lek and her husband founded the Elephant Nature Park and the park has since become a blissful sanctuary for 35 elephants. Visitors of the park have the option of either touring for a day, or volunteering for a week or more. My mom and I decided it would be an enriching experience to volunteer at the park before I returned to school and worked there for four days. While we were there we had to shovel elephant dung, cut grass and corn for the elephants’ daily meals, wash the tons of fruits that they consumed, and then collect firewood for the massive bonfires that kept them warm on cool nights. Although the work was extremely exhausting and demanding, it was immensely rewarding. The great respect and admiration I have for these beautiful, terribly misunderstood animals grew exponentially. During bathing and feeding time we were allowed to stand face-to-face with the giants, and being so close allowed us volunteers to connect with them on a more personal level. One of the privileges of being a volunteer was that we were taken on an “Elephant Walk”, which was a tour that showed us around the entire park to each elephant and their shelter. Some of the elephants’ bodies had been so badly broken that they had difficulty walking and they were so psychologically scarred by years of torture that, although they had been at the park for years, they were still skittish and mistrusting of humans.

There were two elephants that stood out to me the most, partly because their injuries were so obvious, and partly because that even after all the misery humans had caused them, they were still willing to forgive and love again. As the saying goes, “an elephant always forgives, but never forgets.” One of the elephants had been working for an illegal logging company when Lek found her. She had been forced to carry mammoth logs up mountains, all while she was pregnant. One day, while she was working, she went into labor but was forced to keep on. She was nearly at the top of the mountain when she finally gave birth to her baby. It was a steep slope and massive trunks were chained to her, so she was unable to stop her newborn from tumbling downhill to its death. You would think that her mahout would give her a break after the loss of her calf, however she was put to work almost immediately. She was severely depressed and refused to work, so her mahout repeatedly slingshot stones at her eyes and gouged them with sticks. This abuse caused her blindness. The other elephant had been used as a breeding vessel. She was chained up and raped by bulls in order to produce calves that would eventually complete the malicious cycle that humans have created. The elephant had resisted and fought back during one of the breeding sessions and was severely injured by the much larger bull, leaving her entire lower body crushed. When Lek found her she had an awkward gait and one leg would dangle limply above the ground. Lek eventually hassled the mahouts into selling her the decrepit elephants and they were integrated into the ENP herd with Lek leading as the matriarch.

My experience at Elephant Nature Park has been one of the most incredible times of my life, and I was glad to have had my mother there with me. The work there taught me how hard and demanding it is to support these giants, and that although they appear dangerous and intimidating they are actually the exact opposite. They are sensitive animals that require constant care and compassion, and if you are lucky enough they will be more than willing to reciprocate. It saddens me to see these animals being so cruelly mistreated and to see how little is being done for their cause. I hope that in the near future the elephants of Thailand will once more be able to live in peace with their people and continue to help build their country. 


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