How The Serengeti Foundation helps in Asia...
Elephant Nature Park
A working blind elephant before rescue.
Our work in Asia is consistent... forever expanding in size and quantity. We work hand in hand with The Elephant Nature Park in Thailand to rescue and retire the working elephants of this beautiful country. Did you know the captive Asian elephants in Thailand can be used for logging or street entertainment? Did you also know that there is a place...of wild abandon... where the elephants roam into the mountainous forests, forage and graze the grassland, and bathe at will in the river. This place is a forever home for the captive Asian elephants to retire, to heal, to toot their trunks in the wild once more.
The Emergency Call
The Elephant Rescue Truck
This place is like no other due to the gentle hearts and hands of its caregivers. Imagine the call comes in... an aging elephant can no longer perform in the streets of the city. Her leg from a past injury has caused her to lose the will to live. She won't eat. She stands still drooping over her legs. She is weak. The team goes into action. First, traveling great distances to analyze the elephant's condition. Next, the rescue plan goes into action, including payment to the owner so he is willing to release this elephant to the sanctuary. After being fed nourishing food for a few days to give this elephant enough strength to make the trip, the rescuers first transport her in a truck. Distressed by the ride, the caregivers decide to walk with the elephant for miles in a journey that could take up to a week.
Forever Home
The elephant arriving at the sanctuary greeted by the staff...
The elephant arrives at the sanctuary ! Glorious day ! The staff scurries about making this elephant feel immediately safe and at peace. The other elephants are anxious to meet the newest member of their misfit herd. Hope, the now grown male elephant who arrived at the sanctuary as a baby, orphaned when his mother died at a logging camp due to parasites, awaited introducing this new elephant to the healing mud baths. Jokia, the elephant who was blinded by her owner for not doing as she was told... Khum Min, an elderly male with back problems from years of trekking (logging industry)... Mae Bua Loi, a 33 year old retired logging elephant who was relagated to street begging with a broken back and leg... all trumpet loudly, because they know this is the first day of the rest of her life...
Why we do what we do...
Happy elephants at peace at the sanctuary.
The Serengeti Foundation supports the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand because they are changing the face of acceptable care for elephants.
Visit The Serengeti Foundation blog for recent updates on current rescues, rehabilitation, and expansion of the Elephant Nature Park...
Or see the link below for a Thailand News interview about the ENP... http://www.unescobkk.org/zh/news/article/freeing-thailands-elephants/.
Read the remarkable story of Lek, the founder of the Elephant Nature Park, and her journey to elephant freedom in The Elephant Lady of Thailand by Dennis Shepherd.
Visit The Serengeti Foundation blog for recent updates on current rescues, rehabilitation, and expansion of the Elephant Nature Park...
Or see the link below for a Thailand News interview about the ENP... http://www.unescobkk.org/zh/news/article/freeing-thailands-elephants/.
Read the remarkable story of Lek, the founder of the Elephant Nature Park, and her journey to elephant freedom in The Elephant Lady of Thailand by Dennis Shepherd.
