Video of Pang Pornsawan's Recovery

http://www.youtube.com/user/chiangtvthai   contains great video clips of Pang Pornsawan's road to recovery.   Follow her recovery here and at the link

Abundant Blessings

Pang Pornsawan Update - as of 19 September 2011

Pang Pornsawan Update
as of 19 September 2011

Pang Pornsawan, the beautiful elephant who stepped on a line mine on August 23d and has been in The Thai Elephant Conservation Center Hospital since the 31st of August is making great progress in her recovery.   According to Dr. Sittidet Mahasawangkul, Chief of Elephant Hospital, she is progressing better than expected.  There is new skin growing in the wounded area, months ahead of the original predictions.  Still, the prognosis is that she will remain in hospital for approximately one year.

Dr. Sittidet Mahasawangkul

This elephant is receiving two treatments a day.  They consist of sterilizing the wound, cleaning out the cavity created by the explosion, and trimming dead skin.  Although she receives pain killers, it’s obvious to even the casual observer that the treatments are painful.

Ready for Treatment

When I said goodbye to Pang Pornsawan on the 31st of August there was less tension in her mannerisms.  The shock seems to have worn off and now she is going through the treatments with her same gentile attitude.  In order to give her the treatments she has her bad leg strapped to a support, her other legs hobbled and someone holds her tail out of the doctor’s way.  She has to stay in this uncomfortable position for the time the treatment takes.  Her behavior is exemplary. Yes when the pain gets bad, she complains by verbalizing and trunk slapping.  Still, she is very gentle with the humans around her.  She hasn’t attempted to hit or kick anyone.

Treatment Time

In addition to the two treatments, she also receives an IV of anti-biotic medicine every morning.

IV is best way to fight infection

The team effort to care for Pang Pornsawan continues and will continue.  The TECC hospital is knowledgeable, professional and dedicated to the care of the elephants in their charge.  Pang Pornsawan seems to be a favorite.  Immediately on her arriveal, The Save Elephant Foundation  dispatched two mahouts to stay with and care for Pang Pornsawan.  The foundation also makes weekly visits.  The visits always include a truck load of food for her.

Arrangements have been made to ensure that after her hospitalization, Pang Pornsawan will be able to live out her life at the Elephant Nature Park.  This is a huge commitment!   I had thought about doing an art sale to raise money.   The plan is only slightly modified; ALL the money raised will go to help defray the expenses of Pang Pornsawan's hospital stay.   Can you get involved?  If so send me an email or give me a call.

Taste from Heaven will host the art event

This is the ad that I am placing in publications

Last for this post, here is a link to a video of Dr.  Sittidet explaining  PangPornsawan's situation.  It's in Thai with English Sub-titles.  Well done and well worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/user/chiangtvthai


Abundant Blessings,

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday 26 November 2011

Pang Pornsawan, 8/31/11

WHAT:  Art sale / auction is being organized.   ALL proceeds will be donated to the Save Elephant Foundation and earmarked for the medical care and rescue of Pang Pornsawan (The 18 year old female who recently stepped on a landmine).   Please be generous with your time, your art and perhaps your money as well. 

WHEN:   on Saturday 26 November 2011 there will be an art sale and I need YOU to make it a success!    

TIME:   Afternoon & Evening Exact Times to be announced.

WHERE:  Taste from Heaven Restaurant, 237-239 Thapae Road, A. Muang, Chiang Mai Thailand. Phone: +66 (0) 53-208803, www.taste4heaven.com

ARTIST DONATIONS NEEDED:  We are asking artists to donate one or more pieces of your art to this event.  Photographs, sketches, painting, carvings.  Art pieces are being collected at the Elephant Nature Park Office in Chiang Mai.  Please contact me for details.

DOOR PRIZE DONATIONS NEEDED:  This is a great way to advertise your business or organization. Please contact me for details.

THE EVENT will include: 

• a.     Delicious Vegetarian Buffet & soft drinks of your choice
• b.      Door Prizes Galore
• c.       Artist Interaction
• d.      Silent Auction of art pieces

TICKETS:  Advance tickets for only 500 baht go on sale soon.  They will be available at Taste from Heaven, and the Elephant Nature Park Office.

The Incompete Story of Pang Pornsawan & Her Friends

I title this the incomplete story for at least two reasons:  1^st I don’t know the whole story and likely never will, 2^nd thanks to several wonderful people Pang Pornsawan’s story is not over, not over by a long shot.  

Pang Porsawan has a snack

On 30 August 20011, The Elephant Nature Park received an urgent phone call from the Karen headman in a village known as Tavor.  It is in Amphur Tasongyang, Chanwat Tak, Thailand. (If you want to find it on a map, get a very large map and search the Thai / Burmese border in the Tak province). The headman was asking for help to save Pang Pornsawan.  This 18 year old female elephant had stepped on a land mine.  Sangduen “Lek”  Chailert, the founder of Save Elephant Foundation immediately dispatched the vet team and mobile clinic from the park.  It’s about an 8 hour drive from Chiang Mai.

Dr. Prasit & Mr. Song Muang 

 

At the village they found this young  elephant name, who may also be in the early stages of pregnancy,  standing shaking and her left rear leg.  It is horribly damaged from the landmine explosion . The bottom of the goot is gone! There are incredible rips and tears in the skin extending some  24 inches up to the leg. There is shrapnel, a lot of shrapnel imbedded in the wound.  The wound was filthy and was described as smelly and rotten.

Raw Wound

Mr. Song Muang Suriya with the elephant

Mr Song Muang Suriya , headman of the village reports that this female elephant belong to his nephew , who takes the elephant across to work in  the elephant logging in the deep jungle of  Burma.  Every day after finishing work, pulling the logs , the mahout will let the elephant walk around the jungle to eat in the forest, On 23 August about 3 pm, just a couple minutes  after mahout let her roam free, he heard a big explosion and the elephant roaring and screaming from the jungle. The mahout ran to Pang Pornsawan to fine her trying to stand and falling down from the shock of the her injury.  The mahout and his friends tried to stop the bleeding with herbs. They succeeded but the elephant lost a lot of blood.

The next day the mahout startied walking the elephant out from the jungle to the village to ask for help. From the deep jungle, with heavy rain and small mud trail, it took 3 days and 3 nights to reach the village .

Doctor Prasit Moleechart the vet from Elephant Nature park called for help from the vet  team from Elephant Hospital from Elephant Conservation Center.  Doctor  Sittidet Mahasawangkul chief vet and his team were sent to help and move Pang Ponsawan to the Hospital in Lampang to have emergency surgery .

Dr Sittidet

On the morning of the 31^st Pang Ponsawan was loaded on the TECC hospital truck and transported to the hospital in Lampang. She is now undergoing treatment and I have every intention of keeping you posted. In the meantime here is a photo collection of her trip to Lampang

Getting on the truck

Swollen after the necessary long ride

Happy and good natured just walked off the truck

First Treatment

The wound has been cleaned, she has a long long way to go

.

Lek reports that "In the last couple years too many of  elephants and farm animals in the village  are died and injured from the land mine  three days ago the villager lost 2 cows and many injured from landmine explosive”. Mr Rin Sudsai , Tavor's villager said it’s not just the animals; “the villagers and the Karen refugee many time died and injured from the explosive when they walk to find the jungle food or wood for fire. It very [difficult] insure for safety in the jungle this day” .

“We have received 3 injured elephant from this year , the first is the bull elephant who not deep , wound and we used the herbal to treated him and he was survive , later he went back to work  logging again”  Mr. Song Muang said.  “The second elephant is female , but she too bad injured, she stay suffer only a couple days and died “ Song Muang also said he doesn’t want this one to die so he decided to call the vet to help.

“Many elephant when they injured from landmine in the jungle , it too difficult to help and rescue them many of them died in the jungle which is tragedy “ Lek said.

Today in Thailand and along Burma border it more than 300 domestic  elephants that  work at risk of being killed or maimed by landmines. After Thailand banned logging in 1989. Many Karen took their elephants to work illegally in Burma.  Patee Tanu, one of the Karen elephant owners said “We have no choice, if we didn’t go to work then we have no income, then we have to take the risk”

My thanks to Sangduen “Lek” Chailert for allowing me to use her material to write this article.

Connie Speight & The Elephants Umbrella Fund

There are some marvelous people involved in the world of animal rights and conservation. One of them is Connie Speight. I met her in Thailand earlier this year. Connie is not your stereo typical anything. She is now 86 years young, full of energy and has earned the right to be a bit opinionated. She was born and raised in Southern California and has been in her same home for 31 years. She is stable, knows what she likes and dislikes. This spunky lady has an undying passion for the Asian Elephant. When I contacted her about interviewing her when I was in the United States, she invited me to her home in Santa Barbara. I drove up from San Diego, we had a lovely visit; both of us agreed it was all too short.

Connie at her home in Santa Barbara

She suggested that we drive into Santa Barbara and have local Mexican food at the Mercado, celebrating the annual Santa Barbara Fiesta. She warned me that she is a frustrated race car driver. I found out that for her 85th birthday she took a race car driving lesson and was a bit disappointed because the track was designed in a way that she couldn’t hit a hundred miles an hour. She drove us into Santa Barbara and contrary to what a couple of her friends have said, her driving is just fine, thank you.

Connie and Wanna 

As I tried to get started with the “formal interview”, it became obvious that one thing Connie dislikes is useless redundancy. Many of my basic questions were answered with referrals to her website. Let’s mention that now: http://www.elephantsumbrella.org And, I’ll tell you that some of the information following came from my conversation with Connie on August 4th and some of it I just took right off of her website. Fair enough?

Jerry: How did you come to choose the Asian Elephant as the object of your passion?
Connie: Some years ago, I was in Bangkok and witnessed the heartbreaking scene of elephants begging on the streets. I came home knowing that I had to do something and started the long process of getting government 501c charity status. The Elephants Umbrella Foundation was born. I am convinced that one person can make a difference- one elephant at a time.

Jerry: In all you have rescued 12 elephants, is that right?

Connie: Yes.

Jerry: When we met in late January you mentioned that you were negotiating the rescue of an elephant in Laos. Is she #12?

Connie: Yes, her name is Mai Kham Onh. She is young, only 18 and was rescued from the logging industry in Laos. She will be living her life in the only elephant sanctuary in Laos and can hang out with our two previous rescues there. More about her is at: http://www.elephantsumbrella.org/rescued.htm

Jerry: Tell me about the other 11.

Connie: Each rescued elephant has a heart breaking story they are all on my web site. Fortunately each one has a very happy ending.

Jerry: Fair enough.

Connie: I just became a grandmother. (She hands me a photograph of a baby elephant). He was born the 1st of August at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Thailand. His mother, Wanna, is one our rescues. I was not happy when I found out she was pregnant as I had asked that she not be bred until she was older. The elephants are chained in the forest for the night so they can feed. However, JoJo a young bull was not put on a strong enough chain. His hormones were racing and he broke his chain and had his way with her. Nothing we can do about that, so now we have a new baby elephant. He has been named Singha, which means August in Thai, since he was born August first. Fortunately both mother and calf are doing well.

Jerry: Tell me more about the Elephants Umbrella Fund organization.

Connie: Well our primary mission is to rescue elephants. However we have taken on a few projects to aid the sanctuaries that house the elephants. We support a mobile vet unit in Laos, have contributed to the purchase of land at BLES and funded a retaining wall at ENP. We have also purchased two high end microscopes for the vets at TECC and radio collars for the calves in Sri Lanka being returned to the wild. Details are available at http://www.elephantsumbrella.org/success.htm

Jerry: So where are the 12 elephants?

Connie: 3 in Laos, 2 at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC), 3 at Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) and 3 at the Elephant Nature Park (ENP) and one in Cambodia. Of course, I like to also think about baby Singha as being our 13th.

Jerry: Elephant poaching is a serious problem. Can I share your opinion about a solution?

Connie: Shoot the poachers! Strengthen the laws, most are just a slap on the wrist.

Jerry: People will want to know if the elephants you have rescued know you.

Connie: Two do because of the situation when they were rescued. The rest do not. Remember they are not pets.

Jerry: How do you decide which sanctuary will get a particular elephant?

Connie: Usually when we have the funds available we let the sanctuaries know. When they have an elephant in mind they contact us and we start the negotiations which can some times take months and be very frustrating.

Jerry: Other than donations what do you do to raise money for the elephants?

Connie: We have a booth on Earth Day mostly for education but we do get some donations. I have a Spring and Fall sale mostly of succulents and cactus I have raised. Also I sell items I bring back from Thailand: jade, silk scarfs, handbags, jewelry etc. This is my biggest money maker. We have two, clothing exchanges which are a load of fun and bring in about $1,200. Donations are our primary source of funding.

Jerry: What else would you like the readers to know?

Connie: The Asian elephant is in more dire circumstances than the African. Vietnam has only 80, China 200, Thailand has lost thousands. The general public seems to think only of Africa when elephants are mentioned. They have no idea how drastic the situation is and Asian elephants don’t get the world publicity Africans do. There are about only 40,000 animals in all of Asia. Most governments in Asia have so far shown little action in demanding stricter laws for crimes against these animals. They have allowed mines, dams, villages and high speed train tracks to abolish migration routes and forests. It is predicted than in less than two decades there will be no wild elephants in many countries. This is the fourth most intelligent animal on the planet. They are fantastic parents, have prodigious memories, live a humans life span, are playful caring creatures. WAKE UP--- AND DO SOMETHING!!!!

Author’s note: It’s always an honor and a privilege to spend time with Connie and people like her. In life there are two kinds of people Givers and Takers. Connie is a giver, big time.  You can learn more and hopefull support her great efforts at http://www.elephantsumbrella.org

Elena's Elephant Song

This is the Elephant Song that one of the singers who visited The Elephant Nature Park made for us.  Hope you like it.

Water for Elephants - Steeped in Manure

Below is the text of an article I recently wrote.  It was a bit critical of Reese Witherspoon and the cast for not taking some action when they found out some of the truths.   Today there is even more damning information in the media.   You might want to take a look at http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_awful_truth/b249724_alleged_treatment_of_reese_robs_water.html

In 2006, Sara Gruen published her famous novel ‘Water for Elephants’. The writing is brilliant. She has a real gift for being able to describe a dark period in American history, the 1930’s. Her scene is a traveling circus and her characters are strong, believable, very well portrayed.  It’s obvious fiction based on excellent research. 

It’s probably safe to say that there is nothing in her story that didn’t or at least could not have happened in the early 1930’s. She painted the picture of the traveling circus without really glorifying it.  She dabbled in just enough suspense and romance to make it a great read, though the romance was quite predictable and demanded a happy ending.  How that came about, I’ll leave you to read for yourself. The book neither endorses nor condemns the period; it does make it clear that these were desperate times in America.  Rosie the elephant is really not the central character that you might expect. She was significant, but not central. 

The book climbed to the top of the ‘New York Times’ best seller list and received rave reviews from many acclaimed critics. A movie deal was a natural follow on. As I write, ‘Water for Elephants’ has returned to the number one spot; combined print and E-Book fiction. It’s been on the best seller list for 17 weeks!  An excellent review of the book written by Elizabeth Judd is currently available on the ‘New York Times’ website.   

Ms Gruen wrote a good story and sold it for a lot of money.  Good on her. She sold the movie rights to 20^th Century Fox for a lot more money, I’m sure.  Good for her.  These people know how to make money. 

There are a ton of movie reviews online. Most of them are written by people who make a living saying nice things about mundane movies There are some reviews that seem to support the animal abuse.  “Elephants get poked. Get over it” wrote one reviewer who had nothing but good things to say about the movie. I decided to include my own review based on my own criteria.

The film industry will sell you the sizzle even if there isn’t a steak!  The movie has been hyped for months.  According to the gossip, the production costs for this movie was around US$36 - $38 million. Early predictions were that half of that would be recovered the first weekend it was available in theatres! Some of that money had to go to the rental of live animals, like Tia the Asian elephant that played Rosie in the film. 

Animal lovers and advocates have been refusing to see this movie. There has been a lot of fuss about the treatment of the elephants, rumors that Ringling Brothers have been quietly backing the project (I would guess because its success would help bolster their sagging image).  So, how was the movie?  

Just as I made a point of reading the book for this article, I also made a point of seeing the movie for myself. First, I think they did a good job with casting, but blew the chance to create a great movie due to poor script writing and weak directing. Witherspoon is known as a good actress, but her role in this movie was placid at best. There was no fire in her performance, I think because of a lack of direction. Robert Pattinson could have really earned his spurs here. What he was given he did well, but again there was a lack of chemistry both with his leading lady and with the elephant. The role of August was played by Christoph Waltz and is the strongest in the movie. A shame really because the role could have been terrific and secondly because other characters were treated so lightly. Was director Francis Lawrence trying to create something that would bode well for the circus industry, or is he just not a very good director?  

This movie could have been great, but it missed on so many points. The characters of Camel and Kinko (Walter) were crucial to the novel but almost non-existent in the movie.  In fact none of the reviews I have read even mentioned them. They had great material from the book, from which they created a mediocre film. In the book there was a passing mention of Ringling Brothers who August hated because he was jealous. The movie managed to find space in their film to give Ringling 2 subtle plugs. Why? At least the music worked and the movie was well lit. The lighting was always good, and at a few points brilliant. You don’t have to see the movie to see the best lighting. It was used in several posters to advertise this film. Save your money and don’t support this film.

It’s a well known fact that Tai, the elephant that plays Rosie is owned by a company called Have Trunk Will Travel. Animal Defenders International (ADI) has released video showing abusive training in preparation for Tia’s work with the movie. When the video was released all the fanatics went nuts!  There were stories flying around the internet claiming that the stars of the show had been given electric shocks, anything to get a headline and attract attention. Some extremely shoddy journalism popped up on my screen over the past couple of months. 

 

Serious animal advocates have concerns over ADI’s release of the video.  They were pummeled with two questions:  Why was the video so severely edited and why did they wait so long to release it.  After some time ADI posted explanations on their website.  I wonder.   Would 20^th Century Fox have contracted with Have Trunks will Travel had they know how horribly Tai had been treated?  What do you think?   Big money or decency, which would they choose?

Is there anyone who seriously believes that 20^th Century Fox with their army of lawyers, public relations and marketing people were totally ignorant of the training methods used to get this elephant, and I’m sure other animals, ready to perform for their movie cameras? Just because they are callous and greedy doesn’t mean they are blind.  If they are, then I suggest they be held to the old legal standard: ‘ignorance is no excuse’. These people spent well over US$35,000,000 on this project. They had to have peeked under the covers at least once!

Animal Defenders International says “The public, the stars and the filmmakers have been duped. This poor elephant was trained to do the very tricks you see in the film by being given electric shocks.” ADI is suggesting that Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattison, Chistoph Waltz and the rest of the cast are actually that gullible. Further, it’s well known that animal advocates have been bombarding Withersoon and the others with the information.  They have suggested that the actors make public statements speaking out against cruelty. Some even suggested using their profits to help rescue Tai.  To my knowledge Witherspoon and her colleagues they have done nothing.  Now I ask, were they duped or were they complacent?    

How can a company like Have Trunk Will Travel be permitted to operate in a state that claims to be progressive? The way they treat their animals is just wrong, and yet they seem to have a PR department that is well able to gloss over the facts.

The American Humane Society released a video promoting Water for Elephants, stating that none of the elephants were mis-treated. What a crock! Who paid whom how much to get that done? The really sad thing is that because the endorsement carried the name of the Humane Society, most people actually bought into it.  I certainly did on first brush.

There are rumors which I have been unable to substantiate, suggesting that Ringling Brothers is deep into this project; an attempt to increase the appeal of the circus world of 2011.  If the rumor is true it might explain a few of the direction choices made in the movie, if not we’ll have to chock it up as bad acting under bad direction. My hope is that this tack will not work. There are good reasons that Ringling has been sued for animal cruelty and many other things on multiple occasions. In the book, one of the characters described the 1931 edition of Ringling Brothers as “…..a real Sunday School Outfit”.  That is certainly not true in 2011.  Was it ever?

Circuses have always showcased humans at their silliest, often presented tragedy for enjoyment and historically been extremely cruel to their animals. Want to take your kids to a circus?  I’ll happily take my grandson to see Cirque Du Soleil.  The ones featuring animals are really steeped in manure!

Abundant Blessings, 

Jerry Nelson