Kwanjai and Jack

“He’s / She’s too young to accomplish anything significant.” – BS!   Let me make my point, gentle reader. There is a young man 9 years of age and his name is Jack.  Jack came to the Elephant Nature Park some months ago.  He became great fans with Lilly, but that was just the beginning. One morning on a walk around the park Jack learned of an elephant that had been leased to the park but would soon be returned to her legal owner.  The elephant’s fate would be working the tourists in Bangkok. Jack was upset and decided to do something! By the time he left the park determined to rescue an elephant.  His parents patiently explained to him that it was too expensive, they simply couldn’t afford it.  

By the time they were at the Bangkok Airport, Jack had convinced his parents to allow him to raise the funds necessary; again Jack is 9 years old!   By the time they had arrived at home in New Zealand, Jack had listed out the fund raising activities he would undertake. These included a kids motor cross and an internet based photo auction.  Jack’s least favorite was the auction because it was his least hands on project. Long story short Jack raised the money!   His favorite was the motor cross in which he rode.  Did I tell you he's 9 years old?

I met Jack in Chiang Mai and had the pleasure of being on the same van with him as we made the trip to Surin.  We arrived on the morning of the 18^th, threw our bags in a room, had a bit of breakfast and set out to inspect elephants.  Four had been tentatively selected for resucue.   The first elephant we visited happens to be the one Jack rescued.  He chose Kwanjai (blessed one) for her new name, but I getting ahead of myself.



Glad to meet you.

The 2^nd elephant we visited turned out to be a bait and switch.  She wasn’t the elephant the ENF crew had noticed earlier.  This poor girl was very ill.  She was also in the company of a family who claimed to have owned her for all her life, but couldn’t even get her name strait.  The children, children are more apt to tell the truth in any culture, told us she was there for only a couple of days. Anyway, she was very ill and no one appreciated the cheap bait and switch attempt.



Oops, wrong elephant




Healthy Elephants Do NOT rest their trunks on the ground



The 3^rd elephant was secluded and had allegedly killed some 12 people in the South and 4 more after being moved to the Surin area.    Interestingly, Lek felt that if this elephant could be taken to the park and re-socialized with other elephants she just might be O.K.  There just wasn’t enough money to rescue two elephants.  When I asked Jack he simply said that they all deserved to be rescued.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Pray for her!

The 4^th elephant was Tong Tae, who as you know survived less than a week after we saw him.

My First photo of Tong Tae, may he rest in peace!

Kwanjai is the name Jack chose for the elephant rescued through his effort.  Kwanjai means blessed.  When I asked Jack about the name he said that they were blessed by each other!  We cannot rescue them all, but Jack has proven that it’s possible to save them, “one elephant at a time”. 

A pinapple for my best girl

  On the way to meet the truck we stopped in the market and bought food for her.   Any one who saw her would know she was hungry.  

Jack buys fruit

Headed for the truck

On the afternoon of November 20, 2010 Kwanjai was loaded on the truck and began her journey to the park.  That girl climbed up on that truck like she knew full well it would take her to a better life.  People commented that she was one of the easiest elephants to load they had ever seen.  She obviously wanted to go.



Up you go!

Jack is on the truck, Look who is in the background.



Volunteers load Kwanjai's food tor the trip

Her bad leg must have been bothering her and in an attempt to make herself more comfortable she broke one of the supporting poles very early on the morning of the 21^st.   After a brief delay she was better secured and finished her trip without incident.   Jack stayed on the truck with Kwanjai all the way to the park, about a 22 hour journey.  He could have gotten into a van at any of the several stops, but would have nothing of the idea. 

Chiang Mai bound

On the 19^th I had the opportunity to hang out with Jack at the Elephant parade and buffet.  Jack is an amazing boy.  On one hand he has the maturity and courage to rescue an elephant and on the other hand he’s a very intelligent, but normal, little boy.  Jack wanted to use one of my cameras.  Yes but I want you in my line of sight at all times was my answer.  I gave him photo assignments and critiques; we had a great time.  Keeping up with an excited 9 year old is a challenge, especially in a street crowded with elephants, vendors and tourists.  At one point, I looked him in the eye and said “Jack you have a case of 9 year old ism”.  He smiled and agreed.  He stayed in line of sight for the rest of our time together!

Some of his photographs are really very good.  In fact, I can’t be positive who took some of them.  I know Jack took the one below.

Photo by Jack, can't comment on the subject  ๕๕๕

Speaking of photographs, there are several more at http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/Kwanjai_Jack/   Enjoy, just don’t steal!

As I write this, I’m in Chiang Rai hoping that Jack is still at the park when I return early next week.  In the meantime, I’ve another article or two to write.

Abundant Blessings,

Jerry

Tong Tae

This is the first of a few articles I will post about my trip to the elephant round-up in Surin. One of the recurring blessings in my life is the opportunity to spend time in the company of Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, the founder of the Save Elephant Foundation and the Elephant Nature Park.  She is one of my spiritual teachers; I learn from watching as opposed to listening.   (Gentle reader, if it looks like I’m still in Thanksgiving mode, deal with it).


Lek, Surin Interview

One of the reasons we went to Surin was to rescue at least one elephant.  Look for an article soon about Kwan Jai and Jack.  She was rescued and is happy and safe at the ENP.   Scouts for Lek went to Surin and looked for Elephants to rescue.  One candidate was Tong Tae, a beautiful tusker, only 20 years of age, who had been horribly abused and who was very ill.   People warned me not to get too close because he’s a bull and might charge.  The truth is that he didn’t even have the energy to hold up his own head.

Owner moves him across the road

Tong Tae Rests

Both the vet and Lek told us that Tong Tae was too ill to make the trip back to Chiang Mai.  Also, it appeared that he had Elephant Herpes which is highly contagious; he would put the entire herd at risk.   The truth is they can’t all be saved, but as Antoinette so eloquently states:  it’s one elephant at a time.   Yesterday I received an email for Lek telling me that Tong Tae has passed.   I have tried for most of this morning to incorporate her thoughts and feelings in this article; I have failed, badly in fact.   I do want to share with you a few of my thoughts.

  a.  Tong Tae was one of God’s creatures who endured a life of torture at the hands of humans.  Humans who come from a culture that is supposed to revere the elephant.  Something is very wrong with this picture.

  b.  His remains were sold for a substantial amount of money.  The ivory will be valuable.  Personally I would have no problem with ivory taken from a deceased elephant, but the truth is that elephants are killed and maimed for their ivory every day.   When you see ivory for sale, ask what sacrifice the elephant made.

  c.  The Elephant Herpes in Surin is an epidemic!  It could endanger the entire elephant population in Thailand.  Frankly, had this been in most other places the elephant roundup might have been cancelled for this year.

  d.  The Asian Elephant, like it’s African cousin in serious trouble.  If these marvelous creatures are to survive we must do all we can to help them.  I truly believe that education is the key.   Surin is an ideal place to concentrate education efforts; lots of elephants and more than enough abuse.  Perhaps the Surin province could include required education and a certain amount of monitoring in their "Take me Home" project?



The Owner Profits; the Elephant Suffers! 





October 21st at ENP

A day at the park

Oops, I almost forgot to process the photographs I took the last time I was at the Elephant Nature Park; that was the 21^st of October, the day before we went to see the baby twin Elephants.   I finally finished them and they are available for your viewing pleasure at http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/ENP_20101021/

Here are a couple of my favorites:

We love the elephants

Hope goes for a swim

Lek and the baby girl

An upcoming fundraiser:

I’d like to ask you to let me know which elephant photographs are your favorites.  I’m planning on doing some printing and selling to raise money for the foundation.  Prints will likely be canvas as well as traditional photo paper.  There will be details forthcoming, for now just help me pick the image that you think would be the most saleable.

Jerry’s Elephant Awareness Month, Continued:

Laos was once known as the land of a million elephants.  Today they are pretty scarce and those there are in constant danger of being slaughtered for their ivory or sold to the circus types in other countries.   Like the Thai the Lao revere the elephant; you can see this in their temples and such.  Below are a few shots I took in Vientiane earlier in the week.   I just love the one triple tusker!

Temple Elephant

Needs a bit of repair!

I'm sorry I didn't get a better shot of this.   To me it looks like it's part elephant and part duck.  I'm sure there is a mythological story to be learned here.  Maybe when I return to Vientiane I'll make a point of learning about this one.

Ele-duck?

Abundant Blessings,

Twins!!

As it turns out twin elephants are quite rare.  There is a set in Sri Lanka and a set in Surin.  The Surin elephants are extremely rate; they are both males.  Interested readers can simple google “Twin Elephants”.

On October 8, 2010 Mai Kam Moon gave birth to twin girls.  I was invited to go and see them; what a blessing!  The visit was on the evening of October 22d and the morning of October 23d.  They were a mere 2 weeks old.  They are just amazing!   What fun watching the little ones learn!

Pick it up with my trunk!  Wow Mom you are stong!

The babies are really too young to do much walking so Mai Kam Moon is retricted to a shelter that was built for her and the babies.  In a few days, when their legs are a bit stonger they will have more freedom.  For now they are very happy to stick by mom.  They seem to be spending a lot of time figuring out just how their trunks, legs and feet work.  There will be a lot of photo’s posted in a few days.  I’ll modify this article when they are on line.

All feet (and trunks)

Mai Kam Moon is one of the elephants that made the “Journey to Freedom”.  She has been living very near the Karin village called Ban Mae Satop.  Her twins have made the national news and the tiny village is now on the map.  Fortunately the roads are such that the casual tourist will avoid the trip.   While the village deserves it’s moment I’m of the opinion that too many tourists would be a bad thing.

Mother and babies

Unfortunately there are many people who would love to exploit these twins.  Twin elephants doing synchronized circus tricks could be quite a draw. There may be a bidding war for these two little angles.   Maybe that’s why Lek has given them the nicknames Tung Ngern and Tung Tong. (bag of silver and bag of gold).

They are just too cute!

Baby elephants should stay with their mother.  They breast feed for about 30 months after birth.

Mother feeds the babies

Look for more news about these little angels in the future.

Confessions of a photographer:   I took way too many pictures on this trip to Mae Cheam.  The total click count was over 800.   I've culled them down and divided them into two albums on photobucket.   Photos of the people, scenery and all that are at:  http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/MC_People/   Photo's of the elephants are at http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/MC_Elephants/  Enjoy, but please do not copy or print.  If you want an image just contact me and I'll be happy to provide, that way you get quality and my copyright is protected.  Fair enough?


Abundant Blessings,

The Chiang Mai Zoo Elephants

There is a sister article on the jerrynelsonjournal but I’ll try to keep one writing just about the elephants.  Fair enough?  On Wednesday I went to the zoo in Chiang Mai with the purpose of seeing how the elephants are treated there.  There is a shuttle bus that you can take around the zoo. 

The first stop is to see a magnificent bull elephant.  He happens to be in a small pen on the side of the road.  Zoo goers are allowed to feed him. You can purchase a small bowl of food for 20 baht.  The bowl consists of a few cucumbers and a piece of sugar cane.  This isn’t street begging, but it certainly leaves the uninitiated with the impression that it’s o.k.  If I can feed this elephant, why not the baby on the streets of Chiang Mai?    At least this one isn’t in danger of getting hit by a truck, but his life must be really boring!

Waiting for the next customer

The first thing I noticed about this elephant, his name is A Ka Sit and I’m told he’s 26 years old,  was is tusks.  They cross and are protected with some sort of padding.  I guess he’s safe from poachers there in the zoo.

The next thing I noticed, right next to where they sell the food to feed him is a display case of Ivory.  I don’t know about you, but that made my skin crawl.  I walked off and had to go back later just to get a snap shot (prove to myself what I’d seen).     

Ivory on display right next to the big tusker

  The elephant habitat is small but seems to be well cared for.  It’s certainly clean.  I saw another bull and one cow.  This bulls tusks were also impressive.  The two are obviously friends.  I loved the moment when she placed her trunk between his tusks and snuggled with him.

Elephant Friends

The enclosure has a gazebo or sorts.  As I was leaving the bull went to it and rang the wooden bell; one of his elephant toys no doubt.  While these elephants seem to be healthy it was hard for me to stay and watch them longer than necessary to get the photos.  They are too confined and without much stimulation.

Ringing the Bell

As the tour bus made it’s way toward the exit we came across elephant ride station.  Are these elephants kept with the two in enclosure?  I would hope there are at least two enclosures since there are definitely two bulls, but who knows.   Elephant rides are far from the worst that these creatures have to endure at the hands of mankind, but frankly I was surprised to see them at the Chiang Mai zoo.  

Elephant Rides Available at the Chiang Mai Zoo

On second thought after having seen the elephant feeding station and the ivory for sale, I really should not have been surprised at all.   

Abundant Blessings,

BLES is a Blessing

BLES is a Blessing!

I had the honor of visiting Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) recently.  My first couple of attempts to write this post were total failures.  I had written way too much for a blog. Having said that, I would invite those interested to spend some time on http://www.blesele.org/  Photographs from our trip are now posted at http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/BLES_20101001/

Mee Chok

Thanks to a couple of my face book friends, especially Mo in Australia I became aware of Katherine’s extraordinary project as BLES was rescuing Pang Dow.  This one really grabbed me and I decided that I had to go meet this elephant.  You can read her story at http://www.blesele.org/elephants/pang-dow  Her recovery continues.

Pang Dow

(The spots are a skin condition that is being treated)

Maliwan and I took a bus from Chiang Mai to Uttradit where we were met by the driver from BLES and taken to the sanctuary.   BLES has three little guest houses, one of which was our abode for two nights.  It was wonderful.  I really love the serenity.  No TV, no radio, no phone, just peace and quiet.  We stayed two nights and then were given a ride back to the bus station.   While we were there we were fed three meals a day and the food delicious. 

BLES is different.  While there are facilities for a very limited number of guests, BLES is not a tourist camp, not at all.  It’s a sanctuary for elephants.  Most places arrange their venues to attract the tourist which is fine, especially if the elephants are well taken care of and the tourists are educated.  At BLES it’s all about the elephants.  A guest would ask Katherine if they could swim in the pond with the elephants or ride an elephant and her response would be something like “Do you really think the elephant would enjoy that”? 

Bath Time

Because these elephants are in training to be returned to nature, there is a minimum of human contact.   Twice a day they go on their walks where they forage for their food.  It’s remarkable to see them out in nature, just being elephants.

This is good!

Mare Boon Mee is in her 80’s.  She spent some thirty years without other elephants in her life.  As a result she doesn’t spend much time with the other elephants, preferring to stay alone. She is a very sweet gal who immediately became Maliwan’s favorite.

 Mare Boon Mae and Maliwan

Pang Dow is very special.  With her damaged ankle, her skin condition and her history of abuse she is still one of the most loving creatures I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.  I wish I had pictures of her the day before she was rescued so I could show you a bit of her history. 

Pang Dow on her walk

On the other hand, I’m glad I don’t have pictures of her before she was rescued.  It’s time to concentrate on her new life. At BLES she is loved and will be allowed to live her days in peace and dignity.  

Pang Dow & Pang Suai

Pang Dow

Pang Suii, Jerry and Pang Dow

I promised Pang Dow that I’d come visit her again.  It may be several months, but I will keep that promise!

I went to visit Pang Dow and while I was there I found a new appreciation for elephants and the people who really love them.  Katherine and her staff at BLES do a remarkable job.  Please support them in any way you can.

Abundant Blessings,

The Elephant's Voice & The Black Butterfly

The Elephant’s Voice

The maiden issue of “The Elephant’s Voice” is off the press and headed for distribution.  Congratulations to all who had a part in making this happen. Our Editor has even put up a website for the magazine.  Check it out at www.theelephantsvoice.org.

The First Issue!

The Black Butterfly

This is a true story; I care not how you interrupt, just know that what I write what is true.  We went to BLES for the weekend and while I was there Katherine Conner, the founder of BLES mentioned that there was a connection between Boon Lott and the black butterflies.   I asked her to explain.

Katherine told me the story of Boon Lott’s passing.  When he died Katherine was holding his head in her lap.   As his heart stopped a black butterfly appeared and rested on Boon Lott’s heart for about 15 seconds or so.  The butterfly moved on to Katherine, resting on her arm for another 15 seconds or so.   Since that time, when she thinks of Boon Lott the butterfly appears and gives her great comfort.  She knows.

I’m 66 years young and have never, never had a butterfly come and rest on me.   Imagine my amazement and the amazement of two other people who were there when, as Katherine is telling the story, the black butterfly comes and rests on my ear.   His message to me was simple:   Listen!

There will be a longer article about BLES in the next day or so.  I just couldn’t wait to share this with you.

Listen!