— Mae Bua Tong —
Mae Bua Tong’s name means ‘golden lotus’. She was born around 1971. In July 2005 she arrived at Elephant Nature Park with her daughter. Credit for sponsoring her rescue goes to Olivia Daniel and her parents, with help from Eleaid, a British charity, for transferring the funds to Elephant Nature Park.
How the money for the rescue was acquired is a heartwarming story. Olivia visited the Park as a volunteer in April 2005. She fell in love with the work Lek was doing and wanted to help. For her approaching 21st birthday, she could have received a car, but instead asked her parents to buy Bua Tong and Tong Jan for Lek. They agreed and the negotiations were set in motion.
Like most domestic elephants, the majority of Bua Tong’s life has been spent working in the tourist trekking trade, and possibly before that, logging or elephant shows. Her last job was carrying tourists at a trekking camp nearby. There she would make a one hour trek up and down mountains, up to 6 to 8 times per day depending on the number of tourists that arrived.
On Valentine’s Day 2005 she gave birth to a baby girl. Bua Tong wasn’t allowed proper recovery time after the birth. When her baby was no more than 3 months old, she was put back to work. Her calf was to suffer the same fate as all babies of trekking mothers; long days following mom up and down the tiring trekking trails, with not enough napping or nursing time, which would result in poor health.
Volunteers on their way to Elephant Haven saw this mother and baby many times, wandering the jungle in search of extra food after a hard day’s work. They were an obvious choice for a rescue. A mother and baby being bought together is not a common occurrence in the domestic elephant world. Most times, motherhood ends in heartbreak, with the baby being torn away from mom at an early age and sold into a life of torture and slavery. The fact that this mother and daughter will spend the rest of their lives together free from work and exploitation is a wonderful thing.
Upon arrival at Elephant Nature Park, Mae Bua Tong made friends quickly as females competed for the coveted position of auntie to Mae Bua Tong’s daughter, whom Lek named Tong Jan. Her new family group consists of Thai, Mae Elu and Somboon.
To learn more about the histories and personalities of our elephants, please click on any of the links below.
