— Mae Kham Sai —
Mae Kham Sai is thought to be born in 1970. Her name means ‘clear gold’ in northern Thai dialect. She came to live at Elephant Nature Park permanently in June of 2005 and her rescue was sponsored by Connie Speight of the Elephant Umbrella Fund.
She was nicknamed ‘the purple elephant’ when she first stayed at Elephant Nature Park for a very short time in June of 2004, because of the incredible amount of gentian violet topical antibiotic spray covering her body. The Park mahouts first saw her on their way to go cut grass and when they returned, told Lek how bad she looked. Her mahout was in the process of walking her to a nearby trekking camp where she would await transport to go to the hospital.
Kham Sai was in a dreadful state, she could barely lift her feet or keep her eyes open. Everywhere, her skin was cracked and infected with pus oozing from open wounds. Lek drove to see her and her heart went out to this elephant who was suffering so much. She asked the mahout to let Kham Sai rest at the Park for a day or two before continuing on with their journey. She was so hungry, she ate all the food given to her immediately. She was washed and medication was applied to her infected body. The infection had first started in her feet from cracked nails. With no prompt treatment, it spread to her entire body, internally and externally. She was in desperate shape when she finally received medical care.
After six months of hospitalization, she had returned to a healthy enough state that her owner decided to put her back to work trekking. Lek had not forgotten this ‘purple elephant,’ and since Kham Sai had left the park, Lek followed her movements, hoping for an option to buy her in the future. In June 2005, Mae Kham Sai finally came back to the Park, this time to stay forever.
No longer purple, Mae Kham Sai can be identified by her crooked tail, and her empty left eye socket which is the result of an old injury inflicted by an angry farmer after she was caught raiding his crops. Mostly she can be identified by her aloofness, as she is a loner and is very shy of other elephants and of people too. It is common to see her turn and run away if another elephant starts to approach her. She does like to wrestle with Hope occasionally and is interested in the company of young ladies Malai Tong and Dok Ngern, but her fear of the other members of their family group keeps her from forming any friendships.
By observing her behavior, it is obvious that throughout her life, Kham Sai has been traumatized by many humans and even some elephants. She has many physical and psychological scars. Hopefully, as time goes on she will regain her confidence and feel comfortable enough to form a friendship or join a family group in the future.
To learn more about the histories and personalities of our elephants, please click on any of the links below.
