———— Songkran Holiday Ends Sadly with the Sudden Passing of Lily ————
Posted by Elephant Nature Foundation on April 17, 2011
It was just recently that we came to realize that Lily actually did lie down at night. Because of her stiff arthritic front wrists, it was believed that she never chose to lie down as it would be too strenuous for her to get back up. For years now we have built small hills or slopes for some of our older and handicapped elephants (which act as a pillow or head support) as it is much easier to rise from a slight slope than from flat on the ground.
Last Monday April 11th, just before dawn, Lily was in the process of getting herself up. What happened with Lily was a freak accident. When elephants try to get up, they 'throw' the weight of the front and back legs that are not on the ground upward, rolling their bodies towards their spine so that they can build up the momentum to roll back towards their legs and get themselves to the 'sphinx' position. From there elephants lift themselves to a standing position. While Lily was rolling back, she ended up over the top of the slope so that she was then stuck in a position where her body was lower than her legs. We were able to see this when we played back the CCTV video. Being in this unnatural position caused Lily to panic and she thrashed and struggled desperately to get up. As far as we know she did not scream out, because those who were in the park on that fateful morning heard no vocalizations of distress. Mae Keow, her best friend of 12 years could only stand by and watch this event unfold helplessly.
At about 6:00 a.m. Pom was leaving the park in her truck and saw Lily as she drove by. She immediately called all mahouts to rush to Lily's aid and with the help of the tractor they were able to get Lily up in a short period of time. Lily was obviously stressed and in shock. It also seemed that she had injured her front right leg that had been chained. It did not look broken or dislocated but she did not want to bear any weight on it. For the rest of this day Lily alternated between lying on a slope and standing. We were heartened to see her getting up and lying down on her own. She actually hobbled to a spot near the new elephant shelter by the day's end and spent the first night there.
The second day, Lily made her way to her old shelter and we planned to keep her there with support poles for her to lean on, but Lily had other plans. She was so frustrated with her circumstances she was restless. Lily could not get comfortable standing or lying down. Finally at around 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening Lily laid down again, but there was no slope to support her. When she tried to get up again, she did not have the energy to rise from a flat position. We gave her IV fluids to help build up her strength. Lily was down until around 1:00pm wednesday afternoon. We were able to get her up again with the help of our new truck that is equipped with a crane. Lily could stand with difficulty. Mae Keow stayed near Lily during this whole time, often touching and reassuring Lily, sometimes pushing on her. Once Lily was standing again Mae Keow went over to her and the two pushed their heads together and touched trunks in a very tender manner. Sadly, Lily could not stay standing for long periods of time and trying to walk was increasingly difficult. She lay back down again on a natural slope with tires under her for support. During this whole time we constantly offered Lily food and water, but she ate and drank minimally. Her digestive system was slowing down from being in a recumbent position. We gave her an enema to try to get things moving.
Sometime late Wednesday night Lily had made her way back to the area by the new shelter and had lain down again. We placed tires under her head to support her, but she kept shifting constantly. On Thursday we tried to lift her up with the crane but she was not helping at all. Lily kept shifting and spinning around in an attempt to get more comfortable, complicating our efforts to help her. Lily was kept on IV fluids all Thursday night but this did not help her to get stronger. On Friday morning Lily seemed to be very angry, frustrated and uncomfortable. It was very distressing for her to be so helpless. Her breathing had become irregular. She finally let go just after 12:30 p.m.
It all happened so fast that we can still hardly believe that she is gone...it was so unexpected. Many elephants recover from leg injuries, some worse than Lily's, but for Lily the collective trauma and stress was just too much for her to bear. There was no way for us to know the extent of internal damage that may have occurred as well. Beautiful lovely Lily is gone...
Lily was the second elephant Lek rescued. She has touched many lives and was the favorite elephant of many volunteers and repeat visitors. She was always kind and gentle with people. Lily was fortunate to have the patient and caring Buchu as her mahout for 6 years. Most recently she was looked after by Teh Leh Leh, who was also patient with her. She was a loyal best friend to Mae Keow, the third elephant Lek rescued, who will miss her greatly. This is a terrible loss for Mae Keow as the pair had been together for 12 years. We are very concerned for Mae Keow and hope that she may find companionship with one of the other elephants who live in the park.
The Sunday before Lily's accident, she and Mae Keow had a lovely time in the river at the 1:00 bathing time. The pair went out to where the water was a bit deep and hunkered down so that only the top of their heads and the peak of their spines were visible, occasionally splashing and trunk slapping the water playfully, caught in a moment of pure joy and abandon. May we remember Lily lively and happy, enjoying the days alongside her dear friend and take comfort in the fact that she had 15 years of happiness living at Elephant Nature Park.
Lily has joined our herd in heaven. She left us suddenly and much too soon.
