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Happy Loy Kratong from Elephant Nature Park! We have just celebrated this lovely festival in which Phra Mae Kongka, the goddess of water, is honored for the use of the rivers and canals in Thailand. On the full moon in late November, people float kratongs which are made to look like floating lotuses that hold candles and incense, sometimes coins and other small offerings, thanking the goddess for her bounty in providing water for the livelihood of the people… and in our case, the elephants as well! Another big part of this festival is sending up khom loy which are hot air lanterns that are supposed to send away misfortunes as they float up into the night. The sky above Elephant Nature Park was full of lanterns and the river glowed with the lit candles of many kratongs. The evening was enjoyed by all. The rainy season has ended (although the occasional random shower still surprising us) and the nights have gotten chillier. The cool season has heralded the arrival of three new elephants: one is here on a leased basis and arrived under emergency circumstances which ended tragically, but thankfully the other two have been bought and are permanent residents starting a new life of happiness! So read on for all the latest news and ele gossip….
We Mourn the Loss of Beloved Ele, Mae Mai December began sadly here at Elephant Nature Park, when jealousy over Max between Somboon and Mae Mai took a tragic turn. In mid-November Max started his normal yearly musth period. Around that same time, Somboon and Mae Mai began competing for Max's attention. This "love triangle" has a history: Somboon is an old flame of Max's, who has had intimate moments with him, and Mae Mai is his self-appointed constant companion, hoping for a more intimate relationship. The two girls didn't dislike each other, they just both were really obsessed with Max. On December 1st, around 4:00p.m, Max was rather surrounded by various Park females, Somboon and Mae Mai included. Mae Mai started pushing Somboon from behind, using her tushes to poke Somboon's rear end. Somboon swirled around and started head-butting with Mae Mai, gaining ground and pushing her backwards. This all happened very quickly. Mae Mai, who couldn't bend her right front ankle due to an old injury, lost her footing and fell awkwardly, either breaking or dislocating her right front leg in the fall. At this point mahouts were able to separate the two females. Mae Mai was able to get back up after a few minutes, but it was obvious that she was in great discomfort and couldn't bear any weight on the leg. She went down again shortly thereafter. Everyone in the Park rallied together to try to help her as best as we could. Mahouts and construction workers worked furiously to try to build a framework to put up the pulley and get the harnesses on her to try to get her up and off her injury as fast as possible. Volunteers filled and transported sandbags to help support her.
Mae Mai would have celebrated her 3-year anniversary of living at Elephant Nature Park at the end of January 2008. She was a lovely elephant whom you could place in the "protector friend" category. She was always happy to look out for and be a friend to older or handicapped elephants. She took care of two elephants during her time here. The first one was Mae Tong Bai, who arrived within a week of Mae Mai. The two became best friends shortly after their arrivals and Mae Mai stood by Tong Bai's side when the 90-year-old ele passed away. The second elephant she took care of was Medo, who is the most severely handicapped elephant in the Park. Medo immediately sensed Mae Mai's caring nature and actually approached Mae Mai before Mae Tong Bai had died, but Mae Mai felt she had "her trunk full" caring for her elderly friend and didn't take on Medo until Me Tong Bai after passed away of old age. Mae Mai and Medo had a lovely relationship that was very vocal at times. Medo, due to her past injuries, sometimes likes to lie down in the afternoons. Mae Mai would always stand patiently at her side, protecting her from any would be dangers. Mae Mai also had a very soft spot for Max, and truly enjoyed the grand old man's company, to the point of sometimes forgetting Medo! When Max would get surrounded by other female admirers, Mae Mai could often be seen wandering off to sulk until the other girls finally left him. Max cared for Mae Mai as well in his own special way, and after the accident, he immediately rushed over and placed his trunk over her back to comfort her. Mae Mai will truly be missed by all at Elephant Nature Park, though especially by those who shared a big part of their day with her, like Mee her mahout, Medo and her mahout Atoon, and of course Max and his mahout Karl. We hope at this time Mae Mai has finally been reunited with her dear old friend Mae Tong Bai, and that the two are walking side by side free of any earthly aches and pains into the ever after, preparing to start their next lives together. Goodbye Mae Mai, you had a good heart. We love you very much.
Mae Bia Submits to Old Age and Passes On
Mae Bia never bonded with any other elephants during her time at the Park, preferring to keep to herself. (Though in her earlier days here, she did enjoy the occasional wrestling match with Hope, either on land or in the water.) We are thankful we were able to get to know her and that she was able to have her last few years on earth, relaxing and enjoying life at Elephant Nature Park. Rest in peace Mae Bia, you will be missed.
Mae Kham Noi Update Mae Kham Noi, the troubled mother of "baby ele," who arrived with newborn on October 17th, is still at the Park and will be here for a few months longer. She is a shy elephant who keeps to herself. She is supposedly the daughter of Mae Geow, one of our older females, who came from the same trekking camp as Mae Kham Noi and her baby. When Mae Kham Noi and "baby ele" (as she was nicknamed) first arrived, Mae Geow recognized her, and expressed great interest in spending time with her daughter and her new baby. Since baby ele's passing, sadly Mae Geow and Mae Kham Noi haven't strengthened their bonds. Possibly, since she is not staying at the Park permanently, her mahout doesn't want her to get too attached to any of the elephants here. In the meantime, she is eating well, putting on weight, getting treated gently, and going on long walks to graze in the mornings, often accompanied by the Park stud muffin, Phu Pa! We are sad for her (and her baby) that her first attempt at motherhood ended so tragically, and hope she becomes more emotionally stable and accepts her next baby whenever it comes along. In our website's News From the Park section, you can story of baby ele and Mae Kham Noi, and you can read about their arrival and the valiant efforts of Lek, the volunteers, and the mahouts to keep the little girl alive.
Faa Sai Update It is still unsure which family group that Faa Sai will end up joining. She keeps bouncing between Tong Jan's family and the expanded family group of Mae Boon, Aura, Mae Dta Keow and new member, Mae Boon Ma. On some days she is with Mae Boo's family for the whole day, while the independent, socially versatile Aura sometimes seems to have moved totally out of her mom's family group, and joined Pupia's family group! When Faa Sai first arrived, she (for some unknown reason) latched onto Mae Boon, who is sometimes known as the part-time mom, because of her lack of attentiveness to her daughter Aura. Aura, learning to be as independent and self-reliant as her mother, spends a lot of time away from her mom, finding the families of her friends Tong Jan and Pupia more interesting. Mae Boon, who at heart loves her daughter, happens to find eating and searching for food more interesting than child rearing. For these reasons all humans at the Park (and probably some of the eles) couldn't believe it when it was apparent that Faa Sai had chosen Mae Boon. As mentioned above though, the jury is still out. Recently Faa Sai has been leaning more towards Mae Dta Keow for her auntie attention, and she also sometimes spends whole days with Tong Jan's family, which would be a more stable family group for her to join. Overall she seems happy, and is settling in well. Only time will tell whose family she will end up in, so watch for more details in the next newsletter. You can learn more about Faa Sai (and watch a heartwarming video of her arrival at the Park) in our website's News From the Park section.
Darunee (Tah Rah) Update Darunee (who was renamed "Tah Rah" by Lek upon arrival at Elephant Nature Park) seems to be a sweet, easygoing, gentle girl. She was bought from a trekking camp down the road from the Park, where the elephants are obviously very overworked. She is supposedly between 40 and 55 years old, and has a very deformed spine from wearing the trekking seat. She is very thin and all her ribs are visible, and she has big scabs on her forehead from being hit with the hook excessively. Her ears are tattered and frayed from years of damage. At this time she has yet to show interest in joining up with any of the other elephants. Our hope is that possibly she will decide to become friends with Medo, who upon losing her friend Mae Mai desperately needs another "protector friend." In the meantime, we are busy trying to fatten her up so she can regain her former beauty and good health.
October Mahouts of the Month Two mahouts were chosen for the month of October: Jo Lu Se, the mahout of Jokia, and De Poh, who at the time was mahout of the oldest ele in the Park, Mae Bua Kham. (De Poh has since been transferred to be the mahout of Mae Dta Keow.) Jo Lu Se has been working at the Park for about a year now. He is a happy-go-lucky character who rarely seems to be in a bad mood. He is patient and gentle with Jokia and can handle Hope if it is necessary. He actually spent a 4 month stint as Hope's mahout when Dam went home for a visit. Not many mahouts have the right temperament to work with Hope, but Jo Lu Se managed well. He is affectionate and helpful with all the animals in the Park, and friendly and interactive with other staff, visitors and volunteers. He looks out for the best interests of all of the elephants in the Park and is a dependable, fair-minded individual. De Poh, (not to be confused with Le Poh, mahout of Mae Perm) hasn't been working at the Park for very long, but has already shown his level of patience and kindness with the eles he has worked with. When he first arrived, he was put with Lily, who had been with her mahout Boonchu for quite a long time. (Boonchu was very kind and patient with her, and was in fact the recipient of the very first Mahout of the Month award, so he was kind of a hard act to follow.) As it ended up, De Poh was also kind and patient with Lily so it wasn't a hard transition for her to make. Boonchu returned sooner than expected and was reunited with Lily and De Poh was put with Mae Bua Kham. Mae Bua Kham is a very sweet, gentle and easygoing elephant without many quirks who is pretty easy to manage, but she is very old and some younger mahouts don't enjoy working with the old gals. De Poh treated her wonderfully, allowing her to wander where she wished and letting her take as long as she needed to eat, being sure her special dietary needs were being met. As well as he was doing with Mae Bua Kham, when the situation arose that Mae Dta Keow (who is a very "special needs" elephant) needed a new mahout and it wasn't easy to find a replacement, it was decided that De Poh would be put with her. This turned out to be a positive change for Mae Dta Keow as De Poh's gentle manner is just what the troubled Mae Dta Keow needs. At the time of this writing, De Poh is still with Mae Dta Keow and is doing a fine job of looking after her. The Park is glad to have this kind, young mahout on staff.
November Mahout of the Month Hla Chay (who prefers to be known as "Rocky"), the mahout of Mae Toh Koh and Pupia, has been chosen as Mahout of the Month for November. This young man has been working at the Park for approximately 1½ years and is doing a wonderful job. Under Lek's guidance, he is training Pupia with positive reinforcement methods and is having great success. He is a natural with Pupia, having the right attitude and enthusiasm to build a strong bond with this young calf and gentle but firm manner that makes Pupia want to obey him. He truly loves Pupia and spends a lot of time with him. Rocky is also very good with Mae Toh Koh as well, and seems to be enjoying mastering the art of handling an elephant without using excessive force, and takes great pride in getting the elephants in his care to do what he wants just using voice commands. He is also polite with other staff and guests, and helpful when he is needed to do any extra jobs that don't take away from looking after his elephants. We hope to find more young mahouts like Rocky in the future and are glad to have him here at Elephant Nature Park.
Elephant Nature Park Dogs Go to Live in America! In November we had two reasons to celebrate in the dog world of Elephant Nature Park. First was the one-year anniversary of Belly (Nit Noy's brother) being adopted by the lovely Jessica and Tim, past Park volunteers and webmasters of the ENF website. On their first visit to the Park, their day trip prompted a three-day return visit… which extended to one week, then (in the end) a seven week stay! During this time they fell in love with Belly, who was a Park doggie secretly wishing for his very own special people, and he was willing to move anywhere in the world to be with them. When Lek asked them if they would like to adopt Belly, they gleefully accepted. Upon returning home, they researched the best way to bring a Thai dog to the United States, and a few months later flew back to Thailand specifically to bring Belly home with them.
Also in November, Jezebel was adopted by another American, Jamie Rekow. Jamie arrived as a volunteer in early August and was scheduled to stay for a month. During her stay she developed a fondness for sweet Jezebel, a very friendly dog who like Belly yearned for a family of her very own. Learning of Belly's successful adoption, Jamie decided to look into bringing Jezebel home. Back in Colorado, Jamie lives in the country with a large fenced-in area for Jezebel to run in and the family has one other dog. It took a few months to get all the proper documents and the necessary inoculations for Jezebel's safe passage, but finally in mid-November the day to begin their journey arrived. We have received a recent report that Jamie and Jezebel have arrived in Colorado and that Jezebel is settling in well.
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In the meantime, unbeknownst to us, she was suffering from internal bleeding. She died at approximately 7:30pm.
We are sad to report another loss in our herd this month. Mae Bia, who was somewhere between 75 and 85 years old, finally passed away. She had just celebrated her 2-year anniversary living at Elephant Nature Park back in October. She arrived desperately thin, but soon filled out to have a shape worthy of females half her age. She was an energetic older elephant who moved about the Park at a rather brisk pace, despite her almost complete blindness.
Thus Belly became a Thai dog in America: moving to Washington DC, posing in front of the Capitol building, adapting to dog booties to keep the winter sidewalk salt off his tender jungle tootsies, and living in an apartment with his best cuddle buddy (besides Jess and Tim) becoming China the cat! Belly has adapted well to his new life, and new adventures await him as Belly will soon be moving to Cape Cod, Massachusetts with his parents and cat sis, where he will have a yard of his very own to play in. In the meantime, he enjoys walks to the dog park where he has regular "play dates" with his new American canine pals. Hurrah for Belly!
