May 27- June 2:
For these days I switched to the elephant sanctuary and I
enjoyed this more than the animal center section. They have roughly 27
elephants that were once used for rides- besides the baby. The baby elephant,
Pin, was rescued with his mother, Pin. Pin had to undergo the horrific abuse
and was used for mating. She was locked in a small room and could only move her
head; thus, even after being rescued she would continue to twitch her head as
if she was still stuck in the room.
When an
elephant is used for people to ride, it has to undergo a process called the “phajaan”
which means “the crush.” For an animal as massive as an elephant to allow
humans to control it, the humans first need to break its spirit. They undergo
the phajaan which can mean anything from no food, water, or sleeping for days.
This usually involved some kind of abuse with whips and being placed in a small
hole or cage until they are on the point of death.
The
Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand rescues all these animals and for
elephants, provides a safe haven for them. The elephants cannot be reintroduced
into the wild, but the animals at the rescue center have a chance so human
contact with them are limited, but at the elephant sanctuary I got to
personally feed, bath, and walk them!
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| Taking elephants on a walk! |
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| Having to harvest banana trees every other day- extremely hard work |
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| a typical schedule- (where I am a team leader!) |
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| Me and my good friend, Ja! |
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| Another exhausting day of harvest |
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| Bathing elephants- even though they can do this on their own, it's good to bath them after a walk anyway |
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