Thailand - Elephant Project

Hi Everyone! Currently we are at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) in Northern Thailand. So far our experience has been really good, despite our accommodations. We are staying in a ‘homestay’ in one of the Mahout (elephant trainer) villages within the TECC. Every elephant has a Mahout, and it is not uncommon to see an elephant in someone’s back yard, or for an elephant to pass by your window. One morning we were jolted awake by an elephant trumpeting on his way by our window, and we can see an elephant in someone’s back yard from our kitchen. They are just everywhere!

So we are pretty much staying in a bamboo thatched hut in the jungle, and I guess we are the closest to ‘roughing it’ that we have been so far on this trip. We have really been spoiled by nice hotels up until now. Our accommodations are fine, just not as nice as what we have become accustomed to. The beds are the worst part, being the hardest surface I have had to sleep on yet. The bed is pretty much just a wood board with a blanket…no joke. The next worst thing is the roosters. They start crowing at 3:30am and don’t stop until well after we have to get up. Hopefully after a while we won’t hear them anymore!!! We have a fan, which is ok because it is not as hot (relatively speaking) as the North. Don’t be fooled though…it is still quite hot! We have hot water (a treat!), which is something I wasn’t expecting and we have meals delivered to us from a restaurant, since we aren’t really able to leave the TECC to get things to cook with. The food has been surprisingly good, and very cheap – averaging about $1.25 Canadian for a meal. My favourite so far has been the green curry, which is like a soup you eat on rice.

We have a set schedule set out by the Elephant Hospital at the TECC, but really it is just a guideline. We actually haven’t had a single day follow it yet!

Yesterday morning Matt and I took our ‘assigned’ elephant, Tui, into the jungle with her Mahout and her girlfriend-elephant, Kumpun. They apparently always have to be together – ‘elephant best friends’! Tui has some health problems and is weak and emaciated, which is why she is at the hospital. I haven’t really seen her in for treatments yet, as she spends most of her time in the jungle. Kumpun has a bad foot from when she stepped on a landmine. Half of her hind foot was blown off, but it looks as if it has healed and she gets around quite well. I think she is just at the hospital for Tui…

After taking Kumpun and Tui to the jungle we came back and fed the orphaned baby elephant that is here. He is 2 years old and was brought from the wild to the TECC because he had been separated from his mother. A baby elephant nurses until it is 3 years old, so he needs to be fed by bottle and cannot fend for himself (which is why he is at the TECC). He is also developing ‘Ricketts’ from nutritional deficiencies arising from the fact that he is not getting his mother’s milk, which is making his hind legs bow out. The vets are trying to adjust his diet and are running blood tests to try and help him. Ryan and Gill had made up his rice formula while we were in the jungle. It looked like white runny oatmeal and it was made of human infant powdered formula, rice, beans and sugar. After mixing in some vitamins, we were ready to feed him. He was so excited, and just inhaled it! He was so cute!!! It was a lot of fun, and we have some really great pictures of feeding him.

Just after we had finished feeding the baby, one of the vets got called out on an emergency, and Matt and I got to go along. We had to drive about 3 hours North, past Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao, all the way into the mountains, arriving at our destination less than 100km from Burma. The round trip ended up being 430km, which made for an exceptionally long day. All we knew going out was that an elephant had been aggressive with it’s Mahout, and it had been stabbed in defence. Upon our arrival we discovered that it had actually been stabbed 2 days ago and the elephant was being treated by the Mahout with herbal medicine. Unfortunately, elephants are very prone to infections, forming abscesses very easily and this elephant’s wounds were quite infected. The one puncture wound had caused the hind leg to become extremely edematous (swollen) and really looked awful. The vet said that it was quite serious so he was referring it to the hospital at the TECC, and that it would arrive the next day (which was today). He cleaned out the wounds by flushing it with iodine and saline, and then packed it full of antibiotic ointment. The elephant really didn’t like this and was struggling quite a bit. Matt and I just stood back and watched as we were a bit nervous with it being an ‘aggressive’ elephant.

This morning we prepared all of the medications and instruments for the day, prepared the rice-milk for the baby and then fed him. After lunch, the elephant we went to see yesterday, arrived at the hospital. Dr. Yao (one of the vets), treated the leg wound showing me how to do it properly, and then let me treat the other stab wound! The elephant was chained up, but every time I flushed it out or did anything to the wound, it would try to roll over. It was quite the work out, and I ended up with a huge nasty piece of pus and iodine all over my shirt…It was fun though, and great to get some hands on experience!

After that treatment, we went to help with semen collection, which is quite a unique procedure. It involves someone putting their arm into the elephant’s rectum and punching (really hard) the prostate for 15-20minutes while people wait with little cups attached to poles by the penis. Some of the elephants that came through were just MASSIVE – their legs were taller than I am, which is kind of intimidating!!! Also, Matt wants me to write about Ryan almost taking a giant elephant penis in the face…it was a good laugh for everyone. Haha.

So all in all, our experience here has been quite good. We are learning a lot about these fascinating creatures and getting some hands-on medical experience!

Will write again soon.