Sorry, I don't let her get drunk anymore (our latest rescue)
When word came down from Four Seasons Tented Camp that Mr Goetz Munhenke, managing director of Finass Reisen in Switzerland had asked to rescue an elephant we put our heads together and tried to decide which of the street elephants we met in January most needed help, the strongest contender, Pompui has been with us since February and is one of the stars of the camp.
Well, said I, let's find out what happened to those elephants that were being held at the Government Detention Centre, awaiting the DNA tests - stories that had stuck in my mind of elephants on a detox.
As I may have mentioned before, elephants do have an affinity for alcohol - be it the taste, the weird feeling in the trunk or the inebriation, who knows? - but it seemed that, for the entertainment of the Bangkok crowds, certain mahouts were feeding their elephants bottles of whisky and then showing off a drunken elephant dance.
So we put the word out we wanted the drunken elephants - the Government had been forced to let them go once the DNA came back proving they were from Thailand. A couple of days later our street sleuths came back, of the two we had met, one is up in the forest of Tak province having been bought by a rich Bangkok Thai lady and had already been rescued but Som Si was down on Nana (an infamous area of Bangkok that I haven't yet been to, even on one of my "just looking for elephants, honestly dear" research tours), living behind the Rama IX hotel during the day.
One bit of bad news, sorry, the mahout now says she doesn't do the drunken ele dance anymore, she's been clean since she was arrested and the mahout has been convinced it is not healthy for her to drink whisky. Even if she is not the partier she once was are we still interested?
Interested we are. Perhaps the best news in all of this is that even though the two to three week detention may appear pointless and a toothless punishment for the street mahouts, such a shame to have to let them go, at least the veterinary attention and mahout education given during that time (from both the TECC and Surin vets) persuaded the mahouts not to feed her whisky.
She arrived yesterday and slowly watching this little ele - even at seven she's smaller than our five year olds - tired from her trip, begin to recognise that sugarcane is now a permissible food (any cane she meets on the streets is not for her unless sold and fed back), slowly come around to her surroundings, grass unlimited, food growing on trees, other elephants, a deep river - and that was just yesterday on arrival.
Lung Pat, her mahout, is here too and promises he has taken the vets' advice to heart, agreeing to come here is the first step.
Today it is fellow babies (she arrived after their bed time) and hopefully a splash in the swamp, we'll keep you posted.
...neither Som Si or Lung Pat is too aware of the rules, a free-for-all bathing with lots of ele interaction, surely not allowed?
...and when the bath is over, she had to be first out of the river, no polite queuing here, have to get to that grass, grass, grass. (Egged on by Shirley and Derek, many time repeat guests and donors back for a marathon mahouting session this time)
To see an excited, young elephant back in her element and, like the other rescues, her need to soak it all in just in case it is back to the streets tomorrow - and why wouldn't she think that? that's the way it's been for seven years now - let's hope Lung Pat agrees to stay for a long, long time.
Well, said I, let's find out what happened to those elephants that were being held at the Government Detention Centre, awaiting the DNA tests - stories that had stuck in my mind of elephants on a detox.
As I may have mentioned before, elephants do have an affinity for alcohol - be it the taste, the weird feeling in the trunk or the inebriation, who knows? - but it seemed that, for the entertainment of the Bangkok crowds, certain mahouts were feeding their elephants bottles of whisky and then showing off a drunken elephant dance.
So we put the word out we wanted the drunken elephants - the Government had been forced to let them go once the DNA came back proving they were from Thailand. A couple of days later our street sleuths came back, of the two we had met, one is up in the forest of Tak province having been bought by a rich Bangkok Thai lady and had already been rescued but Som Si was down on Nana (an infamous area of Bangkok that I haven't yet been to, even on one of my "just looking for elephants, honestly dear" research tours), living behind the Rama IX hotel during the day.
One bit of bad news, sorry, the mahout now says she doesn't do the drunken ele dance anymore, she's been clean since she was arrested and the mahout has been convinced it is not healthy for her to drink whisky. Even if she is not the partier she once was are we still interested?
Interested we are. Perhaps the best news in all of this is that even though the two to three week detention may appear pointless and a toothless punishment for the street mahouts, such a shame to have to let them go, at least the veterinary attention and mahout education given during that time (from both the TECC and Surin vets) persuaded the mahouts not to feed her whisky.
She arrived yesterday and slowly watching this little ele - even at seven she's smaller than our five year olds - tired from her trip, begin to recognise that sugarcane is now a permissible food (any cane she meets on the streets is not for her unless sold and fed back), slowly come around to her surroundings, grass unlimited, food growing on trees, other elephants, a deep river - and that was just yesterday on arrival.
Lung Pat, her mahout, is here too and promises he has taken the vets' advice to heart, agreeing to come here is the first step.
Today it is fellow babies (she arrived after their bed time) and hopefully a splash in the swamp, we'll keep you posted.
...neither Som Si or Lung Pat is too aware of the rules, a free-for-all bathing with lots of ele interaction, surely not allowed?
...and when the bath is over, she had to be first out of the river, no polite queuing here, have to get to that grass, grass, grass. (Egged on by Shirley and Derek, many time repeat guests and donors back for a marathon mahouting session this time)
To see an excited, young elephant back in her element and, like the other rescues, her need to soak it all in just in case it is back to the streets tomorrow - and why wouldn't she think that? that's the way it's been for seven years now - let's hope Lung Pat agrees to stay for a long, long time.
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