If you have read my previous blogs it will be of no surprise to hear that I had an amazing time at the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. It is a relaxed, caring and joyous sanctuary for previously abused elephants to live out their final days without the fear of being starved or beaten.
Thailand is famous for being a beautiful and picturesque country but underneath all the appealing cosmetics lies a deeply corrupt government that carries out severe actions when anyone speaks out against them.
The elephant has always been a trademark for Thailand, they are symbolized as an object of worship. Their main beer is named “Chang” which is Thai for elephant, their houses and shops are lined with ornaments in the shape of elephants and many wear clothes and jewellery with the sacred animal on. However their hypocrisy goes on to amaze the western tourists, as your visit to the ENP will teach you, they far from treat them as the gentle and peaceful animals they indeed are.
They are seen as domesticated animals, not wild (despite their rapid decline) so it is perfectly acceptable for Thai people to beat them into submission from babies, to stab them in the eyes if they don’t do what they are told and to wander the busy streets of Thailand preforming tricks in exchange for food.
The ENP was set up by Sangduen Chialert, or “Lek” to people that know her, she has always been disgusted by the Thai peoples treatment of elephants and consistently, throughout her life, campaigned against this. However this has caused her many problems with the Thai government who have, many times, intercepted her acts of goodness.
Unfortunately corruption struck again on the 8th of Feb as the the ENP was raided,
“On Wednesday 8 February approximately 100 government people descended on The Elephant Nature Park. They claimed they had an anonymous phone call alleging that the park was hiding some 70 wild elephants. They disrupted the park from early morning till evening, some 13 hours. They found nothing but fully documented elephants living in sanctuary. Some were old, some sick, some wounded but all were properly documented and well cared for. It’s public knowledge that there are 35 elephants at ENP. ENP’s attorney was on hand and presented the proper documentation”
This was taken from a blog shown on the ENP Facebook page http://www.asianelephantstories.blogspot.com/2012/02/wfft-enp-both-raided-but-why.html
Definitely worth a read!!!
However what is even more interesting is the theory behind why the ENP was so randomly attacked. It appears that some time in December last year 2 wild elephants from the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi were found slaughtered for their bones, ivory and meat. Their carcasses were then burnt. According to http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/276010/weekly-highlights The Kaeng Krachan Parks chief was involved in it all.
Now you may be wondering what this has to do with Lek and her lovely park, but hold on as all will be unravelled soon!
It turns out that when news got out about the slaughter of the elephants the only 2 organizations that stood up and actually did something about finding out who the real culprits were was ENP and Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand (WFFT). They managed to find strong evidence that The National Park Service were actually involved (Despite that fact that they themselves had declared they would punish the real culprit.)
Lek had amazingly managed to get hold of a video clip which would show who was behind the elephant trading, however (not surprisingly) the government didn’t want to know. Now this is where the power of the press got involved, after interviewing Lek and the founder of WFFT 5 park rangers from the national park were arrested on involvement.
Since then both ENP and WFFT have been raided. Unfortunately the raid at WFFT was far more severe, with heavily armed government officials showing up, visiting school children intimidated and the president of WFFT, Khun Jansaeng Sangnanork being arrested. Apparently it was also made clear at the raid that this was the consequence for speaking out.
Fortunately Lek was not at the Park when the raid at ENP took place, if she was there are fears that she too would have been arrested. Gladly though she is now back and according to the blog http://www.asianelephantstories.blogspot.com/2012/02/wfft-enp-both-raided-but-why.html
she is equipped with even more evidence of elephant trading in Thailand.
The fight continues and I know who’s side I'm on, so if you would like to show your support to these amazing organizations here are some sites for you to check out.
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