I think it was Mel that made a request for my elephant pics and seeing that today is the one year anniversary of the day I visited these beautiful creatures I thought I would share (and revive an old thread at the same time!)
Bath time in the river...
This one was the second youngest (the youngest couldnt be photographed as he was still in quarantine but his nickname was "Thumbsucker" and I can assure you he did that. Whilst he was sucking your thumb he would sway and fall asleep). In this pic the cheeky lil thing is undoing the guys shoe. He had a major fascination with velcro!
Feeding the same little guy.
Feeding watermelon which I cut up with a machete
the trip was a volunteer day so we prepped the food, fed them, shovelled sh*t, bathed them and were fed lunch by the villagers as a thank you. You made a donation to the park for the privilege of volunteering too, was incredible.
Feeding sugar cane which the guys had to strip and cut with machetes whilst the girls did the watermelon.
More sugar cane feeding. If you raised your arm they would raise their trunks and you could throw it in their mouths, otherwise you could hold it out to them and they would take it from your hand with their trunks. One of them would blow in your face through her trunk to get your attention which was very cute. They also sway (dance) or flap their ears when they are happy. Very emotional creatures.
This was taken just after I had chained her in for the night. You may have noticed the anklet in previous images. This is for their own safety and only worn at night. In the past the sanctuary had them in paddocks of an evening roaming free. There was a thunderstorm one night and they took off in fight and a number of them died from falling trees or just their own stupidity. We spent the whole day with them and they were such healthy, happy, well fed creatures. Some of them are even trained to help on rescue missions to save other elephants who are in danger of being poached or killed for damage they are causing to villages. At times they even supply zoos with elephants. Melbourne Zoo's pride bull Bong Su actually came from this sanctuary. I visit him all the time
Last photo. She decided to suck on my arm at this point, cheeky thing!
So as you can see, this visit changed my world! One of the elephants has only three feet as she was caught in a poachers trap. I have since helped with fundraising for a new prosthesis for her. They guy who showed us around for the day is also working on opening another sanctuary at the moment. I cant wait to go back and visit them all again
B xxx
