An overview of our Rescues and other Projects
All the rescues and projects below are set out in chronological order and the reports were written at the time of the rescue - times change, babies grow up so for day to day stories of the adventures of our babies please check John's Rambling Elephant Blog.
Nong Pleum : Plai Tawan : Outreach Programmes : Nong Dah : Poon Larb and Lynchee : Nam Chok & Pumpui : Adopt a Vet : Lamyai & Meena : Makam & Nam Khong : Moskva, Musa & Riga : Manau: Sakura
Pang Poon Larb and Nong Lynchee
Pang Poon Larb and her very young baby Nong Lynchee were thrown onto the the streets by the short sighted owner of a tourist camp in central Thailand. Once Pang Poon Larb had given birth she was unable to give tourist rides and the owner decided he could not afford to feed them.
The only option left open to their owner was to take them onto the streets until such times as Lynchee could survive on her own long enough to be sold into a further, probably short, life of street walking...
...or to visit a camp he'd heard of in the North where a good wage is paid for the rental of non-working elephants, good fodder and good food is given along with accommodation for the mahout. So it was our camp he approached and we agreed to rent both mother and baby until such times as we can find money to buy.
Lynchee is Thai for lychee - she was unnamed but when she arrived it was lychee season in the hotel's orchard, several names were suggested but this one stuck!
The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation cared for mother and baby from the general fund until they were bought and their upkeep by a donation to English Charity elephant family by Mrs. Geraldine Hamsworth at elephant family's spring Durbar in 2006.
It turns out that their old landlord was doubly short-sighted as, though little Lynchee is a shoe stealing, clothes sucking monster she is yet another star of the camp and if I were minded I could probably charge an admission fee just to meet her.
Pang Poon Larb and Nong Lynchee Update - April 2008
Hmmm.... what can I say about these two? Long suffering mother to an inattentive child, Poon Larb still hasn't lost her nervous looking head bobbing despite two and a half years of care and various different distraction techniques, it has developed into a habit and she seems reluctant to lose it - it is just up to us to keep enough food going through her to provide energy for the head bobbing as well as keeping Lynchee in milk.
The good news is that she has now recovered from whatever abuse she suffered enough to remember her training and be ridden, let off the chain and fully trained - something we couldn't imagine when she first arrived.
Lynchee revels in the title of being accepted as the bosses daughter, she is, of course, the apple of my eye and I am hopelessly biased towards her. I refuse to believe the tales they tell of her being stroppy with other elephants and mahouts.
She is being slowly trained by Lung Lord and his whistling, tickling technique and I point out that though she may not know the tricks of her younger, street savvy rescued cousins she'll know enough to be a domestic elephant and who needs tricks when you've got looks?
Poon Larb and Lynchee are looked after by Lung Lord and another young Surin mahout, also named Lord.
Lynchee Links
Lynchee and Pumpui play rugby with a tyre
...but fun isn't fun without Lynchee
Foundation Baby Elephants Bathing
Not easy photographing new rescue Manau
