Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

We visited Phuket Elephant Sanctuary today. The sanctuary provides a new home for sick, old, and abused elephants who have suffered in the logging and tourism industries. Here, they can live in their natural habitat for the rest of their lives.

About Phuket Elephant Sanctuary:

'Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is a joint partnership between Mr. Motri Todtane, a former owner of an elephant camp in Phuket, and a globally renowned elephant rescuer and conservationist, Lek Chailert, the founder of Save Elephant Foundation. Following the success of Mrs. Lek Chailert's highly acclaimed Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first of its kind in Phuket and strives to achieve the highest standard in animal welfare: rescue, retirement, and rehabilitation of elephants [...].' (www.phuketelephantsanctuary.org).

Each elephant has its own sponsor who is with the elephant all day. The sponsor is always where the elephant is. They follow the elephant everywhere because the elephants are not confined and can move freely. We wondered why an elephant needs such a sponsor. Since the elephants have all grown up in captivity, they are used to having a human as a reference person. Moreover, the guide explained to us that many elephants do not even know what their trunk is for, how to use it, how to eat, how to bathe, and how life functions in their natural habitat. Most of the elephants are so traumatized that they are solitary animals, which is completely atypical for elephants. It is shocking to see how cruel humans can be. A female elephant was supposed to mate with a male elephant. During the mating, the female was attacked by the male and was completely traumatized. The humans could no longer do anything with her. To make the female elephant submissive, her eyes were mutilated. The owners hoped to regain control over the animal, but this was also in vain. Some of the elephants have such terrible life stories. It was so beautiful to see how loving and dedicated the sponsors care for these beautiful animals. It is not uncommon for the sponsors to bathe in the water holes themselves to show the elephants how it is done. In their natural habitat, elephants wash each other by spraying water on themselves. Due to the fact that many elephants in the sanctuary are solitary animals, the sponsor takes on this task. Together with the elephant, they go to the bathing place, splash water on it with a bucket, and brush it. We never could have imagined that such majestic animals could be so dependent on human help. An elephant has had such a traumatic experience that it often cries in the evenings when its sponsor goes home. The people who act as sponsors at the facility do not have vacations because they are the only reference person for the respective elephant. One sponsor is assigned to one elephant.

Alongside the many dramatic life stories, there are also funny stories to tell about the elephants. One female elephant loves to eat. She is nicknamed 'Eating Machine'. The veterinarian has often prescribed a diet for her. However, 'Eating Machine' is so clever that she can unlock doors. Therefore, the locked door of the pantry, where the key was stuck for a long time, was no obstacle. The key is no longer in the door now, but when 'Eating Machine' is hungry, she is hungry. This leads to her simply stomping over to the neighbor's property and helping herself to the trees there. Since the sanctuary had to pay a lot of money for these excursions in the past, the diet is no longer pursued - in the wild, she would eat as much as she wants anyway. By the way: An elephant eats up to 400 kg of food per day.

The facility is as big as 17 football fields and can accommodate 25 elephants. Currently, it is home to 13 elephants. In total, 20 elephants have already been rescued since 2016, but seven of them have died from old age or diseases from their previous lives. The deceased animals find their final resting place on the premises and are buried with a Buddhist ritual.

The facility mainly houses female elephants, which is why the male elephants are nicknamed 'Lucky Boy'. This is because male elephants are usually harder to buy freely. This is due to their higher value as working animals and the value of their ivory, which can only be removed after the death of the animal.

Today, we were able to get an insight into the elephants' lives for a whole day. At the beginning, we were shown a video presentation about the history and situation of Asian elephants. Afterwards, we fed the elephants breakfast. They were given watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin, and bananas. We were already very close to the elephants at that point. We were both amazed at how warm the air is when the elephants exhale. Then, together with our guide and the group, we explored the large sanctuary. We were even allowed to touch an elephant. We were able to observe the elephants eating and bathing. In addition, we were told the individual stories of the elephants we saw.

After a 1 1/2-hour lunch break, we were the only ones left because we had booked the whole day. At the beginning of Part Two of the program, we watched another video presentation. This time, it was about the behavior and communication patterns of elephants. We were particularly amazed at how well elephants can hear. Afterwards, we prepared rice balls for the elephants. We mixed (cooked) rice, cooked pumpkin, and bananas in a huge bowl with our hands and shaped them into balls - we called them 'balls,' but they were actually about the size of two fists. Then we went into the jungle and picked bamboo leaves. We were allowed to feed all these delicacies to the elephants. Our highlight was feeding the blind female elephant, as we gave her the rice balls directly into her trunk. Being so close to this animal was an indescribably wonderful feeling. We were never afraid or unsure at any time. We knew exactly how to behave because our guide explained it to us, of course.

In Thailand, there are many organizations that claim to advocate for elephants, but they rarely promote and consider the natural behavior of the animals. For example, it is not natural behavior for elephants to bathe in water holes with tourists. It was important to us to support an organization that keeps the animals in a species-appropriate manner and has high ethical standards.

Experiences like this make our world journey so unique and special!