On The Verge of Collapse - Thong Kham

Thong Kham was tied up on a short and heavy chain, in a broken down shack and loaded down by a heavy, metal bench strapped to her back, when we first met her. She was depressed and clearly worn out. Swaying side to side, she held on to a single blade of grass, as if it gave her some form of comfort.

We were contacte ddirectly by Thong Kham’s owners and they explained that they were too old and too tired to continue on with camp life. After many long years of working in various elephant camps, they wanted to return to their home village and reunite with their family. They explained to us that there were several buyers interested in Thong Kham, as she was a strong, good looking female, of breeding age. Their wish however, was that Thong Kham could retire and live out the rest of her life as a true elephant, at BLES. Due to serious financial struggles, they were eager to move her quickly and leave the camp as soon as possible.

With notorious breeders showing a keen interest, we knew we had to pull out all the stops to save Thong Kham.

With no time to lose, we reached out to Planting Peace (a US based non for profit, who have helped BLES rescue elephants in the past), and together, we immediately launched a fundraiser to save Thong Kham. BLES supporters responded to the call to action with such an incredible sense of emergency - the funds were raised in under 24 hours!

When the day of Thong Kham’s rescue came, The BLES Team was ready! We arrived at the camp early, eager to get our beautiful girl out of those chains and onto our truck - The Green Machine! Thong Kham patiently waited, tied up, but no longer weighed down by that ugly, nasty, bench. She was finally, after more than twenty years, about to be free from ever having to give another ride to tourists again.

Thong Kham was nervous about getting on The Green Machine (our transportation truck) at first. But our mahouts worked together with Thong Kham’s owners to slowly convince her that she could trust in us.

Once on the truck, Thong Kham stood like a statue, wide eyed and curious. It was sad to see her confused and suspicious, but we just had to focus on keeping her safe and calm in that moment. The mahouts swiftly secured the safety frame and Thong Kham’s owners bid a tearful goodbye to her. They sobbed, wiping away tears and they hugged us all, saying thank you to us, over and over again, for helping them and their elephant retire, which had most of The BLES Team in tears too!

Many of the other mahouts from the camp had gathered round to watch Thong Kham’s emotional exit. It was heartening to hear them all talking to each other about how Thong Kham was so lucky to be starting a new life with us at BLES.

As we drove out and away from the camp, we waved goodbye to those left behind. We can only hope that our mantra of leading by example and emanating compassion for all, will start a ripple of change.

Thong Kham was calm and collected throughout the ten hour drive back to BLES. Our mahouts tended to her every need and sat beside her for the entire trip.

When we finally arrived at BLES, Thong Kham seemed a bit overwhelmed. It took her a while to start enjoying her welcome fruit feast and the very first thing she reached for, was not the watermelon or bananas. It was a chunk of banana tree! She held it in her mouth and then dropped it by her feet. Then she slowly started stripping off the outer layers, so that she could get to the juicy centre part. Watching her eat that first piece of banana tree was so special.

Thong Kham is now a totally transformed individual. She oozes confidence and enjoys socialising with Mare Ladee, Dok Lak, Thong Poon and Poon Sab. She runs and plays. She lives by the rhythm of the forest and we make sure she enjoys a never-ending supply of freshly chopped down banana trees!

Thong Kham’s rescue and rebirth is a testament to what we can do when we unite and fight for the elephants of Thailand.

Thank you for playing a pro active part in rewriting the narrative for Thong Kham - thanks to you, there is now one less enslaved elephant in this world.