Ploy & Pwong Thong

The rescue Ploy and Pwong Thong was possibly the most epic and ambitious mission The BLES Team has ever embarked on!

These two sweet girls, were living in such tragic conditions. They spent their long, hot days, tied by both front feet, in a cramped and shabby, roadside stable. Their job was to entertain tourists. They were forced to pose for photos and to carry tourists around on their backs. They would also have to beg for food - small baskets of fruit that tourists could buy and feed to the elephants. Meaning, that if nobody stopped by and purchased a basket, the elephants would have to go without and left in a constant state of starvation.

Ploy is thought to be in her sixties and Pwong Thong, in her forties. When the BLES team first discovered Ploy, we were at a loss for words. Ploy was one of the most emaciated elephants we had ever come across.

The BLES Team was on a follow up call for another elephant - Pwong Thong, who worked at the same camp as Ploy on the island of Koh Chang. Pwong Thong was going to be sold to another camp and we were there to try and negotiate with her owners, to retire Pwong Thong to BLES instead.
It was while we were talking to the owner, that BLES Founder, Katherine Connor, noticed Ploy. Tied up by both front feet, swaying side to side from stress, gaunt, clearly undernourished and suffering from a bad eye infection.

The owner went on to explain that Pwong Thong and Ploy were good friends and that originally, they had wanted to sell them both and keep them together. However, due to Ploy’s obvious and extreme health issues, nobody wanted her.

Pwong Thong, on the other hand, was in high demand. Despite being slightly underweight and showing signs of stiffness in her back legs, she was considered strong enough to continue working in the tourism industry.

What the owner shared next, broke us. She told The BLES Team that she was worried how Ploy would survive without her best friend. The owner feared that Ploy would die from a broken heart, if Pwong Thong was sold and they were separated.

Immediately, Katherine told the owner that BLES would take them both. Overcome with gratitude, the owner agreed to lower the price for Pwong Thong and agreed to not work either of the girls from that day on.

Katherine and her team started their journey back to BLES and together with US non profit - Planting Peace, a fundraising campaign was launched.

The funds for Pwong Thong and Ploy flooded in and four days later we were back on the road, making our way to Koh Chang.

The journey from BLES, to the camp, took a total of 18 hours. We drove through the night, undeterred by the threat of immanent war between Thailand and Cambodia, as well as flood warnings and fears of a torrential storm. We had been told that ferries leaving the mainland had been cancelled and were advised not to travel under any circumstances.

We urgently needed to get to Ploy - her health was declining drastically by the day and we were concerned that if we delayed relocating her, that she would be too weak for the journey and would collapse in transit.

We arrived to the camp a day early and were pleased to see that the owner had kept her word and had not worked Ploy or Pwong Thong. We administered vitamin booster shots to both of them and fed them up with nutritious food.

Loading Ploy and Pwong Thong on to the truck was fairly easy and in no time at all, we were leaving the camp behind us and heading towards the pier.

The truck with our precious cargo was carefully loaded on to the ferry and 30 minutes later, we were on mainland Thailand!!

It was unbelievable how Ploy and Pwong Thong took everything in their stride. They were amazingly calm and remained perfectly still throughout the ferry ride. It had been almost twenty years since they had last been transported anywhere and so we had no idea how they would react to being in the truck and on the ferry.

We drove steadily and made frequent stops to hose the girls down and keep them hydrated. Ploy ate well during the drive, but Pwong Thong was reluctant to eat.
As the day turned to night and the temperature dropped, we wrapped both Ploy and Pwong Thong up in our specially made elephant coats to protect them from the wind and rain.

And at 4am, utterly exhausted, we finally arrived, safe and sound, at BLES.

Understanbily, they were eager to get off the truck! Pwong Thong marched into the Quarantine Area and started tugging at the enrichment that was waiting for them. Ploy, on the other hand, was visibly worn out and was struggling to walk. Once she had made it into the Quarantine Area, Ploy stood for a long time, looking at all the fruit laid out for her. When she finally felt able to, she reached up and pulled down a banana tree and started to tear off the leaves and eat.

Ploy has blown us all away by how quickly she has turned herself around. She is slowly gaining weight and is now strong enough to join our other rescued elephants on our daily walks through the forest.

She is a quiet, but brave girl and we are so thrilled to see her thrive.

Thank you, a thousand times over, to everyone who stood by BLES throughout this rescue mission and proved to Ploy that she was wanted and is very much loved.