Skin and Bones - Grandma Metta

Grandma Metta is in her sixties. When we were first contacted about her, we were told she was in a seriously bad way, but nothing could have prepared us for what we found when followed up on that call.

Grandma Metta stood in a concrete stable, chained to the spot. The stable was dark and on an incline, meaning that when the elephants tied up in front of her urinated or defecated, it rolled down the slope, to where she was tied - on a chain so short, she couldn’t even lift her foot off the ground.

Wounds and badly infected pressure sores covered her boney body. Her skin was dry, cracked and dark - a sign of malnutrition and dehydration. Her eyes were streaming, probably due to unsanitary living conditions and she was severely depressed.

Watching this beautiful girl sway from side to side and seeing the sadness in her eyes, reduced many members of The BLES Team to tears. We cleaned and treated her wounds and fed her baskets of melons and highly nutritious pellet food. She was starving and we knew we couldn’t leave her there to waste away.

BLES partnered together with Planting Peace - a US based non for profit, to quickly raise the funds necessary to save Grandma Metta.

There were a lot of twists and turns going on behind the scenes of this rescue and BLES Founder Katherine Connor and her partner, Kru Sing, found themselves having to navigate negotiations and fight harder than ever before to secure Grandma Metta’s retirement to BLES.

When the day came to release Grandma Metta from her miserable existence, The BLES Team was elated and filled with excitement - for more reasons than one.

On our previous trip to assess Grandma Metta’s situation, we couldn’t help but notice the poor living conditions of the mahouts and their families who lived at the camp. The young children had no clothes or shoes and not a single toy. There were no blankets, no bedding and it was clear to see that everyone was struggling to survive here - human and elephant.

BLES believes in unconditional kindness. We strive to help others whenever possible and know in our hearts that it is always possible.

In the days leading up to Grandma Metta’s rescue, every member of The BLES Team brought in bags of clothes and toys to donate to the mahouts at the camp. There were so many bags, that we struggled to fit everything in to our car! On our way to the camp to collect Grandma Metta, we stopped at a supermarket and purchased large quantities of instant noodles, snacks, donuts, milk, drinking water, energy drinks and more toys for the children!

The mahouts at the camp were so excited to receive the items. A few of them shed tears and thanked us with hugs and enthusiastic handshakes and despite the barrier in language, we knew we had made friends for life with the families there.

It was pouring with rain and flood warnings were all over the news. We were eager to get on the road as soon as possible and avoid the floods. We wrapped Grandma Metta up in a specially made raincoat, to protect her from the harsh weather conditions and keep her warm throughout the journey and then loaded her on to the truck. She was nervous at first, but after some gentle persuasion and encouragement, Grandma Metta was safely in the truck and we were off!

The drive took a total of five hours and it rained the whole day. Our dedicated mahouts put on their raincoats, braved the storm and stayed beside Grandma Metta throughout the drive to help keep her calm. We made sure to make regular stops to buy cups of hot chocolate for our guys and ripe bananas for our precious cargo.

As soon as we arrived at BLES, Grandma Metta walked in to The Quarantine Area, to her welcome fruit feast. We put her in a dry coat and then watched her, with big smiles on our faces, as she slowly started to devour her fruit feast.

Grandma Metta arrive at BLES on the 23rd July 2025 and she is now thriving. She has gained weight, her wounds are healing and she has won the hearts of every single member of The BLES Family! Her eyes now shine and she marches around the sanctuary with purpose and passion. She has made friends with some of our other recent rescues and is unrecognizable now!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for believing in the BLES mission and for making Grandma Metta’s rescue and rebirth happen. We couldn’t have saved her, without you.