Grant Hayter-Menzies is an author of several books and is about to write one about Elephant Nature Park and Lek, the founder of the park. I’m rapt about this because both the Park and Lek are well worth reading about! Here is a piece he wrote about a childhood experience that haunts him to this day. Be warned – you will probably cry. I did.
Little humans with buckets swarming at the Drive In Ele Wash. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, North Thailand.
I read this heart-rending post on the blog of a young New Zealand woman. Please read it and other posts on there, and share it around. It’s my wish that every tourist in the world refuses to attend elephant shows and riding parks and makes much more informed and ethical choices in the future. People like this young lady are making it happen.
Thank you.
One giant step for pachyderm, half a dozen steps for mankind.
C’mon now, is this not a thing of beauty?
If you want to know more about the critters above and more with a bit of humour thrown in, these videos by The Bug Chicks. I especially like the dragonfly one.
Bugs are cool! Yep, even slugs. Nature’s insect designs are mind-bogglingly clever. And even though I don’t particularly want them around my home, I admit to having a particular respect for the design of cockroaches. Nature’s tanks!
I am, however, quite grateful that bugs aren’t an awful lot bigger than they are. Can you imagine having to run and hide from the 10 foot-long fly coming towards you? Or having to carry a baseball bat to swat mosquitos off at a barbeque?
Have a wander around their site while you’re there. There’s all sorts of interesting stuff on it. Enjoy!!
Nature’s tanks. Respect!!
This is very cool. Some Nobel Prize-Winning scientists were given paper and crayons and asked to draw their discoveries. Then they did a photo shoot.
Not a scientist.
Otis finally left us at the age of 16. Apparently in her last two weeks she would go and visit some people around the corner who had two huge dogs and several cats. They told us that she would walk up to the animals’ bowls and help herself to their food, then lie down in the garden, and their dogs and cats would all lie down around her. On the last day they found her in her final sleep, in the same situation.
In some of the later photos here, her physical deterioration is evident, but she was still really big on the inside… Continue reading
‘You are feeling coooold. You need a warm furrrrry thiiiiing in your bedddd….’
Otis, I notice
Likes sleeping on beds
And sometimes enjoys
Curling up by my head
She’ll come in the dark hours
And prod me to show
It’s time to move over
And share my pillow
She’ll tap me quite gently
With padded wee paws
But if I don’t wake up
She’ll put out her claws Continue reading
Slowly, positive changes are happening, thanks to Lek, the wonderful founder of Elephant Nature Park.
Save Elephant Foundation’s Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, along with a group of volunteers, recently freed five elephants from Sai Yok elephant camp. Their new home is at Erawan Paradise, located in Kanchanaburi, in midwestern Thailand.
Located approximately 50 kilometers from Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the Erawan Elephant Retirement Park is the newest project sponsored by the Save Elephant Foundation. The first five elephants to call the park home arrived in early July, 2013. All the resident elephants are former tourism elephants, rescued from trekking camps, street-begging or performance shows.
Spread over 50 acres, the facility operates similarly to Elephant Nature Park and volunteers will help maintain the retirement property, as well as assist the mahouts with the elephants.
Watch the movie via the link below – it’s fantastic to see this stuff happening.
Sometimes when she’s washing she’ll leave her wee tongue peeping out of her mouth, which really looks dumb!
Otis, I notice
Likes to be clean
But you’ll never see her
In a washing machine
She uses her tongue
To comb out her fur
It’s got brushy bits on
For getting out burrs
Sometimes when she’s washing
She’ll leave her wee tongue
Peeping out of her mouth
Which really looks dumb! Continue reading
The axis of evil…
Otis, I notice
Likes a good laugh
And acts like a kitten
When I’m in the bath
She crouches in secret
Awaiting her prey
And takes swipes at me
When I’m turned away Continue reading
I really want to touch you but you’re icky and sticky…
Otis, I notice
Is quite into bugs
She’ll chase after wetas
And follow the slugs
She’ll poke at their feelers
With tentative paws
And sniff at the slime trails
Crossing the floors
The wetas will poke back
With big spiny legs
And cling to her fur
Like ugly clothes pegs Continue reading
raveburbleblog 