Lek in Thai means little and it truly describes the lady I met today. However it only describes her physical size. It does not describe the size of her determination nor the extent of her courage. It certainly does not describe the size of the object of her passion. Lek has devoted her life to the Thai elephant.
Think of the difference. In Africa, the elephant is admired on safari from afar, like the wild and majestic animal it truly is. In Thailand it is ridden by tourists and asked to perform tricks. It is a working animal that goes through rigorous and frankly cruel training. It is believed that to tame it one must break its spirit.
What a shame that is, because this animal has amazing spirit. It is capable of intense compassion, solidarity and kindness. It operates in a very structured matriarchal society and has fantastic faculties of adaptability. It is smart and believe it or not it is extremely graceful. When it moves it looks like every thing is in slow motion and time stops.
I have learnt that each new baby elephant not only has its own mother that takes care of it, it also gets adopted by an auntie that participates and helps with raising it. They cluster in families and take care of each other. They get emotional and excited over babies. They flirt with each other and follow the object of their affection even when he or she does not care. They have likes and dislikes as I learnt when I fed my elephant for the day. The trunk is capable of lifting a tree but also an overripe banana without crushing it.
They have sensitivities that we cannot even fathom. In the conservation centre, there arrived an elephant that was blind from years of neglect and abuse. A very hurt and defensive animal. Immediately, one of the other female elephants approached her and has never left her side since. She is her guide and her reassurance. I saw it with my own eyes, as soon as they drift a little bit apart they call for each other and run to meet again.
In short they are an animal that deserves respect and kindness. Instead, they are overworked, asked to perform against nature and although legally are allowed to retire at the age of sixty they rarely do so and are worked till they drop. At the conservation centre Lek has provided sanctuary to an elephant that is 70 years old. He is very tall and elegant looking but he had to beg for money in front of temples in chains. There is an elephant that is so overworked that her back is broken. There is one that has a foot blown off from stepping on a mine. And there is little Hope. A young elephant full of character and spirit that has known nothing but kindness and whom Lek is raising to show to her people not only that an elephant can be trained without torture but also that money can be made from tourists without degrading this force of nature.
My day there involved work. We were picked off in Chang Mai and driven to the market. There we had to shop for the daily ration of 30 elephants. Imagine. Fruit and vegetables to fill two trucks – which we loaded. An elephant eats about 150-250kgs per day. These animals that are in the sanctuary are effectively in captivity and have to be fed. We did that. Even the toothless one that had to have the fruit stuffed in her face. A watermelon is the equivalent of one grape for an elephant. Imagine having to do this twice a day! Backbreaking. That is why the centre is full of volunteers. They come to help and spend time with the animals. No one leaves untouched from the experience. My moment of grace came when we went to the river to bathe them. It was magical. There we were, in a sea of elephants trying to scrub these mountains of leathery flesh. It was glorious! Joyful and we were all grateful to be there. We learnt a lot today.
For me the greatest lesson was the scale of what a single individual can achieve through determination and conviction. It is an expensive and at times even dangerous pursuit. None of the animals that now happily live in the centre were gifts. They all had to be purchased from their owners, even the old, cripple and useless ones. An elephant does not come cheap. Each commands a hefty price not unlike the price of a house. Lek raises the funds both to buy them and to feed them. She also tries to run a clinic whereby she educates people on how to take care of their elephants and keeps a record of all the elephants she hears of. There even was a time when she was fearful of her life as some felt their livelihood threatened by the way she chose to operate. She is very brave and I admired her immensely. I just asked her what made her do it and she just looked at me in her cowboy hat and big camera with which she was probably taking her millionth elephant picture, “I love them”.
