Elephants Are Big, Reeeaaallll Big

I may have had a mini heart attack. Kristen saw her life flash before her eyes. All while hanging out with a bunch of elephants whom all of the sudden decided to start a fight with each other while we were standing next to them. This is Kristen’s story.
　
We thought it would be a good idea to visit an elephant sanctuary today. We heard stories about it from others, saying it was “life changing”. People told us that they had “left a piece of their heart there”. Awww, elephants are cute and gentle, right? Sure, they can be gentle. But they also weigh 10,000 pounds and have the capability to crush you with one stomp of their gigantic foot. After learning a bit about the elephants, and receiving a two minute “safety lesson”, we got to feed the elephants. There was a small barrier, however, and we were somewhat above the elephants, so although they technically could have pulled us off the feeding dock with their enormous trunks, there appeared to be no real threat.

Yeah, the elephants seemed pretty darn cute. Then, we left the safety of the dock and were lead out to the river. With the elephants. Wild elephants. As we stood there with maybe thirty other people, more and more elephants began entering the river, coming closer and closer to us, and freaking me the fuck out. All I kept thinking was, “What the fuck are we doing out here? Thirty elephants, each weighing ten thousand pounds, and we’re walking next to them. That ain’t right”. I tried to hide my fear as everyone else seemed to be having the time of their lives, splashing and touching the elephants in the river as if they were playful dogs.

The attempt to hide the fear quickly came to a close as we heard one of the elephants loudly trumpet, and our teeny Thai leader yell, “Over here, come over here!”, as she ran away from the group of elephants. Fear in her eyes meant, ohhhhh fuck. As we ran towards our leader, the elephants became more riled up, trumpeting and stomping their feet. My life literally flashed before my eyes. I could see the headlines, “Stupid American tourist gets stomped on in wild elephant habitat…they had it comin’.” This is not a zoo, man, this is a wild fucking sanctuary filled with wild fucking elephants. Who are angry. And we are within five feet of them. We are going to die. What a shitty way to end our trip…..these are the thoughts that were going through my head. I needed a bag to hyperventilate into. Tiffany tried to remain calm and offered to hold my hand. I gratefully squeezed as my heart continued to pound through my chest. Just when we thought the elephants had calmed down, we heard a few of them start to grunt. A deep, incredibly disturbing grunt that could mean nothing but doom. In the distance, we could see another elephant heading toward us. “This is it, we are dead”. Our teeny Thai leader reassured us that the elephants were just moving towards each other, not us. Suuuureee. She told us that they were trumpeting to communicate to one another. Mmmm hmmmm, keep talking, Teeny. We stood together, a short distance from the elephants for what seemed like an eternity, when finally our leader gave us the word that it was safe to walk back to the dock. I didn’t let go of Tiff’s hand as we made the trek past the elephants into safety. We were told that a new elephant had just been introduced to the sanctuary yesterday, and apparently the other elephants weren’t havin’ it. Perrrhhappps it wasn’t the best idea to introduce this new elephant to the others when thirty people were in death crushing distance. Or, more reasonably, perhaps we humans shouldn’t have left the dock at all. I went with number two, and stayed at a safe distance for the rest of the day.

Just when we thought the drama was over, as we were standing peacefully on a viewing platform just above the elephants, we heard sounds of chaos. Branches snapping, pop, pop, popping, like a gunshot, and frantic Thai words being yelled out to the other workers. The elephants below us began to grunt and trumpet, and we suddenly realized that a domesticated elephant, one that had been trained to give “rides” to humans, had escaped from its camp and entered the sanctuary. The elephant, with the seat and harness still attached (luckily without any people in it), came stomping through the fence, breaking it, and anything else in its path.

It quickly crossed the river, and ran into nearby farmland. The elephants of the sanctuary were not pleased with this intruder, and made it clear that it would not be welcome in their home. Can you IMAGINE if that would have happened while we were “playing” in the river with them? Ohhhhhhhh, hell no. It was yet another reminder to me that humans and the largest walking animal on Earth do not need to “play” together. We were later told that in the 15 years that the sanctuary has been around, nothing like this has ever happened before. Oh, what a great day to be here, right?

Drama aside, the sanctuary was actually a wonderful experience. (Honestly). Lek, the founder, began the sanctuary in 1995, with only two rescued elephants. There are currently thirty-six elephants that happily reside in the sanctuary. Lek purchases them from their owners, who have abused and mistreated the animals for years. Some are totally blind, some have broken legs and broken backs, and many remain mentally and emotionally traumatized. Lek is giving them a second chance at life in this sanctuary, with no fences or barriers. The elephants are free to roam, but they stick around for the daily feedings. The camp costs $250,000 a year to run, and is funded completely by eco-tourism. So while I still felt more comfortable watching the elephants at a distance, I was content in knowing that I had contributed to sustaining their freedom.