Elephants Never Forget

Elephants used in city street-begging in Thailand is a controversial activity where both the elephants and the mahouts are victims.  Our research into this issue, why it happens and what can be done about it, led us to the hideout camp of some mahouts on the outskirts of Bangkok.   Here we met a group of men and their families who travel to the city with their elephants from small rural villages in Surin province.  They have been earning money with their elephants in the city streets for several years.  After a few visits we gained their trust. Read more…

This is Wox and Nong-Mai, two of the main characters for our feature film Elephants Never Forget.  They’re also what has led us to make the short documentary “Return to the Forest” for the  Elephant Reintroduction Foundation (ERF), a unique non-profit organization in Thailand with the mission to realize the vision of HM Queen Sirikit to reintroduce captive elephants into the wild.  As Zo and I start the editing for Return to the Forest, I’m reminded of how our elephant journey began.  It was two years ago when we began filming in Thailand to explore the complexity and diversity of the human-elephant relationship.  We eventually found ourselves embedded in the controversial world of the street mahouts, which is where we met Wox and his family.  Over months of filming, we followed their activities from the city streets back to their home villages in rural Thailand, documenting this way of life for both elephants and mahouts – the hardships they face, and what their alternatives may be.  In a land where elephants are loved and revered, why does this activity continue to occur?  Here’s a clip from some our early footage with Wox and his elephant.  Elephants Never Forget- A Young Mahout

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Amidst the grunting, sweating and toil of climbing up the mountain trail with backpacks full of cameras and tripods, the TV theme song from “Gilligan’s Island” starts running through my head.  It’s not because we’re anywhere near a boat, or water.  It’s because I’m beginning to feel like we’re on the proverbial “three-hour tour”.  What was supposed to be a short hike up the mountain in pursuit of a great view shot has turned into a major expedition, due to the steepness of the trail, weight of the gear, and the heat.  It could also be because we’re really tired.  We’re nearing the end of our elephant filming days for the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, and for certain the best of the jungle has been left for last. Read more…

Watching Nong-Mai playing in the pond at the forest’s edge in the Sublangka sanctuary, it’s hard to believe that we first met her just over a year ago when she was a street begging elephant on the outskirts of Bangkok.   At that time she was owned by Wox, a young mahout, and his family from a small village in Surin.  She spent her time either street-begging with Wox, or tied up in a rice field in his village.    Flash-forward to the day I learned that she was acquired by the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and brought to the Sublangka sanctuary, to live the life of a free elephant in the forest.  I was so happy to hear this, and I also wondered if I would see her again.   And now here we are, and I’m watching her play with her new best friend Pompam, a 26-year old female who I’m told just loves young elephants.  In fact, Pompam and Nong-Mai are inseparable.   As a seven-year-old,  Nong-Mai is the youngest elephant here at the sanctuary.  Pompam apparently has the habit of assuming the role of surrogate mom with other younger elephants, and when Nong-Mai arrived they instantly bonded.  Read more…

Unfortunately my followup is not good news.  The baby elephant died.  I’ll start with that tragic fact and backtrack.

The day after we visited Pang Maeboonkaow, the early morning sun was shining when the rangers left the camp after breakfast to make their rounds and check up on mama elephant.   We also left camp to head to town to pick up supplies.  While visiting the hospital for a checkup on Zo’s tick bite, we got a call from the field manager telling us that the baby elephant had been born!  Excitement ensued as we quickly gathered our gear to head back to the jungle.  The second phone call a few minutes later was not so joyous. Read more…

With the drier weather in this central part of  Thailand (seems strange to say this while there is still flooding in Bangkok)  the road into the Sublangka sanctuary is much easier to drive on.  We have been able to use a four-wheel drive pickup instead of the tractor-wagon rig that we’ve been bouncing around in the past couple of weeks.  As we pile into the truck, excitement and anticipation continue because on this day, one of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation’s consulting veterinarians is visiting to do two important tasks:  check-up on Pang Wadsana, an elephant who has recently been brought here from Surin province and is soon to be released; and examine Pang Maeboonkaow, an expecting  35 year-old elephant who is due to give birth any day.  Predicting elephant births is not an easy feat.  A combination of veterinarian-science, traditional knowledge of mahouts, and keen observation skills, are all taken into account when trying to determine the date of conception, and then timing forward to the exact auspicious day the baby will be born.   Elephants have an estimated 22 to 24 month gestation period (imagine being pregnant for two years!), and unlike humans where the birthing day can be predicted generally to within a week or so, with elephants there is a much wider time span for estimating.  Furthermore, elephant births, particularly those in captivity are risky for both mother and baby and prone to complications.  When the birth does occur, fortunately for the mother the labour period is short and the baby usually drops out very quickly.  As with any birth, baby elephant births are a miracle. Read more…

Jungle life sure isn’t easy.  Very quickly the lush greenery and languid ambience can turn against you if you’re not careful.  And careful Zo, Ten and I try to be, but we’ve still been victims of knee bashings, thorn scratches, knife cuts and endless bug bites ranging from no see’um forest fleas to gnarly over-sized spiders to nasty blood-sucking ticks, with the ever-present potential for encounters with cobras or pythons.  Yikes!  There’s even been a few visits to the local hospital.  No internet, a weak-if-any cell phone signal, and limited power from a rickety generator has meant that we’ve had to leave our jungle camp periodically and venture back to the nearby hotel where we’re based for battery recharges and footage backups.  Then,  it’s right back to the jungle where there’s always the possibility that we’ll meet up with some elephants roaming about – but that’s why we’re here and those encounters are always welcomed.

While Patricia is very busy with Elephant’s Never Forget, she never turns down an opportunity to further promote elephant conservation. She recently created an awareness video for the Emeralds for Elephants auction; a fundraiser to protect the natural habitat of India’s Asia elephant population. The event took place in Mumbai on October 14, 2011 in sponsor partnership with Gemfields, World Land Trust and Wildlife Trust of India. Read more…

It’s Ashley writing here, and I’ve been working with the Elephant’s Never Forget team for about four months now and thought it was time I finally introduced myself.  I am going to be documenting the creative process as it develops and sharing our experiences/stories as they unfold. After my initial meeting with Patricia and Zo, I knew I wanted to be a part of this project. To ensure that you are kept up to date with what’s going during the production in Thailand, and the goal of creating a Nonprofit, I will be writing about some of the details behind the filming of this story. Read more…

Far from the flooding mayhem of Bangkok, here’s Zo and I with the impressive and skillful team of rangers we are working with from the  Elephant Reintroduction Foundation (ERF).  We’ve just finished our first three days of filming in the jungle with them, tracking the elephants who have been reintroduced into this incredible region of forest wilderness.   Read more…