by Christina Lim
The Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai was an experience like no other. The tranquil atmosphere of the surrounding fields and the herds of elephants and water buffalo casually strolling by was something I thought I would only experience through a screen. My first day at Elephant Nature Park was spent going through the orientation and meeting the amazing staff who dedicated their lives to caring for the animals at elephant nature park. Contrary to its name, Elephant Nature Park is home to much more than just elephants. There is a section of the park called cat kingdom where hundreds of cats roam in a large, enclosed area and are fed and washed on a set schedule. The park also houses pigs, horses, goats, buffalo, dogs, rabbits, and, of course, elephants.
We started our second day at ENP with our vet rounds. We were allowed to shadow the elephant vets as they tended to each elephant at the park. They would ride around on a motorbike with a cart carrying sticky rice and medications/supplements to feed to the elephants. We would walk around the entire park and hid the medications in the sticky rice for the elephants to eat. Some elephants took the sticky rice easily, but some would throw the rice onto the ground and eat around the medication. Some extremely friendly elephants would come right up to us knowing we had food, and some would be wary of strangers, so we were always on our toes. There was a baby elephant who hated taking her medication so we would have to lure her with the promise of bananas to get her to take her medication. There were some special needs elephants that needed daily medical attention. There was an elephant who had stepped on a land mine at a young age whose foot we had to bandage every day. In the morning she would be led to a fenced enclosure where we would unbandage her foot and clean it with disinfectant before rewrapping it for the rest of the day. Another elephant had skin problems and required a medicated bath every day. We used brushes attached to long sticks to scrub the top of the elephant’s back and face.
The third day was spent at the dog rescue section of the park. There are 5-6 dogs in each kennel separated by size and temperament. We helped the volunteers wash the dogs that needed medicated baths and preformed physical exams on the smaller dogs. I fell in love with a small brown and white chihuahua that looked like a frog who, unfortunately. I was not allowed to take home. We then headed to a covered area that housed the paraplegic dogs. There were three different sections that held 15-20 dogs. Some dogs had diapers while others were kept in cribs. All the dogs there were unable to use their hind legs or had some sort of neurologic problems. I was truly touched by the determination and dedication of the caretakers who so carefully took care of these dogs. They would clean the floors every 30 minutes or so to keep the dogs from running in their own feces and were bathed on a strict schedule. Each dog had their own doggy wheelchair that allowed them to walk around the park on a regular basis.
The cat kingdom was also a shelter that doubled as a café. People from all over Thailand came to visit these cats to hopefully take home a friend. I have truly never seen so many cats in one place. There long and short hair cats of varying sizes and colors running up trees, sneaking across the fields, and tussling in the bushes. If you were to sit down at any point you would be surrounded by an army of cats vying for your attention.
A little farther from the main park there is a large rabbit enclosure where you must watch your step because of the numerous burrows in the ground. Elephant Nature Park was the very definition of an animal sanctuary – a place where animals were truly everyone’s number on priority. There is still a large portion of the park that I have yet to explore and am extremely excited to return one day. Until then, here’s a few more photos from my trip!
