Elephant of the week 17 September 2019: Thong Suk (Jungle Boy)
Thong Suk’s name translates to ‘Golden Happiness’ and is affectionately known by many as Jungle Boy.
He arrived at Elephant Nature Park in May 2003. His mother, Mae Boon Ma was a trekking elephant but thankfully her owners allowed her rest towards the end of her pregnancy. During this rest period she stayed at one of our ethical tourism projects, Elephant Haven and Jungle Boy was born there in November 2001.
Following his birth Jungle Boy and his mother stayed with us for 4 months but after this time, the owner wanted to take Mae Boon Ma back to work.
Sadly, they both left our project and his mother returned to work giving rides to tourists while Jungle Boy would follow.
Thankfully, when Jungle Boy was 1 ½ years old we were able to rescue him and his mother was allowed to stay with him at Elephant Nature Park to continue nursing him for one year. After this time Mae Boon Ma was taken back to work by her owner.
Now a teenager, Jungle Boy shares a large chain free enclosure with a younger bull Chang Yim. Our hope is to be able to release him into a large protected forested space in the future. He is the father of both Dok Mai and Yindee.
