Possibly 1976
Female
30 years old
Karen Hill Tribe Village
6 July 2006
Jaem Sai
Medo’s life has been marked by both profound suffering and remarkable resilience. She began working at a very young age in illegal logging. While pulling a heavy log, she broke her right ankle, which never healed properly, leaving her unable to continue logging.
She was later forced into a brutal breeding program. When she refused to submit to a bull chained beside her, Medo suffered a dislocated hip during a violent attack. Unable to work, she was then rented to a village headman, where she served as a “village tractor,” pulling logs near a remote Karen hill tribe village. Outside of work, she was kept chained in isolation and lived that way for seven long years. Eventually, Lek heard of her plight, and after a series of lengthy negotiations, was able to arrange her rescue.
Medo arrived at Elephant Nature Park in July 2006 to begin a new chapter. Despite her injuries, she adapted quickly to sanctuary life and bonded with Mae Lanna and Sao Yai during her early years at the park. Today, she is thriving in her forever home — playing in the mud, cooling off in the river, and even lying down and getting up with ease.
Medo is now best friends with Jaem Sai, and together they share a beautiful bond of love and trust, spending their days peacefully side by side. Though her past was filled with pain, Medo is a calm, easy-going elephant with an indomitable spirit. Her gentle nature and joy for life are a testament to her incredible strength, resilience, and the healing power of compassion.
Warunee was born around 1959. Her life followed the tragic path of so many captive elephant before her. She was separated from her mother at a very young age and trained to work in the hauling logs in the forest. Warunee was then moved to the elephant trekking camp providing rides day in, day out with no rest. In June 2015, Warunee was rescued from the elephant trekking camp in Kanchanaburi and came to Elephant Nature Park. She quickly settled into her new life, retired from work and able to socialize with her own kind. Warunee has developed many strong bonds within the Kham La herd and her best friend is Dao Ruang.
Rattana Kham is one of the lucky ones. She was helped by Pra Arjarn Moche, who provided the donation allowing her freedom, and by Warattada “Meow” Pattarodom who organised funds for her shelter so she could be cared for in the sanctuary of Elephant Nature Park for the rest of her life. Located near Elephant Nature Park, her 4.5 KM walk which took 4 hours was a quite a journey to freedom in itself. It was the first time she didn’t have a chain around her neck or ankle. Shortly into the walk, Lek, Meow and the ENP team noticed something very wrong in her gait and movements – walking so so slowly and stopping only after three to five steps. She was also famished and foraging on everything in her path, even foliage elephants don’t normally eat.
Mae Baitoey (แม่ใบเตย) was born around 1976. She spent most of her life working in the trekking industry, catering to tourists who desired to ride her. During her time at the trekking camp in Kanchanburi, the owners also exploited her for forced breeding. In 2011, she gave birth to a baby girl named Kham La. Despite the profound bond between mother and baby, they were forcibly separated, and the owner subjected Kham La to cruel training for performing in an elephant show. Fortunately, we were able to rescue Kham La and reunite her with her mother, Baitoey, bringing them both to Elephant Nature Park for a fresh start.
Chang Yim was born at Elephant Nature Park on July 12, 2009. His name means Smiling Elephant. His mother is Dok Ngern and he has a little sister named Dok Mai. He is the second baby ever to be born and conceived at Elephant Nature Park from resident elephants. Chang Yim has not had his spirit broken and is trained using positive reinforcement target training so that we can perform any medical or husbandry care necessary. Chang Yim is a very lucky bull elephant as he will never have to do any kind of work. We hope that in the future we will be able to release him into a semi-wild forested area where he can reach his full potential.
Hope was born in August 2000. Hope’s mother was a trekking elephant who was forced to stop working due to illness. Hope and his mother were moving to stay in forest near the owner’s home in the hope that the return to her natural environment would aid her recovery. Sadly, this was not the case and she died. Hope was weak and needed special care. His owner could not afford to buy the milk formula needed to sustain him at such a young age. They contacted our founder, Lek, and asked if she would take care of him.