Sponsor Sai Thong

Sponsor Sai Thong from Care for Elephants for 6 months. By sponsoring this beautiful elderly elephant you are helping to purchase elephant food for her, during the Covid-19 crisis.

Sai Thong was born in 1967, according to documents, but looking at her physical condition it is likely she is older. Sai Thong was bought and sold several times before being rescued and coming to live at Care for Elephants, as far as we can trace her history.

She used to work as a logging elephant in Tak Province. Her body is a map of scars caused by injuries from dragging heavy logs on chains. She has old wounds on her head from being beaten with a hook and  old wounds on both her sides – pressure sores caused by rubbing against a knot or chain joint. The skin under her neck has been stretched and sags as a result of the terrific force of dragging logs.

When the Thai government banned logging, Sai Thong was brought to work in the tourism industry. She worked at a trekking camp serving tourists in Pattaya for many years. Sai Thong had a saddle strapped to her back all day and would walk the same in monotonous loop with two people atop her back and a mahout sitting on her neck, coercing her with strikes of a bullhook so that she would not deviate from the path. There were no breaks for Sai Thong during the day – one set of customers was immediately replaced by another until day’s end. Sai Thong’s only chance to feed during this time was to eat a few plants growing by the side of the path. She could stop for a drink at a small pond beside the walkway and then had to continue walking. When her mahout would stop to eat lunch, another mahout took his place. In the evening after work, Sai Thong would be chained up in the open area and be able to eat grass before sleeping. After working in elephant trekking for decades Sai Thong developed back and skin problems from the weight of her load and the constant rubbing of ropes that held the saddle.