June in the air

Wow, so many things have happened in the past few days since my last update that I hardly know where to start.

 

I promised I would tell you about my massage and elephant safari. The massage was at a lovely place called Petchvarin Resort (www.petchvarinresort.com). I was picked up for free at the centre, taken to the resort where I had absolutely the best massage I ever had in my life. Plus I had the whole resort to myself as it is very quiet there on weekdays. So I lounged by the pool, had a light lunch, lounged some more, had a swim, and then was driven back to the centre where I got myself prepared to go on our elephant safari.

 

The safari is perhaps not the right term for what was in truth just spending a couple of hours going up and down the same road in the hope of seeing some wild elephants. We did see a couple and I have to admit that it was a rather impressive sight. This is a very large piece of land and forest where the elephants are protected and free to roam. There are between 100 and 200 individuals there. A couple of them crossed our path and actually started running after our car, a little scary as they run very fast which is something one wouldn't expect from such a large animal. So..an interesting moment there...And we also saw a large group of stumptail macaques with funny red faces....there were babies there too, all white and very small.

 I also had the good fortune to work with the bears this week. I've done it before and it is not a job I relish because it is mostly maintenance, i.e. cleaning and sweeping their enclosures. But they are beautiful animals and it is very exiting to be so close to them so I wanted to share a few photos with you all.

 June again basking in the sun.

 

I did have my sad moment this week. I hadn't yet seen our resident tiger, Miauw, so having a little time off between two jobs and as it was his feeding hour, I scampered over to Miauw's enclosure. And what a shock I had! This very beautiful animal reduced to the state of pussycat. Rumour has it that when Miauw was castrated, it was done so badly that the spinal cord was tampered with and he basically lost the use of his legs. Added to that an infection and Miauw was pretty much an invalid. Seven years have gone by now and with proper medication, food and physiotherapy, Miauw can now get along on his own with difficulty but he can walk. It is a very sad sight to see and I was almost in tears but I was reminded that there was a time when he couldn't walk at all so now he has a very cool life. He also happens to have the largest single enclosure of all the tigers in Thailand, so all in all, a lucky tiger indeed.

 

There are many such animals here at WFFT (such as a blind gibbon or two, a one armed macaque, a macaque with only one front arm and no legs)  and while it is sad to see most of these animals who will never live in the wild again, it is also encouraging and hopeful that there are centres such as these with 'crazy' entrepreneurs such as Edwin, who founded and runs WFFT, where these animals can have a safe haven. And these animals are incredibly resilient and adaptable. And have lost nothing of their cheekiness!

This morning we had a very intense moment at the centre. Sometime during the night, June, our old lady elephant previously mentioned, probably wanting to get some load off her feet, 'collapsed' onto her side. She's done that a few times before. The only problem is that she doesn't have the strength to get herself back up. I leave you to imagine the weight of a full grown elephant.....manpower alone is not sufficient to get her up. So the crane had to be brought in. Unfortunately I was not there to witness it, but apparently it was all very dramatic because they didn't harness her properly so she was up in the air, all askew as it were, and twirling around. Of course, she was very scared and screaming and the volunteers were crying, they were so upset. Maybe it's a good thing after all that I missed it....Well, they eventually got her back on her feet and now she is being pampered all day by all the volunteers so all's well that ends well.

Life at the centre is going on as usual. I am perfectly comfortable here now and am enjoying the experience fully. It is sort of like time out of time. We are pretty much cut off from everything and our entire days revolve around the animals and their schedules. For example, today I am leading the team 'Primates 1' which is a group of about 60 primates. There are four of us on the team. It involves getting up at 6:30 AM, spending about 1 hour cutting loads of fruit and spreading it in a very specific way over all the bowls, distributing the food at 7:30, getting back, washing the bowls and setting up for the afternoon feed. Then we have a special project at 9:00. This morning it involved cleaning the leopard cat pools. Then we have a bowl pickup and wash, a water bucket refill. Then lunch. Short rest time until 1:30 PM. And then the same thing all over again at very specific times once again.  My day finishes with closing up the feeding house making sure everything is in place for the next morning, waste management (fancy name for emptying the garbage) and locking up the gate after Sam, our horse, has been brought in. After the day's hard work, we usually go to the internet cafe or have an activity such as this evening, swimming in the lake. Tough life ….;-)

Cheers