Elephants play at the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand’s Mae Tang Valley. Western junior Sally Sandack was inspired to create the Associated Student club, Friends of Asian Elephants, after spending two weeks volunteering at the park during summer 2007. photo courtesy of Sally Sandack

For two weeks in summer 2007, Sandack worked as a student volunteer through International Student Volunteers Inc. for the Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary for abused and mistreated Asian elephants in the Mae Taeng Valley, which is about an hour north of Chiang Mai, Thailand.  

Sandack’s job was to observe and record the development of one-year-old Pupia, a male elephant who was transported to the Elephant Nature Park when he was four days old, weak and malnourished.  

After spending time with Pupia and other elephants, Sandack said she became connected with the elephants and was in awe of how the park staff cared for and nurtured ill-treated elephants.

“I had no idea I could be touched so deeply by an animal,” Sandack said.  “There is a sense of [elephant] personality and interaction that can be compared to how humans act.”

Twenty-two people attended the first-ever Friends of Asian Elephants club meeting last Monday.  Sandack started the Associated Student club last fall after she returned to Bellingham from Thailand.  

Sandack created the club to spread awareness of the plight of endangered Asian elephants and support the Elephant Nature Park by raising money and fostering an elephant.  

Club members listened to Sandack’s Elephant Nature Park experiences, current Asian elephant statistics in Thailand and her goals for what the club can do to better the lives of abused elephants.      

In Thailand approximately 500 elephants live in the wild and 2,000 are domesticated.  Domestic elephants are often used for hauling logs or entertaining tourists by performing tricks or going on trek tours where tourists ride on an elephant’s back.

Domesticated elephants are trained by their “mahout,” or trainer, often with negative reinforcement that includes beating, branding, starving and dehydrating the elephant.  This form of punishing an elephant puts it in a state of shock and helplessness, a mahout’s idea of being tame, Sandack said.  

“Tourists don’t really realize what they are supporting when they go on these Thai elephant treks,” Sandack said.  “I encourage travelers to not visit elephant camps that give rides or make their elephants do tricks.”  

Sandack said when she visited cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai, she would often see feeble elephants crammed in the streets while their mahouts offered trek tours and begged for tourist dollars.   

“Elephants [in Thailand] are seen as livestock and have little legal protection,” Sandack said.  “If one dies, it’s not seen as a big deal.”

The Elephant Nature Park, run by the Elephant Nature Foundation, has rescued more than 30 elephants.

Mahouts train elephants with positive reinforcement, which rewards them for good behavior.  Rewards include feeding elephants bananas or giving them a toy to play with.  

The park allows the elephants to eat and roam freely through a grassy valley bordered by a river where elephants can bathe and cool off, Sandack said.

The Elephant Nature Park offers tours to show how it operates and to educate others on the abuse of domesticated elephants in Thailand, Sandack said.    

Western senior Abby Leonard, who taught English in Thailand with International Student Volunteers Inc. when Sandack was volunteering at the park, went on an Elephant Nature Park day tour.  

Leonard said she was able to feed the elephants watermelon halves and bathe with them in the river.

“[Being at the park] felt like a real experience, rather than elephant trekking,” Leonard said.  “After I visited, I had a new respect for the park.”

Sandack’s first objective for the Friends of Asian Elephants is to raise money to foster an elephant in the Elephant Nature Park.

According to the Elephant Nature Park Web site, it costs $62.73 to foster an elephant for one year.  The cost supplies food and park maintenance, and the park sends the sponsor photos and updates of the elephant’s status.

“By fostering an elephant, you know how you’re directly contributing to the welfare of the elephant,” Sandack said.    

The meeting was held at Western’s Chabad Jewish Center, where Sandack’s friends Rabbi Levi Backman, and wife Hadassah Backman reside.

“I heard about Sally’s idea and I said, ‘Let’s do something, let’s get this launched,” Rabbi Levi Backman said.

After the Friends of Asian Elephants club members ate a Thai dinner of Thai pizza, Phad Thai and a coconut sticky rice provided by the Backmans, they decorated aluminum cans that will be placed in local businesses to collect donations.    

Western freshman Ilana Hipshman attended the meeting and said Sandack’s knowledge on the Asian elephants inspired her to help with the Friends of Asian Elephants club.  

“[Fostering an elephant] is a new idea,” Hipshman said.  “This is something that is totally different, and not everyone thinks of elephants everyday.”

The group donated a total of $26 of their own money to support fostering an elephant.  Sandack said she wasn’t expecting anyone to donate on Monday night and was excited members were so enthusiastic to help.

At the next Friends of Asian Elephants meeting, Sandack plans to play a National Geographic documentary “Vanishing Giants,” which explains the abuse domesticated elephants face in Thailand and how they are helped at the Elephant Nature Park.

Sandack said she plans to host events and club meetings more often.

“I’m just really passionate about elephants, and that’s why it’s exciting for me to start the club and educate people,” Sandack said.  “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think [Friends of Asian Elephants] could make a difference.”

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