No elephant should be kept in captivity and made to work. Elephants are herd animals who shouldn’t be separated from each other, let alone live a life of cruel abuse.
Sadly there are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 elephants kept in captivity, many suffer abuse and are kept in horrific conditions.
One such elephant is Sook Jai who at 73 years old had spent most of her life in captivity in Thailand being passed from owner to owner and forced to work.
She was covered in injuries from bull hooks inflicted on her for not doing whatever undignified task her cruel owners expected of her.
She did everything from street begging to tourist trekking and at 73 years old was blind and practically deaf.
“She was in very poor condition with a lot of wounds on her head and her body as each time she was treated with violence,” according to Elephant Nature Park.
Thankfully her plight came to the attention of the nature park and rescuers were able to take her from a location near the Kanchanaburi province, in west Thailand.
Sook Jai was loaded onto the back of a truck and transported to Elephant Nature Park. The journey took 20 hours during which she was treated for the many horrific wounds she had on her body.
Her rescuers said she seemed hungry but was too scared to eat, possibly as a result of being punished for eating during her cruel life in captivity.
They stopped to put more covers over her as temperatures dropped and said she started to cry.
“It is so incredible to see elephant is crying!!” the Elephant Nature Park wrote.
Watching her take her first steps off the truck and realizing she is finally safe from a life of abuse is so wonderful to see.
Her rescuers said it was easy to get her off the truck and it wasn’t long before she found a new friend fellow elephant Di Phor, who suffered an injured leg.
She also follows two rescued baby elephants wherever they go.
More than 800,000 people have watched the rescue of this long-suffering elephant. See for yourself in the clip below, it’s a truly heart-warning sight.
I’m so glad Sook Jai has the chance to live out her final years in peace and tranquility surrounded by other elephants.
No elephant should be treated this way and there has to be laws put in place to protect our endangered animals. Please share if you agree.
