FAE Update March 13, 2010
FAE/Friends of the Asian Elephant
The World's FIRST Elephant Hospital
Soraida Salwala, Founder
New Website
FAE Mobile Vet
FAE Update 1/22/2010
Dr. Kay treated 21 elephants in 8 camps
Boonthong, baby & Mohay
Dr.Kay has just left for mobile in Chiangmai/a new mother elephant shivers, fear she lacks calcium from nursing 7 days old baby.
Dr. Kay did visit both places today, mother and the baby at one camp and Mohay at another.
Boonthong, the mother elephant shivers in the morning and evening, it is from the cold river where she is chained nearby.
We have instructed them to light bonfires to keep Boonthong and her baby warm, and shield them from cold breeze.
Mohay's wound is better than the last time we visted her, somehow I'm worried, if they do not have clean floor, I'd rather have her with us.
Soraida
FAE Mobile Vet 2008
FAE Friends of the Asian Elephant/FAE's Elephant Hospital
FRIENDS OF THE ASIAN ELEPHANT
The World's First Elephant Hospital
Thailand
(The World's First)
is NOT part of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center/TECC
"The Mobile Vet Project started before we built FAE's Elephant Hospital.
Traveling to remote areas, paddy fields, villages far in the forests, crossing the river at night to reach to sick elephants are not easy tasks for FAE.
We need good vehicles, the two we are using are already over ten years old and we need new ones but have not been fortunate with that blessing yet.
Talking to the villagers and trying to change their way of living by illegal logging is not at all easy as one might think,
but we have not stopped.
Even though many of the loggers have stopped and sold away their elephants,
these poor elephants turn up in tourist camps or forced to go on the streets, hit by cars or trucks,
eat garbage to fill their hungry stomachs.
Friends of the Asian Elephant and our friends are trying to stop all these abuse but we need government's action.
FAE is just a small organization and cannot do everything but somehow glad to know that there are more voices echoing what we have been saying.
Soraida Salwala
MOHAY
Mohay is an old patient of ours and we recently went to visit her and her friends in the village of Tak Province on our Mobile Vet Project. We go out to visit former patients to check how they are.
I think you may recall Mohay who lost her one month old baby after her arrival here.
It is very sad indeed. After such a long journey on a truck and the baby was under stress because her mother was seriously injured by landmines.
The baby died the morning after their arrival.
Soraida
~
FAE's Mobile Vet to visit the former patients: Landmine Victims
FAE team started the long journey at 7.30 a.m. on the 17th September, 2008 and arrived Tak province at 4.35 p.m. We rested at the owner of Motoo and Mojay's house. The next day at 9.45 a.m. we had to go to the small pier to cross Meo River to Mynmar to visit our patients.
Twenty of the elephants in the village had gone out to work, 20 k.m. deep into the forest so we could not follow but we met Motoo, the younger sister of Mojay, who is too young to work and was then left behind. She has grown up a lot, standing on her four legs at 5.5 feet. Her left foot was smaller than the other side from the landmine that injured her and her elder sister two years ago.
Motoo and Dr. Preecha
At 11.20 a.m. we left that village to go to another to visit MOHAY who was injured by landmines too. If you recall, her baby died the day after they both arrived at FAE Elephant Hospital. She is pregnant again and looked so healthy. She had a male baby after she went home and that baby was sold away. This new baby might meet the same fate. I wish I could prevent all these partings!!!!!!
Our team also met other six elephants which included a baby aged 4 years old at 2.30 p.m. Dr. Preecha vaccinated and dewormed the four elephants and gave an injection to Mohay because she had a little bruise on the side of the nail. The baby was not treated because he could not be chained for vaccination but we left the medicines and eye drops for other elephants as well. For Mohay, Dr. Preecha left the antibiotics for the owner to continue the injection to cover the doses needed.
The whole team came back late on the 18th September, 2008.
Our mission was done but leaving them is always heartbreaking!
Soraida Salwala
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
FAE Website
Thai: Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE)
NOTICE
10/14/2008 FAE
"Please change FAE website to www.elephant-soraida.com
and kindly let people
know that
www.elephants-soraida.com is not ours.
Thank you"
Soraida