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Steve Koyle walks among giants. Wearing utility shorts, a well-worn t-shirt, a baseball cap and Bedrock sandals, Koyle looks at home in the Cambodian bush, despite the steady downpour of rain that’s soaked him to his skin. In front of him, a 55-year-old, 3.2-ton elephant named Sambo is standing, resting her enormous foot upon a stool. As he files away at rough spots and nail edges, Sambo is remarkably relaxed. She, like hundreds of other elephants in six countries who have endured cruelty in captivity, trusts Koyle completely. Armed with a tiny budget and a small supply of tools, Koyle has spent the better of the last three decades caring for animals, and the last 16 years focused on elephants. Once a zookeeper at the Phoenix Zoo, his passion for pachyderms has led him to temples and villages throughout Southeast Asia in an unflagging effort to eliminate inhumane religious and other captivity practices. Sambo’s story is heartbreaking, but not unique. She was caught in the wild of the Aural Mountains before Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge plunged the country into civil war. At the time, she was one of five elephants caught and trained to give children rides. Pol Pot’s regime murdered the other four, and left Sambo with deep cuts on her legs. She still bears scars that are difficult to look at. After the civil war, in the early 1980s, she was brought to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capitol, where she became a permanent feature, giving rides to tourists and even gaining infamy as one of the most famous elephants in Cambodia. In 2012, after more than 30 years working in the city, she was retired. Thanks to Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment (ELIE) and with help from Abraham Foundation, USAID, and over 80 private
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