Expat Life
the young. When a baby elephant cried out, the elders rushed to its aid and surrounded it to keep it safe. I learned that elephants aren’t designed to carry weight on their backs, and yet one of the main attractions of the elephant tourist industry is elephant riding; they must carry several people at once for long periods of time, which can take a serious toll on their bodies. They are often worked until they collapse. Elephants can live to be 70 years old, and their lifecycle is remarkably similar to that of a human’s. Their large ears allow for excellent hearing, their sense of smell is thought to be superior to that of any land animal, and their trunks are
extremely versatile. These are just some of the facts I learned about these large and fascinating animals. ENP protects these elephants not only from the tourist industry, but also from extinction. As its website states, there were over 100,000 elephants in Thailand at the turn of the century. Today, because of the killing these creatures have endured at the hands of humans, as well as the loss of habitat they have undergone due to humans’ population growth, only around 3,000 remain. Chiang Mai’s Elephant Nature Park is an incredible place. Nestled among rolling hills, the park offers
stunning views of elephants silhouetted against a gorgeous sky. A river winds beside it, cool and shimmering, which allows a place for volunteers to float on inner tubes. Volunteers and workers walk among the free elephants, helping to clean their stables, bathe them in the river, and cut down food for them to eat. The atmosphere is one of peace, hope, and comfort - for these are the things that ENP has given to all the animals that find refuge there. To learn more about elephants, Lek, and ENP, and to find out how you can help, visit: www.elephantnaturepark.org About the author: Johanna Stiefler Johnson is Danish and American, but grew up moving around Asia, Europe, and the United States because of her father’s work with the UN. She is currently an undergraduate at Boston’s Emerson College, where she majors in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and minor in Environmental Studies. Her fiction work has appeared in The Greensboro Review, Blacklist journal, and Polaris magazine. Her main issues of interest are the environment, animal protection, and feminism.
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