It is a gift and new hope for a poor female elephant in Thailand. Elephants are big and heavy and can be dangerous when they are hungry or getting aggressive. On the other hand, a handful of those fan-ear creatures are friendly and helpful. In many Asian countries, elephants have accompanied people with heavy chores. It’s good to form genuine connections with wild animals, but from time to time, bad things happen.

Medo (Mae Do), a female elephant, was put to work at 8. She hauled logs in the mountains spanning the border region for four years until she was seriously injured when a heavy log fell on her, breaking her left rear ankle. Then, her contract with the logging company was canceled. The bone was never properly set, as her injuries were never treated.

Things worsened when Medo was forced to breed with a big, aggressive tusker. Rather than simply breeding with her, he savagely attacked her, pinning her on the ground with his tusk. She screamed in pain, but no one would risk coming close to the musth bull to help her. She was left lying down, bleeding and crying in agony, alone.

These injuries were life-threatening, and Medo fought for her life for three years. For the next 15 years, Medo spent her life in isolated and tedious toil. The owners sought to keep her hidden in shame until ElephantNature Park rescued the poor living thing in Jun 2006.

At the foster, the vet determined that her backbone had become dislocated and that the unhealed injuries on the leg elevated her back pain. Though Medo had difficulty walking and moving, she soon became the best buddy with Mae Lanna, a blinded rescued elephant. Medo has received very good care ever since.

In July 2022, thanks to the development of medical and physical treatments, the association and Bionic Gentle Giants gave Medo a prosthetic leg to help her balance while walking and standing. Her adorable reaction to the prosthetic leg was shared worldwide on the internet and caught numerous attention and wishes.