An infection on her gray head caused by beatings from a bullhook and an abscess on her massive left leg show the signs of four decades’ worth of abuse for Wassana.
The 46-year-old elephant had spent the vast majority of her life working to carry tourists in circles through the streets of Thailand — where elephant keepers are turning to other ways to make money after logging was made illegal in 1989. While it’s unclear how Wassana spent the early part of her life, rescuers believe she likely worked with loggers before being sent to the tourism industry.
Fortunately for Wassana, she was rescued from the tourism industry last July and placed in an elephant refuge run by Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT).
For centuries, elephants have been used to extract timber from the Asian jungles as part of the illegal logging trade — they were prized for their strength, ability to travel through jungle vegetation, and the keen intellect that allowed them to respond to human commands.
However, while their usefulness was prized, they faced lives in chains, isolated from their natural social circles — and the unlucky elephants who still remain in the logging industry face the same challenges today.
Like all trained elephants, they undergo a number of physical and social abuses before being trained to carry and push fallen timber.