In Thailand, a couple of elephants that had been kept as slaves for up to 80 years have actually finally been set free. Elephants Boonme and Buabaan have invested most of their lives in the forestry and elephant-trekking markets, where they were forced to labor while chained until they were exhausted.
They were eventually liberated from their owners and launched into Thailand’s Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai complying with a big fundraising drive.
Christian Leblanc, a 23-year-old YouTube vlogger, and videographer from Canada, helped in the rescue. He was instrumental in raising countless dollars to cover the cost of their release.
Boonme, 80, and Buaban, 50, currently invest most of their time splashing around, playing, and munching on fresh fruit and veggies in their new yard, which includes a river and mud bath.
” To the point where Boonme actually collapsed and needed to be lifted by a crane so she can return to work. That’s when we knew something had to be done.”
Christian and his colleagues took a trip 15 hours by truck to Surin in order to find the couple.
The rescue is part of Christian’s planned documentary ‘Black Tusk,’ which aims to educate tourists regarding the brutality behind Thailand’s growing ‘elephant trekking’ industry.
Christian said: “Like people, elephants are extremely social and so they reveal immense distress when they are dealt with as they are in the trekking camps and elephant entertainment parks.”
” You literally see them swaying back and forth and they will certainly also let our cries of unhappiness and desperation. It’s really horrific to see however I’m glad I did since it led me right here.”
” We wish that by revealing people the ruthlessness that elephants deal with, we can help finish the suffering for these elephants and pave the path to responsible elephant tourism.”