Trucks loaded with food to be delivered to elephants
STEF has now brought to an end its successful appeal to feed the elephants of Southern Thailand. The campaign was launched in April to help elephant owners provide for their elephants following the collapse of the tourist industry during the Covid-19 lockdown. Through our JustGiving campaign page and private donations, we raised over £40,000, all of which went directly to pay for elephant feed.
From the start of the campaign, STEF Trustee Jakrapob Thaotad (Jake) and his cousin Sitthisak Songkaew (Lek) worked tirelessly to respond to the needs of elephant owners in Southern Thailand; arranging for sugar cane and pineapple crops to be cut and loaded onto trucks, and coordinating deliveries of this food (including deliveries to Koh Samui by ferry) to nearly 300 elephants. Jake and Lek usually went with the trucks to assist with the deliveries, and almost every day STEF would receive messages of thanks passed on to us from grateful mahouts and other elephant owners. We pass these thanks on to our supporters: without their generosity this couldn’t have happened and elephants would have been left malnourished and even starving.
Fortunately, there are now fewer requests for food as many elephant owners have returned to their home villages where they are receiving local support and some government funding. Having taken the initiative in the critical early stages of this major pandemic, STEF is now able to wind down its campaign. However, our work to improve the welfare of elephants in Southern Thailand continues with the development of our veterinary centre near Khok Kloi, which should be ready to receive its first patients in the autumn. See vet appointment.
[Click on the photos below to see full picture; copyright @ FOUR PAWS | Worajit Doungjan ]
