In November 2017, Bamboo volunteer Kelly and her fellow team members participated in our 2Countries program where she met DukDik in Surin, Thailand, and felt a strong connection with this very large yet gentle giant and loving animal.
DukDik was already pregnant at the time and it was not long after Kelly had gone home that she contacted us to check up on DukDik’s progress. Kelly decided there and then that she wanted to get involved in raising the funds to build an enclosure for DukDik and her baby.
Elephant enclosures take a lot of planning and money - a previous enclosure that Bamboo contributed to cost over USD$10,000. We have since been researching enclosure designs and materials to ensure we build enclosures that are strong, durable and practical, and big enough to ensure the comfort and safety of the elephants.
With the help of your contributions, we can give DukDik and her baby a safe home where they can rest, out of the sun, and away from harm. They would no longer have to be chained under a wooden shelter and would be able to move around the enclosed space freely.
Every little helps and is greatly appreciated. Thank you for caring with Kelly and her team, and with us at Bamboo, by helping us speak for these animals when they can't speak for themselves. We will be updating everyone involved in this campaign with progress reports and pictures when possible.
Bamboo currently supports 52 elephants living in a village in northeast Thailand, and around 94 elephants living in 3 more elephant camps in Thailand and in India. Bamboo supports the elephants through their volunteering programs where volunteers lend a hand with physical labor - cutting and planting bamboo and sugarcane, walking with the elephants to the river and giving them a bath. This gives us a chance to assess their general health, ensure they are getting enough exercise, and educates their "Mahouts" on responsible tourism that does not hurt these precious creatures.
An elephant eats roughly 150kgs of food and drinks around 180 litres of water daily - so families that are already poor can really struggle. It is an honour to own an elephant, but it can also be a huge burden which leads to families selling their elephants to the tourism industry and lending them out for rides and circus performances etc. to make some extra money. Therefore, through our projects at Bamboo, we also help with financial support to the families that spend their lives caring for these lovely but costly animals.
Bamboo's support of the elephants of Asia started with one elephant: a lovely female named Bank. The founders of Bamboo first met Bank back in 2013 in the "elephant village" near Surin, Thailand, where she lives with her human family and inspirational owner (her 'Mahout') Mr Suaii. The boys from Bamboo felt a real bond with Bank and immediately set out to see how they could help.
Over the 3 years since that meeting Bamboo has reunited Bank with her baby girl, Wan–Dee, and helped with her living conditions, health, and general well-being. Through doing so we have come to know many other elephants and their owners and now help a large number of these deserving animals in the village.
Our next project is to build new enclosures where each elephant can roam unchained, without the fear of accidentally harming themselves, or others.
Only with the support of our tours and our volunteers are we able to sustain these elephants. The passion shown by our volunteers is endless, as is our ambition and determination to create safe spaces for these gentle giants to rest easy, free from chains.
