Hello wonderful BEES friends,

The sky is cloudy and it has been raining heavily on and off. Sorry it has been a while internet signal is shocking here on the project and in our little town Maechaem making it very hard to update and takes hours to post photos.

The ground is muddy and slippery and the ele girls have been having an awesome time up in the forest. They have been making their way deeper into the forest the last few days because the river has been flooding. They are so incredibly smart, it’s just like they know when their is going to be a big flood so they move away from low ground and deep into the forest.

They have been finding lots of juicy bamboo to chew on and have very full tummies at the end of everyday. The rainy season is a very slippery time of year but a very beautiful one. The forest really comes alive when it rains! Its so beautiful to see the elephants have a chance to enjoy this freedom, if they weren’t here they would be chained up on a short chain all day or they would be forced to work and carry heavy baskets and take tourists for rides.

At BEES we currently rent elephants to provide an alternative for owners and elephants so neither have to endure long hard working days in the city begging or working for tourism.

It can be hard renting as we don’t yet have enough support and it can be hard finding the funds to pay the rent. We are in the process and have been in the process of setting up foundation status and their have been a few set-backs with this. It can be a struggle making ends meet every month. Not only is it hard to find funding for a project like this it is also hard because one day the owners may want to take their elephants away. We have owners sign legal contracts that state the length of rent usually being for 1 year and at the end of the contracts it is the owners legal right to make the choice to keep their elephant here or take them elsewhere, we just need to do our best to keep the owners happy. Happy Elephants + High enough rent $$$ = Happy owners.

We have built great relationships with the owners of Mae Kam and Mae Jumpee and they are very happy and incredibly impressed with the health and care that we have for the elephants and all the animals of BEES. We can only continue to try our best to give elderly elephants a chance to rest and have the ability to have freedom and eat natural food.

We wish in a perfect world that things were simple, but it’s not. Buying elephants is expensive and we don’t know where the money is going. e.g. could be used to buy a younger elephant and the cycle continues OR for owners that no longer wish to have an elephant they will want to find a new source of income. This  new source of income is usually farming and more forest is then cleared for growing corn, rice or rubber and so the destruction of forest continues.

The elephant situation is very difficult and a single organization can not make these changes for a better future for elephants on their own. If we want to make a better future for animals and elephants EDUCATION is a key factor and all people who love elephants and animals need to come together to work towards this in order to create a better future.

On a different note, the kittens Gizmo and Tigger are doing really well. They are eating well, they love rice and fish. They are still on milk feeds once a day to get their weight up, they are tiny little babies and they have been wormed so hopefully that will help them feel a little better. They have got gorgeous big eyes and they love to play together. They are too fast to get good pictures they keep turning out blurry.

Mollie the disabled dog is doing really well, as she is still too small for her wheels we have been making little booties for her to protect her little legs from getting grazes, but she manages to remove them within 5 minutes and uses them as chew toys instead! Mollie has good days and bad, today she has been balancing and even taking steps. Maybe all the swimming and massages are starting to pay off. Her foot reflex is still not normal, but maybe with a little bit of luck she will be able to teach her self to walk without dragging to much.

Holly the Turtle/Terrapin has been having shell cleans and is going on a round of antibiotics in the hope we can knock out any parasites that may be causing her weakness. She is enjoying her new pond and her friend of the same species ‘Bubbles’ loves the new pond too.

BEES is a community based project that works towards sustainable community development through education and working together with the local government and community, we also help provide a home to all animals in need and care for wildlife and run release programs where possible.

BEES was self-funded up until the arrival of Mae Kam where a few people/organizations have kindly made donations, we heavily rely on donations and paying guests in order to keep the project going. Please come and volunteer with us and see our project and meet our rescue animals or If you would like to donate towards the sponsorship of an elephant or care of the animals at BEES then please kindly make a donation via Bank Transfer, it is currently our only available option, but we hope we will have a Paypal option available soon.

This month we had a lovely Australian couple visit BEES with 80kg of Animal Medical supply Donations.

A huge Thank you to wonderful friends and supporters Karyn Steele and Peter Olliver for your kindness and organizing all these wonderful donations and bringing them to BEES.

We can’t thank you and those who donated enough for these amazing gifts!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for your continued support! Gizmo and Tigger purr and meow a big thanks for following us!

Kind Regards,

Emily xx

All photos © BEES Elephant Sanctuary