Hospital

Today we visited the world's first elephant hospital. It is run privately by a Thai woman we interviewed. She was really amazing to listen to. She has dedicated her life to saving elephants and stopping the ivory trade. It is a very long and expensive battle. The hospital currently has eight elephants staying there, including Pong. He is a 38-year old elephant who had his tusks harvested. He is also going blind, so we had to be very careful in approaching him. But by the end, he was really warmed up to us. He was wagging his tail and feeling the cameras with his trunk. His caretaker told us he hasn't been that excited in a long time.

The woman we interviewed told us she arranges new homes for the elephants once they are recovered enough to leave. Pong will be sent to a place like the one we visited last weekend to live in his natural environment safely with other rescued elephants. The woman we interviewed:

We also got to meet a 4-year-old baby who was rescued from an abusive owner. She came in with a broken leg, but was close to being transferred. Her name is Kai, and she was not shy at all...

Luckily this elephant hospital has been gaining a lot more recognition recently. The owner has an interview with a BBC crew next week and several magazine and newspaper stories being written about her efforts. She says any attention will help bring in donations and possibly allow her to expand the facilities.