Mee Chok : Elephant of the Week at Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary : Blessed

Name: Mee Chok

Name in Thai: Blessed

Former Name/Name in Thai: Pheung Yai/Bumble Bee

Gender: Male

Where Now: Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary

Location: near the village of Baan Tuek in Sukhothai, North Thailand

Blessed : For more Photos of Mee Chok see them at: Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary : Mee Chok

All his little life, after Mee Chok (Blessed in Thai) was dragged away from his mama, within a few months after his birth, this baby elephant had known nothing good with the world. That is until his rescue by Katherine Connor at the Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand. But we’ll soon get back to that.

We need to hear his story because Mee Chok’s story represents the countless elephants on this earth sharing his plight. You see, the dilemma continues but the chain is only beginning to be broken (thanks to a haven such as an elephant sanctuary and caring humans such as Katherine Connor). There are so many of our elephants that are in need of a rescue but with no caring human nearby to respond, or caring humans willing to respond but lacking the necessary funds to help.

Now, our baby elephant Mee Chok was truly blessed for having been released from his suffering fairly early in his life. (As elephant rescues go, the age of twenty months is quite young.) But as we consider all of our elephants, any amount of suffering is more than they should ever have to withstand.

Mee Chok (Blessed) is a happy boy at Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary photo by Peter Yuen

Not long after his capture Mee Chok, who was then named Pheung Yai (Bumble Bee in Thai), found himself at the mercy of unkind humans and his lot in life was overtly grim. His first home, the only one he had known, was a “filthy shack” where the baby elephant was left “chained and shackled in” for untold hours each day.

(It was the beginning of the training for his “breaking in”, the humans said.) A later attempt to house him with another elephant, an older female, proved less than successful as she displayed no maternal instincts toward the tiny calf.

From that moment on the little elephant was back in his “broken down stable”. Restricted by heavy chains, and left without even the company of another elephant, Mee Chok soon became anxious and confused. Confined as he was (“he was never allowed out”), it became so unbearable for the pachyderm that he was lashing out in anger and distress.

This was all taking a toll on Mee Chok. When rescued by BLES the little elephant had injuries all over his ears and face. He was also suffering from dehydration, and was extremely underweight.

With the help of donations through a Facebook page under his former name, (soon to be forgotten in his own elephant mind) Pheung Yai, and the additional money (“a large contribution”) generated through “The Elephant’s Umbrella Fund,” Pheung Yai’s/Bumble Bee rescue was funded in about 14 days. (It didn’t even take him that long, upon his arrival at the sanctuary, to be “christened with his new name,” Mee Chok / Blessed.)

It took even less time (24 hours) to see an amazing transformation take place. What was once a “frightened” and angry little elephant was now an elephant responding to the love of his new human carers (he even became “comfortable with human touch”) and elephant family. And as Mee Chok’s story was ending, he was so happy to be “never more than touching distance apart” from Pang Tong and Lom (they instantly bonded with Blessed). But it’s really a new beginning isn’t it? A happy ending not only for our elephants, but for those of us supporting their rescue, one sweet elephant at a time, if that is what it takes.