PhotoPhilanthropy

Visionary Soraida Salwala opened the Friends of the Asian Elephants Hospital (FAE) in Thailand in 1993. Since then, FAE has treated over 3,000 elephants for everything from eye infections to knife wounds, broken bones and drug addictions. The most remarkable work has been in caring for and creating prosthetic limbs for elephants who have stepped on landmines.

Once the mainstay of Thai logging, thousands of elephants were put out of work by over-cutting that resulted in massive landslides, leading to a logging ban in 1989. These elephants and their mahouts then became street beggars in Bangkok. When such begging was outlawed, most turned to tourist camps where they give rides, demonstrate log hauling or paint.

But some mahouts now take their elephants into Myanmar to help the dictatorship clear a 20km swath along the forested border. This area is peppered with landmines to deter rebel activity. Fourteen elephant landmine survivors have been treated at FAE so far. Mosha and Motala became the first to walk on prosthetic limbs. Boonmee, a 5-year old, who stepped on a landmine while her mother was hauling logs, had arrived at the hospital shortly before my visit.

I was as moved by the dedication of FAE’s staff as by the physical and emotional toll experienced by these intelligent, innocent animals. I have chosen to share the story of this tragic ‘collateral damage’ and the tremendous compassion and caring it has engendered, through use of my photos in articles, blogs, websites and donations to support FAE.