According to the North County Times, before the San Diego Zoo used crates, cranes and trucks to move its Asian Elephants from the Wild Animal Park to the Zoo, Suzanne Roy, program manager for the international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals, said the move is another example of the zoo making animal welfare a low priority:

“This move is not about what is best for the elephants,” she said in an e-mail to the North County Times. “If it was, the zoo would give them dozens of acres of natural space at the Wild Animal Park. Instead, it’s about a new attraction to draw crowds to the San Diego Zoo.”

In Defense of Animals, a nonprofit organization based in San Rafael, CA, favors leaving wild elephants in their natural habitats and moving captive pachyderms to preserves large enough for them to roam extensively.

To read more about the article, please visit:

http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/04/24/news/inland/escondido/zf81ca4c194940849882575a2007da692.txt

Thank you,

Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, “The Eyes of Thailand”

Asian Elephant calf at the Moscow Zoo

Please take a moment to check out the pictures of the month-old Asian Elephant calf on her first stroll at the Moscow Zoo:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/05/asian-elephant-calf-moscow-zoo.html

Regardless of how you feel about zoos, baby elephants sure are cute!

Best,

Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director “The Eyes of Thailand”

On April 24, 2009, actress/comedienne and animal advocate Georja Umano attended a 3-day Summit for Elephants at ARK 2000, a Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, CA.

The gathering drew everyone from veterinarians and trainers, to progressive zoo directors, animal activists and philanthropists to discuss how to organize themselves to prohibit the use of wildlife in circuses in the U.S. and abroad.  This includes enforcing the Endangered Species Act to remove endangered Asian Elephants from the Ringling Brothers Circus.

To read the full article and view pictures from the Summit, please visit: http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_worldwide_charities/Summit_for_Elephants_-_They_Need_Our_Help.php

Georja Umano at the Summit for Elephants

For more info on PAWS, please read Umano’s second article: http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_worldwide_charities/PAWS_Wildlife_Sanctuary.php

-Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, “The Eyes of Thailand”

“Richard Lair, from San Francisco, California, has intensively studied the Asian elephant for 27 years and is presently Advisor and International Relations Officer at the National Elephant Institute of Thailand, based at the Forest Industry Organization’s Thai Elephant Conservation Center, in Lampang province. Initially he was interested only in wild elephants and thus began his work in Thailand with Dr. Bonsoong Lekagul at the Association for the Conservation of Wildlife, the Kingdom’s first conservation NGO.

“He is a member of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AESG) and wrote Gone Astray: The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). His latest publication is The Elephant In Thai Life , published by Asia Books. He is co-founder of the Thai Elephant Orchestra.”

In 2004 he wrote the following article about the the challenging future Thai Asian Elephants face:

http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/2116.asp

I find it interesting to note what has changed–and what hasn’t changed–in the last 5 years.  All the more reason to finish and distribute “The Eyes of Thailand” as soon as possible. If you are interested in making a tax-deudctible donation to the film through the film’s fiscal sponsor (The San Francisco Film Society), you can at: http://www.sffs.org/donate/donate-now.aspx?pid=47

Thank you for your continued support!

-Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, “The Eyes of Thailand”

On May 15, 2009, the San Diego Zoo moved several of its elephants, which include 6 Asian Elephants, using crates and cranes to their new home “Elephant Odyssey”, which opens May 23, 2009.

You can read more about the move by reading Ron Ringer’s blog at: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/elephants-a-new-beginning/

You can view a video of the move at: http://www.elephantodyssey.com/video/

You can read more about Elephant Odyssey itself at: http://www.elephantodyssey.com/exhibit/

I’m curious what you have to say.  Please post your comments.

Usually when I mention I’m producing “The Eyes of Thailand”, a documentary on the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Elephant Hospital, someone in the group asks, “Is that near where they have the painting elephants?”, obviously referencing the painting elephant video they saw on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk

To learn more visit: www.ExoticWorldGifts.com

The answer is, yes, the FAE Elephant Hospital is near a conservation center that has painting elephants, but this brings up interesting questions I feel we should discuss, such as “why do elephants paint?”, “should humans sell their paintings to help cover the costs of caring for the animal?”, and “is this just another way to exploit an already endangered animal for financial gain?”

In May 2008, Francisco Vara-Orta wrote “Animals as Artists” for the LA Times’s L.A. Unleashed.  His article sheds some light on the issue: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/05/a-muse-zoo-um-o.html

Photo: Morry Gash/Associated Press

Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Elephant Hospital in Thailand is quoted here speaking out against the living and working conditions of Bangkok’s roaming elephants.  To read the full article, please visit:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8dCCi974f5uFo_JkK5B71KH6FLA

Elephant handler on the streets of Bangkok

According to this China Post article from April 25, 2009, the Thai government has tabled a proposed ban on the export of Thai Asian elephants due to the staggering decline of both domesticated and wild elephants in the country.  They currently estimate that over 200 elephants are roaming in Bangkok.

To read the full article, please visit:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/thailand/2009/04/25/205635/Thai-gov%27t.htm

Sincerely,

Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, “The Eyes of Thailand”

In 1993, Soraida Salwala opened the world’s first Asian Elephant Hospital to treat elephants that are ill or injured as a result of work, abuse or neglect. Elephants have always had a special place in Soraida’s heart, but she found her calling at eight-years old when she saw an elephant get put down after being hit by a truck because there was no place to take him. This experience stuck with her and she has made it her life’s mission to save every elephant in Thailand through her work at the Friends of the Asian Elephant in Lampang, Thailand. To date, she and her staff have treated over 2,000 elephants for everything from eye infections to knife wounds, gunshot wounds, broken bones and landmine accidents.

In this blog, you can learn about the current events and situations effecting the Thai Asian Elephants, the patients at FAE’s Elephant Hospital and how you can get involved.

To learn more about Soraida and the Friends of the Asian Elephant, please visit:
http://en.elephant-soraida.com/
http://animom.tripod.com/fae.html

You can also become a fan of the Friends of the Asian Elephant on Facebook.

Soraida hugs a patient at the Asian Elephant Hospital

In 2007, I had the opportunity to travel to northern Thailand with the director of the Chiang Mai Project, Sherie Guilliat.  I had a feeling that the trip would be a pivotal event in my career as a documentary filmmaker, but I had no idea how inspired I would be to spread the word about the plight of the Thai Asian Elephants upon my return.  I owe that to my interview with Soraida Salwala and the footage of her patients at FAE’s Asian Elephant Hospital.  After one viewing of the film’s trailer, I hope you can see why this film has become a labor of love!

My goal for the “The Eyes of Thailand” is to advance Asian Elephant conservation by motivating the international community to pass protection laws in Thailand that align with FAE’s mission to save every elephant in Thailand from abuse, injury, and exportation.  Asian Elephants are already classified as endangered, but if laws protecting them are not created (and enforced) immediately, the entire species will become extinct within the next 50 years!  This will have devastating effects on the environment, as well as the social and cultural structure of the country.  Consequently, D.V.A. Productions has partnered with Soraida Salwala to provide a weekly blog about FAE’s progress (which you can read in “Notes from Soraida”) and Creative Narrations, a non-profit multimedia community building consulting agency, to develop supplemental curriculum for grades 3-12 in U.S. and Thai schools—because little activists become big activists!

We have the plan and the passion to make this vision come to fruition, now we ask you to help supply the means.  Please make a tax-deductible donation to “The Eyes of Thailand” today through the film’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Film Society: http://www.sffs.org/donate/donate-now.aspx?pid=47.  Every little bit helps bring us one step closer to completing the film and educating the world about the plight of the Asian Elephants.  Thank you.

Please continue to follow our progress on this blog, Facebook, IndieGoGo and Twitter (@eyesofthailand).

Krup Kum Ka,

Windy Borman

Director Windy Borman filming at FAE in 2007.