This morning I received a wonderful message from Soraida Salwala, the founder of FAE:

Motala’s prosthetic leg has just been scheduled to 15-16 August, 2009. Ten years from her tragic accident. I just cannot wait. This morning she tried to walk to Kamchan and I believe they were talking because both trunks were up and Motala wanted to walk to be as near her as much as she could.

Thank you for these ten long years of support and hope and the encouragement you have give Motala and me and the staff.

Thanks and thanks and thanks.

Motala stepped on a landmine on August 15, 1999, while she and her mahout (owner) were logging along the Burmese border.  Despite the massive wounds to her front leg, Motala walked for 3 days until she arrived at FAE.

Motala with her leg in a splint at FAE (1999).

On August 28, 2009 she received her first of many operations.  Soraida and her staff have treated Motala at FAE for the last ten years. She writes:

The artificial leg we had planned for her before the operation could not be made due to the problems of her wounds that healed rather slow.

It has been ten years now but all these long years  Motala enjoys a happy life and walks out of her shelter for a sun bath.

We are very happy that the day Motala will be fitted with the prosthetic leg is two weeks away. Thanks to all concerned, individuals, well wishers and donors, contributors across the country and around the world who keep sending their concern for her. Thanks especially for the team of Asso. Prof. Therdchai Jivacate from the Prostheses Foundation who dedicate their time and efforts to make it possible for BABY MOSHA, AND NOW MOTALA.

THE DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE!

You are cordially invited to come and witness the process and please let everyone you know learn of this good news! Thank you.

Miss Soraida Salwala
Founder & Secretary General
Friends of the Asian Elephant

For more Info please call:
Dr. Preecha Phuangkam : 081-936-3681
Director of FAE’s Elephant Hospital,
295 Moo 6, Lampang-Chiangmai Road (k.m.28-29)
Viengtan, Hangchatr, Lampang 52190
Thailand

Motala with a temporary cushion on her amputated leg to provide her spine some relief and support while she waits for her permanent prosthetic.

Producer Windy Borman will be in Thailand to film this historic event for The Eyes of Thailand.  If you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution to help fund the production, please click here to donate through the film’s fiscal sponsor, The San Francisco Film Society.

Thank you and please stay tuned for more updates!

Sincerely,

Windy Borman

Producer, Writer, Director, The Eyes of Thailand

Below is the press release from Catherine Doyle, the elephant Campaign Director at In Defense of Animals:

Feds Slap Los Angeles Zoo with Fine in Death of Elephant
http://www.savezooelephants.com/news_releases_10.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 20, 2009

USDA cites failure to provide veterinary care

Los Angeles, Calif.–The U.S. Department of Agriculture has hit the Los Angeles Zoo with a stipulated penalty of $3,281 for failure to provide veterinary care in the 2006 death of the elephant Gita, according to information just provided to In Defense of Animals (IDA) by the USDA.

“It’s outrageous that the USDA took so long to come to this pathetic conclusion, especially when the L.A. Zoo’s negligence caused Gita to suffer a slow and agonizing death,” said Catherine Doyle, IDA campaign director. “The paltry fine is nothing more than a slap on the wrist for the L.A. Zoo. It’s a sad reflection on how little value is placed on the life of an endangered species like the Asian elephant.”

Gita’s death on June 10, 2006, made headlines after IDA exposed the zoo’s

photo from LA Unleashed

failure to provide veterinary care to her after she collapsed and was unable to rise. Despite being observed down on the ground overnight, zoo personnel took no action to help the elephant, who died soon after keepers discovered the ailing elephant in the morning. It was estimated that Gita lay suffering for as long as 17 hours.

For decades Gita suffered from painful chronic foot disease and arthritis caused by inadequate conditions for elephants at L.A. Zoo. Her necropsy report noted that her severe arthritis or an extremely infected abscess on her back (caused by Gita leaning against her pen to take pressure off her painful front feet and joints) may have triggered a blood clotting disorder that caused her collapse and subsequent heart failure.

Last month, celebrities and animal protection leaders blasted the USDA for its failure to effectively protect captive-held elephants. In separate letters, Bob Barker and Lilly Tomlin, joined by leading animal protection organizations, criticized the USDA’s lack of timely action on a number of egregious cases involving elephants in zoos and circuses, including Gita’s. Read the letter here

“There simply is no excuse for the USDA’s foot dragging, especially in cases like Gita’s, where the facts are undeniably clear,” said Doyle. “Elephants are suffering and dying prematurely in zoos and circuses. It’s time for the USDA to start seriously enforcing the law and protecting these elephants now, rather than waiting until it’s too late.”

Gita is the fourteenth elephant to die at the Los Angeles Zoo. The zoo currently holds one solitary elephant, Billy.

For more information, please visit www.HelpElephants.com

Please read the news articles by the Associated Press and LA Times based on the above press release.

Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant, continues her fight to protect Thai Elephants, this time by testifying against the President of Wildlife Fund Thailand.  In an email to Windy Borman, Soriada writes:

The wildlife merchant is the president of Wildlife Fund Thailand who used to be Secretary General and later became the Director of the Zoological Organization. He later opened a company, private zoo, [and] restaurant dealing with wildlife trade. We, about ten organizations working for the conservation of wildlife[,] opposed [he behavior] and sent our open letter.  He laid off over forty staff and closed the office temporarily, claiming there is no money to run it.

I cannot talk much about the case since it is in court but our aim is to remove  him from the role in WFT, [but] the Board is on his side. If he wants to do business in trading wildlife, he should have left WFT [a] long time ago and not [sit] there knowing where and when we were about to alert the authorities to arrest the illegal trade and all. He asked the staff to withdraw attacking many projects which have wildlife in their aquarium or zoos or whatever.

So, we have asked the court to remove him from his post.

I am the member of this WFT, it was founded by my family doctor, the late DR. Boonsong Lekagul.

Soraida

Soraida is featured in the upcoming documentary The Eyes of Thailand, set to release in 2010 and Produced/Directed by Windy Borman and D.V.A. Productions.

The Animal Rights 2009 National Conference is in LA from July 16-20.  So far, I’ve met some amazing animal activists and supporters and am pleased with the content I’ve seen and heard about elephants.  Two of the projects I’d like to highlight are:

• War on Animals, a documentary by Courtney Scott and Beyond Pictures, which “provides an overview of animal rights throughout history and illustrates the many ways activists are working to alleviate the animals’ suffering, including the refuges and sanctuaries that offer a new lease on life to old or disabled farm, lab, zoo and circus animals.” http://www.beyond-productions.com/

Image from "War on Animals"

• Elephants on the Edge, a short documentary about the illegal elephant trade in Southeast Asian by Tim Gorski, Director and Producer for Rattle the Cage Productions http://www.animalconsultants.org/consultants/gorski_tim.htm

Producer & Director, "Elephants on the Edge"

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to brunch at Real Food Daily and meeting with Catherine Doyle from In Defense of Animals about her work with elephants involved in Amusement Campaigns (i.e. zoos and circuses).  To learn more about IDA’s Help Elephants campaigns, click here.

Please stay tuned for more updates on the conference!

Best,

Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, The Eyes of Thailand

P.S. If you’re looking for a conference in Asia, consider Asia for Animals Conference 2010 in Singapore.  Who knows, maybe The Eyes of Thailand will be there, too!

Three leading animal protection organizations – Born Free USA, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) and In Defense of Animals (IDA) – are joining forces to oppose the pending move of two African elephants, Kallie and Bette, from the Philadelphia Zoo to the Pittsburgh Zoo’s animal holding and breeding facility in Somerset County Pennsylvania. The organizations point to four main animal welfare problems with the transfer:

• Cruel, circus-style elephant training using bullhooks
• Confinement to small pens with no free access to the property’s several hundred acres
• Grave health risks associated with breeding
• Denial of a permanent, stable and natural home

Please visit IDA’s Help Elephants Web site to learn more.

In case you thought only African Elephants needed to fear poachers and ivory dealers, please read the following excerpts from a June 18, 2009 article by Sarah Janicke:

“Thailand has consistently been identified as one of the world’s top five countries most heavily implicated in the illicit ivory trade, but shows little sign of addressing outstanding issues,” said Tom Milliken, of TRAFFIC, which oversees a global monitoring programme, the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

While much of the ivory  is illegally imported from Africa (thus coming from African Elephants, not Asian Elephants), the ivory workshop owners reported ties to European knife makers and U.S. gun shops.  But that isn’t the only illegal trade happening in Thailand.

The study also uncovered reports of traders buying wild-caught elephant calves for use in Bangkok as “beggars” on the streets in major tourist centres, or selling them to elephant camps and entertainment parks.

Hundreds of live elephants are known to have been illegally imported from Myanmar in recent years, to be sold to elephant trekking companies catering to adventure tourism in Thailand. The capture of wild elephants has been banned in Thailand since the 1970s, but such trade usually goes undetected because domesticated elephants do not have to be registered legally until they are eight years of age.

For more information, please read the rest of the article here.

-Windy Borman

Producer, Writer and Director, The Eyes of Thailand

Here is an article by the Asian Elephant Art Conservation Project (AEACP), a non-profit that “was originally created as an alternative to illegal logging, to begging on city streets, or having to perform circus tricks.  The very core concept of the project is to provide a way for an elephant to earn a living as an artist.”

http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/plight.php

While I think the article summarizes the current problems facing Asian Elephants, I think it’s overly simplistic to personify the elephants with one’s human desire to live as an artist.  I admit it is better than being forced to take drugs in order to participate in illegal logging or begging on the street, but it still makes me sad that elephants humans domesticated now have to work for a living…

For more information on how “The Eyes of Thailand” is addressing the issues, please view the trailer and read about the film at: www.eyesofthailand.com

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to help us complete our final film shoot in Thailand in October 2009 by donating online through the film’s fiscal sponsor, The San Francisco Film Society. Visit www.eyesofthailand.com and click on the Donate Now Link.

Sincerely,

Windy Borman

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