Saengduean Lek Chailert
After graduating from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University with an Arts degree, Lek worked in the tourism industry where she witnessed the mistreatment and suffering of many elephants and began to provide medical aid to elephants in remote villages. In the 1990’s, Lek started rescuing injured, neglected, and elderly elephants, and in 2003 was able to establish a permanent homeland for them in the beautiful Mae Taeng valley, near Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Today, Elephant Nature Park is home to over 120 elephants who are finally able to live free from abuse within family herds and develop close friendships with one another. Elephants at the park are not required to work, do not perform tricks, and are not ridden. Instead, they are allowed to live a more natural, dignified life where they are respected. Saengduean Chailert, also known as Lek, was born in Thailand in 1962. In return for saving the life of a young man, her grandfather, a shaman or traditional healer, was given an elephant named Thong Kham, meaning Golden One. The bond that developed between Lek and Thong Kham sparked a love and respect for elephants that was to shape the course of her life.
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