Sri Nuan: eye lost, baby lost
When we arrive back at our hotel tired of the festival, there are elephants waiting on the parking lot for tourists which want to make a ride on their back. A beautiful elephant attracts my attention, big ears, sharp pigmentpattern, full tail. Her mahout tells us that she broke her chain one night and run away. On a rice field someone then shot her with a catapult and hit her in the eye. Blinded on one side, she is still begging on the streets now. It must be scary for her to hear the loud traffic go by without seeing it. The mahout tells she has a daughter: Nhung Nhing. He has sold her to an elephantshow on Phuket. We decide there and then we are going to try to reunite mother and daughter and give them both a place at the Elephant Nature Park. But how to find this baby?
The day after the festival we meet with the owner of Sri Nuan. She is enjoying a day off after the festival standing in a nice field. The mahout with his family lives in a big house, the most luxurious one of the village. Would their rice fields yield so much? He has bought Sri Nuan about two years ago, together with her newly born daughter. After half a year he sells the baby Nhung Nhing for a lot of money. She is just eight months old then. Now she would be about two and a half. The mahout says she’s a big star now on Phuket. After a few days in Surin it becomes clear that there is a lot of money to be earned with elephant trade. It’s difficult to find myself in this, but also I’m more and more determined to do something about it.
The more I ask the mahout of Sri Nuan, the more indistinct he becomes. He doesn’t give straight answers. Lee and I try to reveal the truth by checking the papers he has. The papers of Sri Nuan seem to be ok. He has bought her together with Nhung Nhing and brought her to Surin. The transport papers show both elephants. Then Nhung Nhing is sold of which he also has papers. These papers show the names of the elephant, the old and new owner and the price. According to the papers she has to be on Phuket.
Before leaving for Phuket we try to get some more information at the animal registration office. The clerk doesn’t look at me and talks unkind to Lee. Lee asks him to look for the papers of Sri Nuan. He goes through a map randomly and says he can’t find anything. “First we have to become friends”, he says. “Shortly I will be organising a agricultural festival. It would be nice if the farang (which is me, the foreigner) would sit on a tractor there, that would be good for the festival!” Then the maps go into the drawer once again and the conversation is ended. On our way to another office for the papers of Silver Flower, we are suddenly chased by the owner of Sri Nuan. He will settle all the paperwork for us himself. When we still go inside, he comes sitting next to me, and tries to throw in all his charms to convince me that Sri Nuan is really the most beautiful elephant, and that his price isn’t too high. I write a price on my hand, but he doesn’t want to come down with his price. Eventually I’m able to get 1.000 Bath of the initial price…so slowly there’s some movement in it.
Elephant with blooded forehead during festivalparade.
Elephantfootball in Surin. The mahouts let the elephants know which foot to use by means of a steal peg.
