Message from BLES September 2008
Trees for Elephants, Thu, 18 Sep 2008
Since the rains have started, BLES staff and local volunteers have been busy planting trees — and lots of them!
BLES has recently joined forces with Bring The Elephant Home (BTEH), a charity based in Holland that is dedicated to helping Thai elephants. BTEH has been working with several groups throughout Thailand to invest in elephant habitats, for both wild and domestic elephants. With our newly increased elephant habitat at BLES, there is plenty of space for new trees!
Thanks to the kind support of BTEH, we have been able to plant over 3000 trees for our elephants. These trees will have a direct positive impact on the environment by providing a healthy supply of various fruits and natural shade for our elephants. This will help BLES become more self-sustainable. we selected a variety of trees, some of who are known to grow fast, while others are simply ideal elephant food. Other trees bear fruit that attracts birds to scatter seeds. We have planted a varied mix including wild banana, bamboo, mango, tamarind, jackfruit, cherry, coconut, takien, maka, bradu, yang na, Ching Chun, and teak.
BLES has strategically planted this season in high priority areas, such as hilltops which receive less rain run-off. Taller trees are being placed in grouped areas with open spaces in between for grazing. In the future, the dense tree areas will provide shade and fruit, while grass and banana trees will provide excellent grazing in the spaces between.
A huge thanks to BTEH for their help with the Trees for Elephants project.
