April 2003 - Moving Again!!
Max has to move again but there is no cause for concern the new land is only five miles upriver. It is an exciting time for Lek and everyone at the Haven. A generous donor has given Lek the opportunity to obtain a wonderful piece of new land by the river and all the elephants will eventually live there. The land borders the forest where they roam so the elephants will still have the freedom of the jungle. Max is the first elephant to arrive and he is allowed to gorge himself in cornfield purchased with the site. There are some big trees for him to escape the sun and plenty of river in which he can swim. Max looks better and happier than he has ever done.
There is one scare – in Lek’s Chiang Mai office word is received that Max has collapsed causing a mad scramble for cars and a fifty-kilometre drive up the highway to the Haven. Everything is OK though. Max had lain down on the nice flat new land to have a nap and couldn’t get up again, because of his bad leg. It seems that Max needs to sleep on a slope to be able to push himself onto his feet. Karl, the mahout, had found him and Max had offered his trunk as if to say ‘give me a lift up mate. As if a man could help a 4 ton elephant! Luckily help was on hand in the form of Lilley, one of the other elephants. Karl fetched her, and with a bit of an effort she managed to push him onto his feet. ‘Come on old man – up you get!’
March 2003 - Healing and Fame!
Karl, one of the Haven’s senior mahouts, is put in charge of Max and soon a rapid transformation takes place. The intensive care on his skin wounds is starting to pay dividends and the skin is healing quickly. The abscess on his cheek is lanced and cleaned daily; it too is showing signs of improvement.
The most marked sign though is Max’s speed over the ground. He still limps but he is three times quicker than when he arrived. The herbal treatment, wading in the river, slow walks in the mountains and a much better diet are combining to do the trick.
Max is also the subject of a short observational study by nature journalist, Douglas Chadwick, the author of ‘The Fate of the Elephant’ (Sierra Book Club 1992). Douglas spends a lot of time with Max and may write about him for National Geographic Magazine. Max is going to be famous!
February 2003 - Continuing Concern
A month down the line and Max is still struggling to show any improvement. If anything, his skin appears to be getting worse. It is peeling badly on his head and lower back. He has been brought deep into the forest shade to keep him permanently out of the sun. Max likes to wander in the fields of tall grass that is planted to feed the elephants. He gets plenty to eat but the sun ravages his flesh. He is being treated twice a day by a team made up of the mahouts and two visiting international vets.
A month down the line and Max is still struggling to show any improvement. If anything, his skin appears to be getting worse. It is peeling badly on his head and lower back. He has been brought deep into the forest shade to keep him permanently out of the sun. Max likes to wander in the fields of tall grass that is planted to feed the elephants. He gets plenty to eat but the sun ravages his flesh. He is being treated twice a day by a team made up of the mahouts and two visiting international vets.Despite his injuries Max remains a gentle and loving animal. He loves human attention and lots of fuss. Everyone feels so sorry for him and tries to make up for all his suffering. We find out that he is particularly fond of pineapple jam sandwiches! We feed them to him at treatment time to take his mind off the pain.
January 2003 - Intensive Care
Max is not in imminent danger but he is far from fit. He receives round the clock attention. The Elephant Haven team makes sure he is fed a good diet and bathes his wounds daily. He has a nasty growth on the left hand side of his face and skin problems on his head and back.
His leg is very stiff and sometimes Max can be painfully slow, taking up to half an hour to walk 100 yards. The mahouts treat his leg with an herbal remedy. Leaves, roots and tree bark from certain plants are boiled up and left to cool. The mixture is then put in a Hessian sack and beaten against his bad leg. Initially we are highly sceptical but amazingly Max’s leg does seem to improve. Walking in the river is also starting to build his muscles.
Christmas 2002 Freedom - The Best Present of All
It is fantastic to see Max at his new home. The Elephant Haven consists of acres of forest where Lek’s elephants are allowed to roam free. The mahouts have set up camp by the river so it is easy for Max to have a bath. Everyone takes great joy in his arrival and through misguided kindness we over feed him on rich fruits. The mahouts take command and he is gradually introduced to a better diet and given plenty of elephant grass.
Max loves the river and when Lek’s other elephants come down to the river for their baths the female members of the herd take quite a fancy to the new arrival. Both Lilly and Mae Keaw take a great interest in Max, feeling him all over with their trunks. Max is only too happy to repay the compliment!
There is deep concern over Max’s health - he is so thin and his skin is in very poor condition. It will take him a long time to recover but he has that time now and he has the greatest gift of all – after 42 years Max is finally free!
20th - 21st December 2002 A Nightmare Journey
Eventually the paper work came through and Max is given permission to move. Lek sent a trained team to Surin to fetch Max the distance of nearly a thousand kilometres to his new home. Max travelled in a very large truck! But it was not an easy journey. The drive took 36 hours with three turns at the wheel or sleeping. Max’s condition was monitored throughout the trip. The truck had to drive very slowly to protect Max’s eyes from the wind and made frequent stops so he could have food and water. Nevertheless it was very uncomfortable.
Eventually the paper work came through and Max is given permission to move. Lek sent a trained team to Surin to fetch Max the distance of nearly a thousand kilometres to his new home. Max travelled in a very large truck! But it was not an easy journey. The drive took 36 hours with three turns at the wheel or sleeping. Max’s condition was monitored throughout the trip. The truck had to drive very slowly to protect Max’s eyes from the wind and made frequent stops so he could have food and water. Nevertheless it was very uncomfortable.Max arrived very late at night and he was in a terrible condition. He was much thinner that he had been a month earlier when we had last seen him. He also has sores on his back caused, we later learned, by sunburn. When he got off the truck for the last time we were all elated but Max was nervous, tired and withdrawn. We decided to leave him for the night in the company of five of the Haven mahouts. They spoke and sang to him with gentle voices to let him know he was safe and among friends.
Late November - December 2002 EleAid’s First Elephant!
Over the next week Chas and Rachel saw Max several times. They were utterly smitten with him. He was very weak and thin but his loving gentle character shined through his physical problems. He still purred with pleasure when he received attention and he ate the gifts of bananas, sugarcane and watermelon with great gusto. Lek from the Elephant Nature Park flew to Surin and agreed that Max was in urgent need of care. She promised to provide a permanent home for him in her beautiful forest sanctuary, known as Elephant Haven. Over the next week we concluded negotiations and signed a contract to buy Max. It was so thrilling to be able to give this wonderful gentle creature a new life.
Despite years of experience with elephants Lek had never seen an Asian elephant as tall as Max. To mark his new life we decided to give him a new name. For an elephant as big what name could be more appropriate than ‘Maximus’, especially when the full scientific name of the species is ‘Elephas maximus’! Naturally it was immediately shortened to ‘Max’.
He had suffered so much over his past 42 years but now he was going to live in peace. If the excellent care the elephants receive on Lek’s program is able to heal him, Max could have another thirty quality years of life. We know his leg will never recover, but his general health will improve and his mental state will improve beyond measure. He may even be able to become a father!
Once the deal was signed we had to leave Max in the care of his old owners while we got the necessary government permissions for Max move to the sanctuary.
17th November 2002 - We Finally Meet Max
Every November the city of Surin hosts the annual Elephant Round-Up, the world’s largest elephant festival. Chas and Rachel were visiting the festival and were looking to save two street elephants. In the evening they were touring a huge temporary elephant camp when a mahout approached them and offered to show them his elephant.
Every November the city of Surin hosts the annual Elephant Round-Up, the world’s largest elephant festival. Chas and Rachel were visiting the festival and were looking to save two street elephants. In the evening they were touring a huge temporary elephant camp when a mahout approached them and offered to show them his elephant.It was a pitch-black night and they could vaguely make out the shape of an elephant standing beneath a tall tree. As they approached their jaws fell open in astonishment – of the hundreds of elephants they had seen they had never seen such tall elephant, he was majestic, truly awesome.
He was so tall that Rachel could barely reach his face but standing on tiptoe, she reached up and stroked the giant's face. They were not prepared for what happened next - Max roared. It was not aggressive or defensive, it was the most wonderful roar of pleasure, like a cat purring. As Rachel continued to stoke him he repeated it again and again. It was truly beautiful and brought tears to their eyes.
Chas jokingly asked if he was for sale and was stunned when the answer immediately came back as ‘yes’. Then they learned about poor Max’s leg. That didn’t matter - they had fallen in love with the gentle giant and were determined to buy him and give him a new life at the Elephant Nature Park Sanctuary in Chiang Mai Province.
2001 to 2002 A Family Pet!
A nice Thai family from Surin bought Max. They were impressed by his size, and owning the second tallest elephant in the country brought them great prestige. The family thought they could heal him and they could earn money from offering rides to tourists. They took him to their house and Max lived in their garden! Luckily they had a lake at the bottom of their garden where Max could have a regular bath.
The family had Max seen by a vet and they were able to make him more comfortable. With care, he slowly began to recover. He started to feel happier that he was being well cared for. Kind treatment lessened the effect of his constant pain. However, the family soon started to suffer the costs of keeping an elephant. The food and medical bills began to mount up and the vet confirmed that Max would never walk properly again. The family would never earn money from Max, he would never be able to give rides.
The family wanted to sell him but there were no offers – who wants to buy a crippled elephant? Even one as striking as Max...
May to December 2000 - Months of Pain and Suffering
Max’s leg was permanently damaged by the crash. He will be permanently crippled. He spent months in agony. There was not enough money to pay for a vet to tend him and the mahout did not know how to help. Slowly and painfully though Max managed to stand and learn to walk again but he was very slow and could no longer walk the streets. Eventually he sold him and Max went to live in the northeastern province of Surin.
April 2000 - The Final Indignity
Max and his mahout stayed at a camp on the outskirts of the city and every night trudged down the super highway to sell fruit for their living. It was dark and out of nowhere roared an eighteen-wheel truck. Despite the size of the awesome creature before him, the driver saw Max too late. He hit the elephant’s right front leg from behind. The elephant’s scream was drowned by a screech of brakes and Max was dragged five metres along the road. Max was slumped unconscious, battered and bleeding by the side of the road. Max’s mahout who had been walking beside him was lucky to be unharmed and he rushed to the side of his stricken animal. The police and medical personnel attended the scene but try as they might they could not help the animal but Max could not rise.
The giant had been felled, just like the teak trees he had once dragged through the forest.
1999 - Life by the Beach
By 1999 the Thai public were growing increasingly concerned at the number of elephants in Bangkok. Responding to these concern the Thai authorities made a concerted effort to get the elephants out of Bangkok. Fearing arrest, Max’s mahout rented a truck to take him out of the city. Poor Max did not return to his beloved jungle but was taken to Pattaya, a beach resort city on the gulf of Thailand. Max saw the sea for the first time and for a while offered elephant rides on the beach. This is terrible for elephants. Hot sand is very painful on the soles of their sensitive feet and the bright sun and lack of shade is very harmful to their eyes. Some beach elephants in Pattaya and Phuket have gone blind. In the evenings Max trudged the wild streets of Pattaya’s raucous entertainment district. Drunken tourists, blaring music, exhaust choked cars, bright neon and flashing lights – Max’s soul is dying.
By 1999 the Thai public were growing increasingly concerned at the number of elephants in Bangkok. Responding to these concern the Thai authorities made a concerted effort to get the elephants out of Bangkok. Fearing arrest, Max’s mahout rented a truck to take him out of the city. Poor Max did not return to his beloved jungle but was taken to Pattaya, a beach resort city on the gulf of Thailand. Max saw the sea for the first time and for a while offered elephant rides on the beach. This is terrible for elephants. Hot sand is very painful on the soles of their sensitive feet and the bright sun and lack of shade is very harmful to their eyes. Some beach elephants in Pattaya and Phuket have gone blind. In the evenings Max trudged the wild streets of Pattaya’s raucous entertainment district. Drunken tourists, blaring music, exhaust choked cars, bright neon and flashing lights – Max’s soul is dying.
1995 to 1999 - The Bangkok Beggar
Times are very bad. Max and his mahout are struggling to earn enough money to feed themselves. Like many others they decide that the only alternative to is to go to the cities to beg. Max travels to Bangkok where his mahout sells bananas and sugarcane for city folk and tourists to feed to the elephant. Max is popular on the city streets. Walking under an elephants belly three times is considered lucky in Thailand and because of his great height this is very easy with Max. Max and the mahout scrape a living as many people walk underneath him but much of the work is at night; the hours are long and the work hard. Max works in the Silom and Patpong entertainment districts. The streets are full of loud noise, lots of people and traffic. It is a very unnatural environment for an elephant. The city is very unhealthy for the elephants; they live on wasteland among rubbish and pollution. Toxins from car exhausts cover all the vegetation. Max suffers from stomach problems and his health deteriorates quite dramatically. He is still a very gentle elephant but he in the urban environment Max is depressed and sad. The city is no place for a creature of the forest.
1991to 1994 - A Wandering Itinerant
Max’s new owner takes him all over Thailand in a desperate search for work and the gentle giant performs all kinds of tasks. Many elephants find work in the tourist industry giving rides and performing in shows and for a short time Max does some trekking but he has not been trained for this occupation and competition for jobs is tough. There is much less food and Max is often hungry.
1990 - Unemployed!
In 1990, Max is set for a life working in logging but the Thai government passes a law to ban the industry. The remaining forests in Thailand are rapidly being cut down; in some areas this has led to landslides, flooding and many deaths. The government also wants to preserve its remaining forestland, which has been decimated by the loggers.
The problem is poor Max is now out of work and his mahout cannot afford to feed him. These are dark days for lots of elephants and Max is sold to a new owner.
1978 to 1989 - The Heavy Work Years
At the age of 18, life for Max gets tougher. He is now almost fully grown and although he does not the biggest frame he certainly has the tallest! Max is the second tallest elephant in the whole of Thailand.
He still does some transport work but now he is carrying far greater weight, sometimes up to 700 kilos, the weight of ten people!
He also does some dragging work. The great teak trees are felled and Max has to drag the huge logs through the jungle. Sometimes the logs have to be pulled to the nearest road and the elephants work together to lift them onto huge trucks. More often though they are dragged to the river and stacked in neat rows. When the rainy season comes the river will rise and the logs will be carried downstream to the timber mills, they will float hundreds of miles all the way to Bangkok.
Max works hard and has to eat huge amounts of food; he is very fit. By 1989 he is 28 years old and approaching his physical prime. He is a mighty giant.
1972 to 1977 - Max Goes to Work
After his tenth year, Max’s basic training is over and he is put to work. He starts with light duties, as he will not be fully-grown until he is at least 18. Elephants that are put on heavy work too early will not grow properly. Max has varied duties but with his long legs he is quicker over the ground than the others and is mainly used as a transport elephant. The logging teams work deep in the forests and the only way to get supplies to them is to use the elephants to carry food and other essentials through the jungle. Max travels all over northern Thailand. Some journeys can take days or even weeks!
After his tenth year, Max’s basic training is over and he is put to work. He starts with light duties, as he will not be fully-grown until he is at least 18. Elephants that are put on heavy work too early will not grow properly. Max has varied duties but with his long legs he is quicker over the ground than the others and is mainly used as a transport elephant. The logging teams work deep in the forests and the only way to get supplies to them is to use the elephants to carry food and other essentials through the jungle. Max travels all over northern Thailand. Some journeys can take days or even weeks!
1965 to 1971 - The Training Years
The days with his mother seem long gone. Max and his mahout have joined other young elephants and they are all learning how to work in the logging industry. There is so much to learn. Max must get used to wearing chains - not only will he be tethered with chains to stop him wandering, he must also have to wear them as a harness that he will use to drag the giant teak logs. He must also get used to the ankush, an iron hook that will be used to control him. If an elephant is trained properly the ankush is not a cruel tool, it is used to guide the elephant rather than to beat him. Max is lucky, he has a good mahout and although he is firm with Max he does not treat him badly.
The young elephants learn how to drag, stack and move logs around. They are taught to work as individuals and in teams. Elephants are so clever, and they soon learn the tasks they are required to perform. The best elephants can recognize sixty different commands! Max is still amazing people with his growth. He is by far the tallest elephant of his age and is even bigger than some several years older than himself. He is also a highly gentle animal, some of the others are difficult to handle and even aggressive to their trainers but Max has the perfect temperament.
1964 - Max gets his First Mahout
The camp allocates Max a mahout. This is very sad for Max as he must leave his mother for good. It is very early for them to part but Max’s mother has been assigned work in a new forest and Max will not go with her. From now on the mahout will take the place of Max’s mother. He will be his keeper and they will spend their lives together working in the timber forests. Many mahouts will spend all their lives with one elephant. They become family to each other, man and elephant working as a team, and they form very strong bonds. Max is depressed at the loss of his mother.
His mahout notices that Max is only has two tiny tusks. He is going to be a ‘sidor’ or tuskless male. This occurs sometimes in male Asian elephants and is considered good luck. Male elephants without tusks are often very big and strong as they have extra energy to put into building their bodies and trunks. he mahout also notes Max is very tall for his age he also has very long legs and will be a fast walking elephant. They start to get to know one another and the mahout is kind but he still desperately misses his mother.
1963 Max’s Second Year – His Mother goes back to work
Max is now over a year old and his life is about to get harder. His mother is needed back on logging duties so his carefree baby days are coming to an end. He is still very young and although he has started eating grass he still wants to drink his mum’s milk.
Sometimes Max is allowed to accompany his mother while she is working in the forest but he can get in the way so he is often left back at the camp with only human company. Max is growing all the time he is much bigger now and the camp mahout have started training him to obey their commands. Max realizes that it is people who are in charge. One day Max himself will have to go to work.
Max is now over a year old and his life is about to get harder. His mother is needed back on logging duties so his carefree baby days are coming to an end. He is still very young and although he has started eating grass he still wants to drink his mum’s milk.Sometimes Max is allowed to accompany his mother while she is working in the forest but he can get in the way so he is often left back at the camp with only human company. Max is growing all the time he is much bigger now and the camp mahout have started training him to obey their commands. Max realizes that it is people who are in charge. One day Max himself will have to go to work.
1962 Max’s First Year – Learning to be an elephant!
The big baby elephant’s first year is exciting and new. He learns what it means to be an elephant. There are many elephants in the logging camp and as a youngster Max is at the bottom of the heap. For a long time he does not stray far from his mother. She is very protective of her offspring and he spends most of his time playing around her legs. He is still feeding on his mother’s milk but as the year goes on the camp mahouts are trying to get him to start eating vegetation. They want Max’s mother to get back to work.
The camp decides to give the baby elephant a name. In traditional Thai style they choose four names and write them of different pieces of sugarcane. They are laid before the baby for him to choose. He picks the third piece and his new name is Pang Somboon, meaning ‘Mr. Strong’. It is appropriate as the elephant is growing at an incredible rate. No one in the whole camp has ever seen a young elephant this big!
1961 Max is born!
On a joyous day in the Tak province in Northern Thailand, a beautiful baby elephant is born. Max’s mother is a hard working timber elephant and has been carrying a baby inside her for 22 months. With six months of her pregnancy to go, she was put on light duties and then in the final month she is excused work completely. It is important to everyone that the baby is born healthy as he will grow up to work in the forests, dragging felled logs. For now, all that is in the future as elephants and humans alike share in the delight of a new baby.
Elephants are family animals and have very close relations. The other adult females all gather round the mother and admire her new baby. They are all astonished at his size - he is huge! He can already stand and walk although he is still a little unsteady on his feet. Max is a metre tall and weighs 120 kilos, the weight of a very big man and he is only one day old! He needs as much as he can get as he is going to grow up to be the second tallest elephant in the whole of Thailand!
