The taxi arrived at my hotel in Bangkok promptly at 9 am on Sunday morning to pick me up for the three hour drive to the Wildlife Friends Foundation (WFF) in southwestern Thailand, my home for the next three weeks. The WFF, founded 17 years ago by a Dutch ex-pat living in Bangkok, rescues animals, focusing on but not limited to, elephants, and reintroduces as many as possible back into the wild. Those that cannot be released are provided for on the property. The organization supplements its permanent staff with volunteers, a win-win situation for all. Volunteers get a rich experience helping to care for the animals and the organization gets extra labor and a small income stream. I was particularly interested in working with elephants and decided to spend three weeks at the center.

The staff is very well organized and when I signed up to volunteer, received a book detailing the living and work conditions as well as suggested items to bring (hence my shopping list in Bangkok). When I arrived, about mid-day, I found six other newly arrived volunteers. Another showed up shortly after I had checked in. Immediately we found ourselves on a very brief but informative tour of the main part of the center getting some instructions on such important topics as how the scheduling works, what a typical day looks like, how the taxis and related excursions are booked for those interested in exploring on their day off, the meal and food system, and finally our accommodations. We had a short break to grab some food and get settled in before a much longer tour later in the afternoon designed to show us the whole complex.

The volunteer house where we meet each morning to organize the day and where we are greeted as new arrivals.

I was a bit dismayed, but hardly surprised, when I saw a huge crock pot full of rice at the head of the food line. But here at least, unlike Nepal, rice is not the central feature of the meal, and I could chose to ignore it (which I have- most, but not all of the time). The facilities are all open air as the temperatures in this part of Thailand rarely cools down so the dining area is set up picnic style. I was impressed that they offered meat, vegetarian and vegan options for the volunteers. Also available for those who were interested in preparing their own meals was a well stocked outdoor kitchen for volunteer use. I suspect after a couple of weeks of eating the same food I will make use of the volunteer kitchen…..

After a quick bite we were off on the extended tour. I had seen the map, of course, when I read the manual they provided, but the map merely shows the layout without providing a sense of the size of the place. The grounds, originally donated by a monk at the nearby temple, are huge and still expanding. Elephants, if kept properly, require a lot of space but they not only have 23 elephants but also bears, many different species and quantities of monkeys, deer, pigs, lizards, turtles and a ton of dogs and cats. Apparently over the years people have learned of about the existence of WFF and if there is an exotic animal found or no longer wanted, the center gets a call to come investigate. In addition, people drop off unwanted pets, like dogs and cats, at the front gates.

The dining area.

My room. I’m sharing with two British women, who are about my age. One is only staying one week, the other two, so I will eventually have new roommates.

Regardless of all the various activities underway, it was the special focus on elephants that attracted my notice. The elephants in residence, which unfortunately cannot be liberated to the wild, were all rescued from some kind of abusive work situation, whether that was tourist camps, logging camps, begging, or something else. Because of the way they were trained as babies, and it is too horrific to describe in detail, the elephants cannot survive on their own. So instead, they live in large habitats in herds that are carefully designed, taken care of by staff and volunteers. While the goal is to encourage the elephants to bond together and live in large groups, not all elephants are comfortable with that, their natural instincts having been overwritten by the trauma of their training. Two prefer small pens close to the human habitation areas and yet others prefer to be alone. But there are small groupings of two to four that have been successful, including one with a young two year old, that live in a large, and increasing habitat.

View from our balcony. Each of the islands hosts some gibbons in the last stages of being re-introduced to the wild.

There are also some 30 or so bears resident who have also been rescued from abusive situations. Much like the elephants the bears are used as photo props, making money for their owner by attracting tourists. As the bears mature they grow bigger and become more aggressive complicating life for their owners, who cannot always handle them. Consequently, many are abandon at temples where the monks try to take care of them, but nonetheless the situations the bears find themselves in are very poor. Over time, the monks have learned to call the WFF, who then come and take responsibility for the animals. Some of the monkeys that find their way to the WFF are native to Thailand and found all over the country roaming freely, but have gotten themselves in trouble somehow. In such cases the team tries to form small herds from the individuals, and once established, introduce them back into the wild to a larger group. This method has been used fairly successfully. Other monkeys, not of native to the area, are pets that have been let go. Indeed, they even have a small herd of deer, far away from their native Indonesia and alien to Thailand, that is more or less stuck here as it is too expensive to ship them to where they should be. The combination of the world-wide trade in exotic animals and the irresponsibility of humans has created a lot of displaced native species.

A gibbon keeping a watchful eye on us from his island while we were on our tour. They are very territorial, and very noisy!

The animals, when introduced to the center, move through various stages starting with a quarantine period where they are in cages located close to the human habitation area (and the veterinarian office!) that resemble those found at a decent zoo. The vocalization of the gibbons can be heard quite clearly at all times of the day and night! Even though the cages are small compared to their final homes, for many this is the first time they have had freedom to move around or be outside, at all. Once the animals have adapted to their new conditions, they are introduced slowly, via connecting cages or tunnels, to others of their species. This is a critical step and gives the keepers an opportunity to see if there is a chance that the animal will be releasable to the wild. (We were told that they successfully release 60% of their animals.) The keepers also try to introduce mates for the monkeys at this stage, too, as that also facilitates successful releases. As time passes and the animals progress they are introduced into larger, more free-roaming types of habitats, which will be their final home if they are not releasable. Not surprisingly the WFF facility is quite large and spread out requiring trucks, motorbikes and carts to move people and supplies around all day long. Overall the tour was very informative and very impressive.

Some of the volunteers chose to work with the wildlife, which is considered everything except the elephants, but most volunteers are interested in elephants. The elephant work is more “hands on” with the animals, although not all of them. The wildlife care involves less direct interaction. Interacting “hands on” with elephants means feeding and washing them, walking them from place to place, and generally taking care of them. Like others, I was excited about the possibility of working closely and getting to know better such magnificent creatures and thus the “hands on” part was super thrilling. I look forward to sharing my adventures!

The schedule changes from day to day so I will have an opportunity to work with many of them and each one has their own individual personality. Most are older and female, gentle and easy to work with. There is one young male who is considered dangerous and unpredictable, so we do not work “hands on” with him, although we do care for him. As I mentioned there is one young elephant who is protected by his mother and two adopted aunts so care is needed when interacting with that small herd. There is so much to learn- how awesome is that!!!

An example of some of the bears in residence.