Covid-19 is affecting the world as a whole, and the Mekong Elephant Park is unfortunately not an exception.
Due to the complications of the virus and the quarantine situation imposed by local authorities, our mahouts now cannot go back to the village and visit their family, due to the risk of being quarantined and not being able to come back to the park. The elephants remain the top need and priority as dependent on their mahouts. We apply a mahout rotation system to ensure security during this time, therefore each mahout now have to, at times, care for other elephants beside theirs.
This situation, paired up with the on-going drought in Laos has resulted in shortage of food and water in the forest for the elephants. On top, the occasional fires of the season (due to Slash and Burn Farming) has lead us to having to constantly move the elephants around to be sure they are getting their daily food allowance needed.
On a much brighter note, since the park is now less crowded, we actually took advantage of the situation to fully focus on Mae Ping and Mae Bounma’s reproduction project. This brings us to the greatest news we’ve received during this time:
We have got the results from the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) for Mae Ping and Mae Bounma: Both of them have ovarian activities, and this means that we are one step closer to a new generation of Asian elephants!
The Mekong Elephant Park wants to send the ECC its utmost gratitude for helping us through all this process! The ECC’s help and collaboration has been essential since day one in many aspects for the park: training Operation Manager Wendy and the mahouts to collect the blood samples, analyzing the blood samples in their laboratory and always being available for advice when needed. Again, a major thank you!
We have and will always try to stay positive during this difficult time. We believe that every dark cloud has its silver lining, and during these difficult times, the fact that we can focus on Mae Ping and Mae Bounma’s reproduction project is great news, and a huge source of motivation for us to keep on going. It goes without saying that all help we received from guests near and far are greatly appreciated. Your financial help, your efforts in spreading the words about our park, and your kind words all go straight to our hearts! This difficult situation will be over soon. Until then, stay positive, stay safe, and stay healthy.