Another Baby Elephant Pathetically Treated

I'm speechless. I'm still in tears so that I can't even see what I'm typing. I'll just cut and paste the letter I sent out to all the RSC Supporters.

Friends,

Even as I'm writing this my heart is bleeding for this baby elephant which is dying. Its story is so sad. It fell in a well and its mother presumably cried until she had no more tears, being helpless to get her baby out of the well. I imagine having to walk away from that well must have been the hardest thing she ever had to do.

To make matters worse, our nation's so called animal rescue "saviours" who by the way also "gallantly did everything they could for Baby Mat Chepor" found this baby elephant they promptly called Mardos and took him out of the well. Mardos was just three months old when he was found in the well. Since then he had been kept in Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary in Lanchang Pahang.

Some sanctuary!! Tourists complained that Mardos was just skin and bones.So Perhilitan took it back to its headquarters in Cheras, nursed it back to health for three months and poor Mardos eventually found his way back to Kuala Gandah.

Now on July 1 as he was being transported to a school for a "show", Mardos slipped from the truck and fell injuring his knees. He was only taken to Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) veterinary hospital on Tuesday TWO WHOLE DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT, after the incident was reported to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan). I cannot imagine how they can allow a baby to suffer in pain like that and do nothing until Tuesday??

To add insult to injury UPM said the problem was too difficult to fix and sent him back to Kuala Gandah. A source said the fate of the animal would depend on its resilience to pain and if it would eat. RESILIENCE TO PAIN??? He's only a baby and he's already been through so much pain. Now they want to let him suffer cos they don't know what to do??

Ahhhh, God have mercy on us all.

Please read The Star's full story by Hilary Chiew below.

Finally in tears I'm pleading with all of you to please send letters (even a one or two para letter. Anything. One line, if you absolutely do not have the time) to the following newspaper editors.

Don't let Kuala Gandah, this hellhole in the guise of a "sanctuary" continue to exist to torture animals. Believe me your letters, however short DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

letters@nstp.com.my

mailed@nstp.com.my

editor@malaysiakini.com

editor@thestar.com.my

I don't have the heart to pray for Mardos to get well only for Kuala Gandah staff to continue to abuse him. I pray God will take him away quickly and painlessly from this cruel world. I cannot believe UPM can send him away in pain and not even do the most humane thing - to put him down.

(sigh) This baby should have died in the well. I feel literally sick to the stomach knowing Mardos in the hands of those people even as he is dying. I wish he could at least die in his mother's embrace.

Read up on elephants. They have incredible memories. An elephant recovering at a blessed sanctuary in Texas, USA after serving 20 years in a circus, immediately recognized a new elephant brought in and began to embrace it and make a lot of noise. The other elephant did the same. Upon checking their records it was found that they very briefly shared a pen while waiting to be transported 20 years ago when the first elephant was a baby and the newcomer to the sanctuary played surrogate mother to it for a few months before they were separated.

20 years and it still remembered!!


YOUNG JUMBO KNOCKING ON DEATH'S DOOR

By HILARY CHIEW

PETALING JAYA: It looks like Mat Chepor’s death has been in vain.

Another young elephant is now fighting for its life at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary in Lanchang, Pahang.

A week after Mat Chepor's tragic death, a one-year-old bull by the name of Mardos had both its hind legs fractured near the knees.

It is learnt that the accident happened while it was being transported to a school in Temerloh along with an adult elephant, for a show on July 1.

The young elephant slipped on the truck flooring that had become slippery after the animals defecated during the journey.

Apparently, animal transfer protocol that required a minimum of two personnel including the driver, was not adhered to and the animals were left unsupervised on the truck.

Mardos was taken to Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) veterinary hospital on Tuesday after the incident was reported to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).

When contacted, Perhilitan conservation division director Siti Hawa Yatim said she was unaware of the case but would investigate.

She said that because of difficulty in reaching the staff in Kuala Gandah she would be able to comment only next week. Numerous calls to the sanctuary went unanswered.

Eyewitness said UPM veterinarians decided against performing surgery as the injury was “too difficult” to fix. Hence, Mardos was sent back to Kuala Gandah in the hope that the wound would heal with time.

A source said the fate of the animal would depend on its resilience to pain and if it would eat. If it refused to feed, its health would deteriorate and it would be best to end the suffering by putting it down.

Even if it survives, it would walk with a permanent limp, as the injury would certainly impede the growth of its legs.

The ill-fated pachyderm was first rescued by Perhilitan last July after it fell into a well in Jemaluang, Johor, when it was three months old. It is believed that it was abandoned by its mother, which could not help it out of the well.

Following the transfer of the young elephant to Kuala Gandah, foreign tourists had reported that the animal was neglected and was all “skin and bones”.

Acting on the complaints, Perhilitan transferred it to its headquarters in Cheras and nursed it back to health over a period of three months before first relocating it to the Paya Indah Wetland Sanctuary and, later, to Kuala Gandah.

Set up in 1989 as the National Elephant Conservation Centre, Kuala Gandah has constantly been plagued by complaints of poor animal care and allegations of mismanagement.