River scrub time

Another busy week with guests from Australia.
Our guests as well as our elephants are enjoying the river on a nice and not too hot afternoon.

BIRTH ALERT: NO. 68 - IT'S A BOY - 10 MAY 2017

Our 68th birth has arrived early this morning! A handsome healthy baby boy Faaloong!
Honey is a proud grandmother!

Katherine in our Hall of Fame

We are thrilled to announce our latest Hall of Fame inductee. Jumbo congratulations to Katherine who has now been to Elephantstay six times! In Katherine's words "I love coming back to help look after all the elephants. Every time there is something new to experience and see. I especially love spoiling Rumruay with lots of attention and plenty of treats. The staff are always so welcoming, it feels like a second home. I can't wait for my next trip!"

New staff

Meet David our newest staff member. We are thrilled to have David join our team. David's animal management skills and lecturing experience in animal science makes him a great addition to Elephantstay so you can be sure to learn a lot! Welcome David!

Hall of Fame Gold Member

We are very proud to welcome Jenny Dickens to our Hall of Fame.

She is our first Gold member with her 15 stays!

She looked after Loong Sap many times before her passing

and now takes care of Rumruay.

New staff

Meet Leanne, our new Program Operations Officer. We are excited to have Leanne come on board and help look after our many Elephantstayers. Leanne has extensive zoo keeping and animal experience so don't be afraid to ask her lots of questions. Let's all welcome Leanne!

Keystone students from Beijing

The visit from the Keystone Academy, Beijing, students was a big hit. It was a great opportunity to educate and give them an experience they will never forget!
Here are some more great photos and videos that they posted on their website http://www.keystoneacademy.cn/page.cfm?p=584&g=224+

13th March, Thai National Elephant Day

March 13 was Thai National Elephant Day and we had a big celebration and feast for the elephants.
Many people attended our feast and had a wonderful day with the elephants! Good to see that people care and can live with elephants.

March 22, St. Stephen International School in Bangkok

Great morning at St. Stephen's International School in Bangkok where we gave a talk to 65 5 and 6 year old children about Elephantstay and hgow awesome Elephants are. The kids had some great questions and written some lovely poems about Elephants. They also had a fundraiser and donated 30,000 Baht to Elephantstay. Thanks to all who made that happen!

Kame our youngest baby

Late news because of very busy times her......, but Sopah has her baby.

Sopah's baby goes through life now as Kame. Named after Princess Stephanie's daughter Camille, her nick name is Kame. We were very honored with her visit last week, she is such a caring person especially for our elephants.                                          

                                                                                     Kame

This week Jintara in the spotlight

Let  me introduce our most recent addition to the Elephantstay herd....Jintara.

Jintara (which means "most beautiful girl") is the newest addition to elephantstay, she has been in our program for some 6 months now and is settling in well. 

One of her most defining features is her beautiful big grey-blue eyes that she flashes at our guests to try and encourage some extra treats (which usually works). 

She is also the youngest member of our group of elephants and one of the smallest elephants in our program, being dwarfed by Rosukon when she stands beside her. This however doesn't stop her from making a big presence and she has a lot of personality, love and affection that she shares with our guests every day. 

Be sure to follow more on Jintara this week!

Important news for our Blog Followers!

Starting the week of January 11, Blogger will remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other Open Id providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, Blogger will remove non-Google Account profiles so you will no longer be able to see the latest posts and all activity on our Blog.

If you are using a non-Google Account to follow our blog, please sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow our blog. With a Google Account, you will get blogs added to your Reading List, making it easier to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs you follow.

We hope this change will improve the experience for you all.

Elephantstay honored with legacy!

Elephantstay and the Phra Kochabaan Foundation would like to thank Paul Anthony Gatien for leaving us part of his estate to continue our work and care of our elephants. Because of his generosity we are able to proceed with projects that will enhance and improve the lives of our elephants.
As many of you know we have been devastated by floods during the rainy seasons over the years. This in turn has caused many problems for the elephant's sleeping areas. Every time we get rain the night areas become boggy and too wet for the elephants to sleep. So we must move them outside to sleep elsewhere.
We have started to bring in soil to raise the land higher and heavy machinery has been forming the land to create raised sleeping areas so when it rains the water will run off and not sit where the elephants sleep. Each sleeping area will also have a mound of soil to act like a pillow or rest which will help our older elephants get up in the morning. We will use the heavy machines to drive down concrete posts tethering the elephants in a more effective and secure way. We are improving the drainage system so the water drains away and does not sit there making the ground more boggy. 
We are changing our watering system to effectively increase the volume and speed of water. This will bring water more efficiently for drinking and bathing. The three areas that we are targeting is the elephant nursery, the communal shower and the Elephantstay elephants. To do this we have to increase the size of our pipes, faucets, hoses and purchasing a more powerful pump.
Scratchng or rubbing posts is something we have been planning to happen for some time now. Because of the years of flooding we have lost all our large trees which the elephants loved to rub and scratch on, which was good for their skin. We will erect two sets of scratching posts in two locations. Each set will consist of three types of posts protruding from the ground at different angles so the elephants can rub all of their body easily.
One of our bull elephants, Yod Yeam, has a disability. His leg was broken when during the night another bull got his chain and attacked him. Because of this, his leg is stiff and he has trouble walking. We are making him a structure to reside in during the day which has a roof for shade and sand floor. There will also be horizontal supports for him to lean on and alleviate the pressure of his good legs. This structure will make him more comfortable and improve his quality of life.
These projects are very costly and the legacy of 50,000 AUD from Paul Anthony Gatien has meant we can achieve these goals.
We would also like to thank Alex Maroulis, executor and trustee of Paul's estate for ensuring his legacy has been realized. 
Improving the lives of our elephants is an ongoing work in progress and we greatly appreciate the generous contribution Paul has made. 
You may want to consider making a legacy in your will to Elephantstay. We will ensure it makes a considerable difference to our elephants.

Please take a look at our facebook All help Elephantstay help Elephants for more photos.