Logging Elephant Walks Free After 41 Years in Chains

A beautiful elephant named Mare Noi took her first steps of freedom at Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary in Ban Tuek, Thailand after the compassionate people of Planting Peace worked with them to rescue her from a life in chains performing logging duties and enduring forced breeding for 41 years.

This gorgeous girl has been in chains for 41 years and this is her first time walking free. … She was used as a logging elephant and a forced breeder. She basically spent every day of her life pulling logs. Like hundreds and hundreds of trees every day that she had to pull out of the forest and then when she wasn’t doing that they were forced breeding her unfortunately. She lost every baby.

Mare Noi was immediately welcomed and accepted by the herd. She even found another elephant at the sanctuary with whom she previously worked with.

One thing that was really special is one of the elephants that Catherine and Boon Lottes had already rescued was an old logging elephant with Mare Noi, so they knew each other already. And elephants they remember each other. It’s like seeing an old friend.

Planting Peace tries to rescue at least one elephant every year.