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  • News & article

    Truckload of goodwill

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 15/06/2020

    » A giant white truck stands tall on the ground. At first light, its cargo area is soon filled with sacks of rice and food items packed by a group of volunteers and staff who had gathered at the Thai Elephants Conservation Centre in Khao Yai on a recent weekend. With their collective effort, the packing and loading process is completed in no time and the truck is ready to roll.

  • News & article

    Human cruelty for a false belief

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 07/10/2019

    » Would you pay to set something free? A poor, small creature locked away in confinement perhaps? From behind bars, its eyes meet yours as if to say: "Save me." So delicate. So pitiful. And if you do nothing, who knows what's going to happen to it? You take your wallet out. Hand over a few bills to the seller, who has handful of cages on him. And soon you let it go. Be it bird, fish, turtle or other. Fly free. Swim free.

  • News & article

    The message of the medium

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 28/08/2019

    » When the chipmunks Chip and Dale sailed into the bustling floating market in the recent viral Disney short Our Floating Dreams, both the world and local people were fascinated by the images of Thai culture. Busy canals and pineapple fried rice brought about onscreen exoticism watched by millions around the world.

  • News & article

    Unshackling gentle giants

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 07/05/2018

    » After trading our sneakers for knee-length boots, we trotted down to the riverbank where a boat was waiting for us. It was a short crossing to the other side of Nam Khan River to meet the elephants that happily approached us for bananas and sugar cane. They had no chains around their ankles. The mahouts stood nearby, keeping watch with no hooks in their hands. Later, they guided the gentle giants to walk along with the humans trailing nearby on muddy ground. The atmosphere was very friendly and calm, with a picturesque landscape of jungle, river and sky surrounding us.

  • News & article

    From suffering comes compassion

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 10/10/2017

    » Breast cancer befalls one in 10 Thai women, and when Maynart Nantakwang realised over a decade ago that she was in that unfortunate 10%, she had only one sensible reaction.

  • News & article

    Into the holistic

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 06/03/2017

    » Each day at the break of dawn, 40-year-old Sa-nga Karnin emerges from the bamboo hut he shares with his wife and daughter wearing his uniform of blue denim, with a colourful pha khao ma wrapped around his neck. Then, it's work time. His priority as a mahout is Thongma, his trusted elephant who is in her 40s.

  • News & article

    For country and the world

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 21/11/2016

    » In 1965, Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province became the country's first wildlife sanctuary. It is home to more than 500,000 rai of forest ground occupied by elephants, tigers, bulls and countless other species of beasts and plants. The sanctuary -- composed of dry evergreen, dry dipterocarp and mixed deciduous forest depending on the altitude -- is packed with an abundance of natural resources. Unfortunately, the sanctuary attracts intruders who try to seek profits from its abundance.

  • News & article

    Beast of a polo tournament

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 17/03/2016

    » Elephants stomping around the forest doing heavy dragging work is a familiar sight. Less so, though not entirely foreign now after more than a decade, is the sight of them taking to the grassy fields of a polo tournament, the big beasts chasing after a white ball with a kwan chang -- a mahout -- and a player perched on top. All for a good cause, of course.

  • News & article

    Earn your stripes

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 10/03/2016

    » After making rounds all over the world, the papier-mâché troupe of 1,600 pandas have finally arrived in our city. Many Bangkokians are now stalking the cute flash mob, an art project to raise awareness for animal conservation, to make sure they get a selfie or two before the pandas migrate elsewhere. (They were at Sanam Luang last week and CentralWorld earlier this week.)

  • News & article

    A Trunk-Full of love

    Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 19/08/2015

    » Carol Buckley first encountered an elephant when she was 19 and that short moment became a turning point in her life. Drawn into their intelligence and playfulness -- and by her sympathy towards the neglected condition of elephants -- Buckley has been putting efforts towards improving their welfare for the last 40 years.

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