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This Elephant About To Ferry Tourists When A Strange Truck Arrived. What Happened Next? I’m In Tears.

Sontaya is an elephant who has, for two years, been forced to give tourists rides on her back. This is an incredibly painful process for elephants.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Young elephants who are forced to do this suffer from something called training crush, which is when their spirit is crushed by the constant pain of having people and saddles on their back.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Elephants didn’t evolve to be ridden.

Sontaya lived in a small outdoor stable in Pattaya, Thailand. She barely had room to move at all.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Recently Sontaya woke to a day that she expected to be just like any other. But that day a truck arrived that would soon take her to Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) in Sukhothai.

Image Credit: Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary – BLES

Sontaya’s current owners had realized the damage that they were doing to the 50 year old elephant, so they called BLES to come and pick her up.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Before Sontaya left, her owners came to say goodbye and feed her fresh cut grass.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

People often don’t realize the damage that elephant rides do, and it’s good to see that as soon as Sontaya’s family realized they were hurting her they let her go.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Sontaya was carefully placed in the back of the massive truck, and someone gave her a gorgeous crown of flowers.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Sontaya’s skin was flaky and dry, and both sides of her face contained wounds, but overall she was doing very well.

Image Credit: Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary – BLES

It was a 30 hour trip, sometimes through crowded and busy streets, to get Sontaya to the shelter.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

BLES drove through the so that Sontaya would be able to leave the truck as quickly as possible.

Image Credit: YouTube / BoonLottsBLES Films

Now Sontaya lives with BLES and all the pain in her life is behind her.


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