Animals have been affected too
Images adapted from: Ejan
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many elephant sanctuaries were closed in accordance with the lockdown rules, and some are now facing a huge recession as Thailand’s tourism is yet to recover.
This unfortunate situation hasn’t only affected humans, but also elephants in the industry as many sanctuaries have not been able to afford feeding them and had to send them back to their home provinces.
Image credit: Ejan
When Thai news site Ejan announced their volunteer project to help feed unemployed elephants in Surin province, a sugarcane plantation owner who went by the nickname Oat reached out to them.
To their surprise, he said he’d like to give away 60 tons of sugarcane to help the project for free.
Image credit: Ejan
Last weekend, Ejan recruited around 30 mahouts (elephant caretakers) and volunteers to harvest sugarcane at Mr Oat’s plantation. They ended up going back home with around 40 tons of the produce.
The owner also said that they could come back for more anytime if it’s not enough.
Bought food for mahouts
Image credit: Ejan
Besides being willing to give away 60 tons of his sugarcane for free, Mr Oat and his little son also bought food and drinking water for the mahouts and workers who were harvesting the plantation in the middle of a hot day.
Image credit: Ejan
He also revealed to the news site that the sugarcane is worth a couple of hundred grand in total, but he’s glad to help.
His family is also happy as well because they regularly donate to charities and temples anyway.
Thanks to Mr Oat’s charitable heart, many elephants in Surin can survive another day without going hungry.
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