A Special Visit

A Special Visit

A very special event today - Thong Dee and Tang Mo's former owners flew in from Thailand to attend a blessing ceremony this weekend where Luk Chai will be blessed by Buddhist monks. Tang Mo and Thong Dee had not seen their former Thai mahout for three years. The mahout, Mau, had grown up with these elephants and spent two years working alongside the Taronga team in Thailand before the elephants were imported to Australia. The elephants were at first very surprised to see him, and then affectionately surrounded him, smelling him and inspecting with their trunks. Mau spoke to them in Thai and they immediately responded, doing anything he asked. Clearly they're still very fluent in Thai! Mau said all the elephants looked incredibly healthy and he was happy for them. They introduced him to Luk Chai and Mau gave the calf a big hug, declaring him 'perfect'.