“Boon Chuey” retires from tourism

To the rescue and retirement of a gentle giant

Boon Chuey is just over 50 years old and has ben working on the streets of Thailand and tourist elephant camps for several years. Yesterday was “her day” as she retired forever from the exploitation at the hands of tourists.

Luckily for Boon Chuey the fund-raising party in Sydney last month made it possible to yet again rescue another elephant, this time we were able to help out Boon Chuey. She is a really “gentle giant” as she seems to love people. On our several trips earlier to see her in the last few weeks she was always happy to welcome us with lots of fruits and bonded very quickly with Noi who in the last week worked very hard to get all documents ready for a safe and speedy rescue.

Boon Chuey will be on chains for a few more days at WFFT to get used to her new surroundings and the fencing. She will be however walking free during the day from the first day on and join the other elephants at the open wild enclosure within 2 weeks. No more chains, no more work, we hope she will spend a lot of happy years at WFFT.

A Thai ritual to say goodbye to Boon Chuey

Boon Chuey leaving the tourist camp