Ep 4: Wildlife Warrior Saengduean "Lek" Chailert *Mini Episode*

In this mini-episode, we discuss the incredible Saengduean "Lek" Chailert and her work with Asian Elephant tourism. An amazing person for our first wildlife warrior episode and to finish off our episodes in Chiang Mai, Thailand!

World Nomads*

https://www.worldnomads.com/Turnstile/AffiliateLink?partnerCode=stmblsfri&source=link&utm_source=stmblsfri&utm_content=link&path=//www.worldnomads.com/travel-insurance/

Chase Sapphire Reserved Card*
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/6/LN9FIIBZZR 

Sources

BUILDseries Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgjVxugFGIc 

Green Global Travel. Interview: Lek Chailert, The Elephant Whisperer of Elephant Nature Park. Green Global Travel. https://greenglobaltravel.com/interview-lek-chailert-elephant-whisperer-elephant-nature-park/ 

Guerin, Kelly. Lek Chailert. Unbound Project. 2017. https://unboundproject.org/lek-chailert/ 

Lek Chailert. United Nations System Staff College. https://www.unssc.org/about-unssc/speakers-and-collaborators/lek-chailert/ 

Lewis, Kelly. The Woman Saving Thailand’s Elephants. Unearth Women. 2018. https://www.unearthwomen.com/2018/12/10/the-woman-saving-thailands-elephants/ 

Loop Abroad. Meet Lek! Loop Abroad. https://www.loopabroad.com/lek-chailert/ 

Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story *

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083ZQK9VJ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B083ZQK9VJ&linkCode=as2&tag=stumblesafari-20&linkId=7ecd325b73b5b86b89441424ccc13bca 

Save Elephant Foundation. Our Founder. Save Elephant Foundation. 2021. https://www.saveelephant.org/about/founder-sangduen-lek-chailert 

*affiliate

Transcript

0:00

humane nature is an animal tourism podcast with discussions about animal abuse, injury and medicine, listener discretion is advised. Hello, everybody and welcome back to humane nature. I am so sorry. I have been absent for so long. I'm, you know, pretty new at this podcasting thing and life has kind of kicked me in my butt recently with the holidays coming up and still settling into a new city in a new apartment. And on top of all of that, I just adopted a new cat. So if you hear the jingling of a bell, or a tag in the background, that is Mr. Loki, two year old black cat that we just rescued from the Humane Society. He is sitting behind me because he can't go two minutes without, you know, being in the direct vicinity of myself or my partner. So that's Loki. And that's the current update on my life. I promise to get a little better about releasing a an episode every week or every other week. Right now I'm aiming for every other week. But hopefully as I kind of get into the routine, we can start doing weekly episodes. So I did post on my Twitter account, I'm asking you guys, if you enjoy hearing the wildlife and tourism news at the beginning of the episodes, if you like hearing these at the beginning of the episode, or if you'd prefer me to put them at the end, or if you prefer me to get rid of them altogether, let me know message me on social media or on my email, I would really like to know I find these fascinating, but if you guys don't like them, I can cut them out. So we are going to do wildlife news in this episode, but you can let me know if you're not enjoying it and I will cut them in the future episodes. But for today, it has come to my attention actually that this week, my hometown of Evansville, Indiana, I no longer live there. But that is where I grew up, has stopped using tigers in their annual circus so they do a circus every year, the week of Thanksgiving. And they have stopped using the tiger shows in that circus after a video leaked of illness and mistreatment of those tigers. You guys probably know how I feel about the use of wildlife in circuses, not a fan. It is one of the only circuses left in the country that still uses performing animals. And although they have gotten rid of their tiger shows, they still use performing elephants, they still offer elephant rides. And, you know, there's no news yet on what is going to happen to those tigers. Now that they're no longer in that circus. So bit of good news and bad news with that. Second piece of information. Um, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will increase critical habitat designated for Northern Spotted owls, under the Endangered Species Act to 9.4 million acres in the country. So that is amazing. We do want to bring their numbers back up the species is considered threatened, not necessarily endangered, but we don't want them to drop down into that endangered territory. They have declined more than 50% since 1995. So 26 years, they have dropped, you know more than 50%. So we do want their numbers to increase. So that's awesome that the US is designating so much land protected land for these for these northern spotted owls. In sad news a study published in November, so November 2021, when I'm recording this, found that, you know, found what we all suspected climate change is an emerging factor in human wildlife conflict. So in this study, with the increase of heat waves and droughts and harsher storms, wildlife have been coming in closer contact with humans in the form of, you know, coming into people's backyards to drink out of pools, drink out of bird baths, get into the shade, their you know, forests and things are on fire and they're trying to escape that. So with the increase in climate change, it is a direct result. There's a direct result of wildlife coming in closer contact with humans and you know that all the issues that come in with that Another piece of sad news. I don't know I if I don't know if you guys knew what mountaintop removal mining was, I had never heard of that. Maybe I am just, you know, privileged in that fact and never really lived in a mining area. But mountaintop removal mining is a coal mining technique used in the Appalachian Mountains in the US. And this technique removes the top of mountains and ridge lines and deposits the debris into streams in order to reach the coal inside. And after reading that, I was like, Well, no shit that this is contaminating local water sources. But there is a study that has been released recently that said that this mining technique is contaminating local water sources and may be killing aquatic life, including endangered and threatened species. The study also showed that there are increasing levels of hard metals and things in the water supply for both people and wildlife in the areas so not good. I have no idea how mountaintop removal mining was approved way back when for coal mining. Because it's it sounds absolutely absurd to me, you know, that we're you're blowing up and removing the tops of these natural, beautiful mountains in the area and putting it directly into the water source. So don't know who approved that, but you're not smart. Okay. Last but not least a bit of good news. Venomous sharks, particularly the spurdog have been found in the river Thames in London. The arrival of this key predator is a huge turning point for the ecology and health of the river, which was declared biologically dead in 1957. Guys, this is huge. This river was unable to support life in 1957. And through huge ecological programs, huge cleanup programs, they have cleaned this river up so much that not only have they reintroduced fish and sea horses and other aquatic life now they're finding the spurdog, which is huge. This is really great news for that river. And all of the headlines that I read about this, we're really keying in on the fact that the spurdog is considered a venomous shark, which is kind of nuts. But the spurdog dog is found in deep water, and they actually have spines in the front of their two dorsal fins that secrete a venom, which is how they're considered venomous. They are not considered dangerous. They're rarely there's next to no data of them, attacking humans. And when they do, it's usually an accident like people swimming too deep and brushing up against them and touching these spines rather than them actually attacking humans. So this venom can cause pain and swelling in humans, but is not considered dangerous. The shark grows up to 23 inches and rarely interacts with humans. So this is really really really great news for the wildlife up in London and the surrounding area. So today, we are going to do a wildlife warrior highlight. I realized after I had titled this and everything that wildlife warriors may be a term owned by the Irwin family and the Steve Irwin zoo over in Australia so I'm not sure what I'm going to call these episodes now if I could keep it wildlife warriors or if I can call them like animal advocates or something else. You guys message me tag me. What do you think I should name these episodes? So today's wildlife warrior episode is about Lek Chailert who is one of the most incredible people that I've ever read about I've ever learned about and I have personally met her. She is amazing. So her full name is Saengduean "Lek" Chailert. She was born in 1961 in the hilltribe village, Baan Lau I'm sorry if I mispronounced that. About two hours north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. She is one of the I don't even say one of she is the biggest Asian elephant advocate ever. She has completely changed the way that we look at Asian elephants, how they're treated. And she nearly single handedly has started Asian elephant conservation and started these discussions that we're having about elephants in tourism, and elephants in zoos, elephants in circuses, riding elephants, all of that can be traced back to Lek. So let's talk about where she came from. So she was born into a hilltribe village, which is super cool. Her grandfather was actually a shaman, to the village people, and would often treat injured and ill animals as well. And Lek would come help her or help him My apologies, help her grandfather heal the animals. She immediately since she was very young, felt a bond to animals, she wanted to help them she had this kind of almost mystical connection to these to these animals. And we will talk about that a little bit later, too. So she cared for her family's elephant, which I thought was awesome, which is very common, especially in hilltribes, in Thailand, so she cared for the family elephant, but decided to turn to conservation of elephants after experiencing an elephant logging camp at 16 years old. And she often talks about this in interviews, just the switch that flipped whenever she saw the suffering of all of these Asian elephants at this logging camp. And that is what started everything she was 16 years old, and immediately stepped into conservation. So she stepped away from tradition to advocate for elephants, which is a huge, huge, huge deal for the time and where she grew up. Where everything in these hilltribe villages and in Thailand and that part of the world, they are very, very, very much devoted to tradition, and their religion and, you know, doing things that have always worked for them. And a lot of the times that's really beautiful, that is some of the culture that I strive to go visit and see and observe for myself when I travel. But it is not something that we necessarily have very much in, you know, Western countries, I come from the United States. That is not something that we really have here. We're not a very old country, we're a melting pot of all these different cultures. And a lot of the times these things don't really stick. So it's different and very beautiful to see these things in other countries, but it took a lot for her for Lek to step away from these traditions and start advocating for the Asian elephants around her. She is now internationally recognized from several major documentaries and awards from National Geographic, discovery, Animal Planet, and BBC have all put out documentaries. She's won the Genesis award from the Humane Society of the United States. She is globally recognized by the Smithsonian. She was honored in Washington DC by Hillary Clinton as one of six women heroes of global conservation. She also has an honorary PhD in Veterinary Sciences by His Majesty The Crown Prince of Thailand. That's impressive. And that is just a short list of all of the awards and accolades and recognitions that she's received throughout her life. So Lej is a really big deal. She found it saved the elephant Foundation, elephant nature park and elephant nature park's sister parks almost single handedly, if you haven't listened to it yet. Last week, I put out an episode of the elephant nature park which I have visited and that is actually where I met Lek. So I highly recommend to go back and listen to that episode, to get more of a feel of what I'll be talking about today. So you can usually find her and meet her at the elephant nature park. She's very hands on she's always covered in dirt surrounded by dogs and elephants talking to guests talking to the mahouts that live there and work with the elephants. That's how I met her she's an absolutely incredible person very very down to earth and very very hands on with her work. She has also earned honorary degrees from I'm going to butcher this the Rajabhat Chiang Mai University. So she's got lots and lots of honorary degrees including a veterinary PhD. And anyone who has met Lek or observed her at ENP, Lek has an almost mystical power with animals. And anyone who has observed her and seen her and met her will tell you this, including myself. She will walk up to these elephants, especially like upset or anxious elephants, and will often just go up and whisper a few words to them. And these elephants immediately calm down and begin to follow her. She has been welcomed into so many of these elephants, little groups, these herds. You can see these elephants immediately walk up to her drape their trunks over her touch her like they do each other and recognize her as one of their own. And it's absolutely beautiful to see. She's also constantly surrounded by the many dogs that are at elephant nature park. So she's just constantly being followed by these little shadow animals, whether small dogs or huge elephants, even like water buffalo and cats sometimes she's absolutely incredible. So, the biggest thing that she does is she does negotiations for rescuing elephants to take these elephants to either elephant nature, nature park, or the many many sister parks around Southeast Asia. And we will talk about how she manages these negotiations. We will actually hear a little bit from Lek herself about these negotiations and how she feels during them right after this. *Ad* When you travel, you should be protected, especially if you enjoy adventurous activities or wildlife tourism. That's where travel insurance comes in. 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I know ads aren't always the most fun thing in the world. But it is a way to keep this podcast and my blog, Stumble Safari going. And I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to them and to click on those links and help support this channel. So we were talking about how Lek not only rescues elephants, but she does these negotiations to rescue them. And how she does that is she you know talks to these mahouts and local families a lot of the indigenous hilltribe families that still have these family elephants, and she negotiates with them in order to allow this family to let her take this elephant to its new forever home for better treatment. And these negotiations for rescuing elephants can take months to years for each individual elephant. She takes a realistic and holistic approach to rescuing elephants understanding the limitations of laws, money, space, and the needs of indigenous or poor locals. So she directly works with these people she does not think of people as lesser than or she doesn't talk about disliking people or liking animals more than people she works within these limitations of you know local laws. people needing these elephants for money people not having enough space or her not having enough space and the individual needs of of indigenous people and poor locals that may be depending on these elephants. And she actually worked on a movie called Love and elephants or I'm sorry not love and elephants Love and Bananas which talks about how she rescued it was the process of her rescuing a very like a single Asian elephant and it follows her process through that and it's a really really beautiful movie I highly recommend it I will have a link in the show description in the show notes for you to check it out if you want to go watch Love and Bananas because i i highly recommend it. So she does talk about how she maintains positive relationships with the not so great camps like trekking camps or families that may not be treating their animals the way that they should be, and how she can still be notified when there's an opportunity for rescue, because she maintains positive relationships with these, with these groups. And I'll let you hear her answer for her yourself. You know, as you know, that is many ways that use elephant, not just only for elephant trick they do for elephant logging, that is use elephant to pull the log in, in the jungle, and also for the circus and for the elephant up the street making most of the people that elephant in Asia, they're owned by private owner. And this is dealing with a lot of money. This is very difficult. But every time when we start to educate people, or start to talk, they just said, Don't touch it. Because this is this is our business. And very difficult in the country, which has been have animal animal rights and animal have to protection. And, you know, for me, I challenge a lot, especially for our country. And they doesn't like me at all, when I speak out about elephant cruelty, but they marked me some of the mark me as the enemy. But I know my work my philosophy that is I believe in love, I have to bring love bigger than hate. So doesn't matter, they hate me. But I if I want to change them to be in a better way I want in I love elephant and I want elephant to be to be the better life. So I have to work with them. And in many times, that is when I get attacked, or in some way somehow, I won't, I won't return back to them. I just keep quiet and convince them walk to them and showed a positive and try to bring them to the way that is I want to have the elephant in the better way. So this is the you know more so people, especially the animal rights they will want to say that they love animal but they hate people. But it didn't work with me I feel I cannot deny on that I have to work with people as well to make the change. So in that interview, Lek describes being attacked and hated by many groups of people, whether on both sides, whether they think that she is not taking enough action to rescue these elephants, or because she people view her as a threat because she's, you know, trying to make a better life for these elephants. And people think that she's gonna come steal their way of life and their income and just leave them in the dust. But she is such a gentle person. And she's extremely patient and she just calmly explains things and educates people. And often, she doesn't even need to rescue that elephant because once these people listen to her and learn, they start treating their elephant in a way that that elephant no longer needs to be rescued. And there are a lot of stories of her going to a family to rescue their elephant and the family doing a complete 180 and opening up their own rescue because they've become just as passionate about elephants as she has. So yeah, Lek is a really incredible person and she just has this way with both with animals and with people in Love and Bananas that movie that I mentioned, it took three and a half years to rescue the elephant and to convince this family to consider treating and raising their elephants differently. And Lek discusses this particular elephant's first free moment and the effect it had on that family so I take the father and until one day I visit with Ashley and John and him I said okay let's do this. Take your elephant we prepare the mud bath let elephant be run free when elephant run free on that day everyone witness that a whole family sit some of them not even barely can stand up and voice but many of them to their tear rolling down and some of them stand behind the bush and the tree and watch that and when they see elephant rolling down in the mud bath and swimming and smack trunk on the river. And the they said that they never believe that elephant have emotional. They never believed that is elephant have fun like us they never believe that elephant can show the happiness. That completely broke me the first time that I heard that. And those those were both excerpts from the build series interview with Lek right after Love and Bananas was released and you can find that interview on YouTube. And I will also link it in the show notes, Lek, discussing, and the reaction of not only the elephant like she kind of breezes over what the actual elephant did. And you would expect her to go more into the elephant felt this way. And it was doing this and doing that. No, she focuses on the people she focuses on, and perfectly describes how this family who is so against her taking their elephant for the longest time, how they're crying, they're sobbing. And they come to this realization that these elephants that they've raised for years, they never realized that elephants have emotions. And elephants can play and love and be happy or sad or hurt, just like people can. And it's really beautiful. So Lek is truly a pioneer in Asian elephant tourism advocacy. She has completely changed the way not just Thailand, but the world has viewed elephants and elephants in captivity and elephants performing. And it's just, I love her. I love her so much. She's an incredible, incredible human. And I just, I really encourage you to go and look into more interviews with her go and look into just videos that people have taken and posted on YouTube of her just walking around and interacting with the elephants and just see how these elephants treat her compared to their mahouts or even other workers or volunteers at ENP. She is truly an incredible human. And she inspires me and she is one of the people that have inspired me to do what I'm doing now and to, you know, talk to people and try to raise awareness for cruel animal tourism and how there's a positive animal tourism out there, how we can interact with wildlife and animals in a positive way. So I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Lek is only about five feet tall. And that's why her name is Lek, like, is actually Thai for the word small. So it's really really funny to see this teeny, tiny woman she's extremely petite, extremely small. Just take control of other people and and these massive elephants like elephants, you expect to know how big an elephant is, until you stand next to one. And to see her just, like be accepted into these elephants herds and treating these elephants as not just like pets, but like family members is amazing, especially when you know that she's only about five feet tall, and she's absolutely amazing. Thank you guys so much for listening today. I know this episode is a bit shorter than usual, but I really wanted to get an episode out there. I think my wildlife warriors segments will be kinda like mini episodes. So I can talk about these people and just talk about what they're doing, or or did if for some that may have passed on. But Lek is still with us. She's still working hard and you can meet her by going to ENP she's almost always there. So I highly encourage you to look into the elephant nature park to follow them on Instagram and Facebook and see what they're doing. To watch Love and Bananas, watch more interviews with Lek and to you know, reach out and see what you can do for these Asian elephants and just raise awareness. Just talk to your friends talk to them about not going to ride elephants if they're going to Southeast Asia not going to a circus that has performing elephants so thank you so much for listening. You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at stumble Safari. And on my Instagram I will be posting a picture of Lek and a picture of the elephant nature park so you can see what she looks like and and you know see more of the elephant nature park and check out my website stumble safari.com for basic travel guides and also animal tourism guides, the do's and don'ts of animal tourism. And thank you so much. I will see you guys in two weeks. And we will be discussing next I think we're going to be flying out figuratively of Chiang Mai, Thailand and going to the United States. And next week I think we will be discussing rattlesnake roundups in the southwest United States. So anyone who knows me knows I am very passionate about reptile conservation as well as mammals, particularly because my partner is a wildlife illustrator and extremely passionate about reptiles. So we are a reptile family and stay tuned for that thanks you can find sources for today's episode in the show notes. Thanks for listening