Thai elephant sanctuary is my little piece of heaven

A WOMAN from Shiplake is raising money for an elephant sanctuary in Thailand.

Amanda Cocks volunteered at Bles Lott’s in Sukhothai for five days in the summer and was so impressed that she wants to help in other ways too.

The sanctuary, which was founded by a Briton, Katherine Connor, rescues and protects elephants from abuse by providing a safe place where they can relearn social skills.

It also rescues dogs and cats and was visited by Paul O’Grady last year when he was making a documentary about elephants.

However, it has been struggling to survive since the coronavirus pandemic and needs funds.

Amanda, who lives in Badgers Walk with her husband and dogs Chewy and Lola, helped prepare meals and carried out other general tasks when she was at the sanctuary as well as simply observing the elephants.

She said: “They have adopted a non-touch policy so you literally just follow the elephants.

“Bles aims to give them as much of a life as they would have in the wild. They have big paddocks which allow them to be sort of as free.

“As you observe, you learn about the elephants, such as their need to be walked due to their sweat glands being in their feet. I learnt so much about how dangerous captivity can be for them.

“I didn’t really think about fund-
raising until flying back but the impacts of covid with reduced visitors and donations really brought it home to me. With things like vets’ bills and general medication costs rising, Bles has been very much impacted as they work with local dogs and cats too.”

Amanda, who is originally from Devon and lived in Reading before moving to Shiplake in 2016, has volunteered in animal care for years and first heard about the sanctuary in 2014 when she was on a sabbatical from her job in IT recruitment.

“It was after lot of investigating on the internet,” she said. “I wanted something ethical as you must be so careful.”

She plans to return to the sanctuary as a volunteer and wants to encourage other people to follow suit.

“Bles is a little piece of heaven on earth and family-run,” she said. “I stayed in a small bed and breakfast literally just down the road that does lovely coffee.

“They have a lot of families that go as well as couples and single travellers like me. They welcome everyone.

“All the Thai food they serve is vegetarian or vegan and it is amazing — I’ve never tasted anything like it. We were served Thai whisky, which is very strong, in these shot glasses made out of bamboo. It was such a special experience and I’m sure many other animal lovers would find the same. But I think you have to have a reasonable level of fitness if you want to go.”

Amanda wants to raise awareness of elephant welfare as well as raise money for the sanctuary.

She said: “I decided when I came back that I wanted to do something more. I’ve been doing car boot sales and selling scrunchies to raise money.

“I’m also asking for dog and cat owners if they are able to donate used collars, leads and brushes or if people have spare worming tablets and vet tape to send out.

“The car boot sales and selling items online seem to be paying off as local people have kindly donated free items as well as me decluttering.”

She has not decided whether to send the donated goods to Thailand by courier, which is expensive, or take them with her when she revisits the sanctuary next year.

Amanda said: “It’s not all about raising money but also about getting the word out about the ethics of sanctuaries and protecting
elephants.”

For more information about the sanctuary or to donate, visit www.blesele.org

To buy a scrunchie, visit www.facebook.com/market
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