One of our favorite places to volunteer is Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur, India, a place where animals are protected and revered. Animal Aid Unlimited is a US-based 501(c)3 charitable organization where ownerless street animals are rescued, healed, loved, and returned to the neighborhoods from where they came.
“Animal Aid’s purpose is to both bring relief to suffering animals, and to awaken compassion among people. Showing everyone a path for action is where we begin.”
Right now you can sponsor one of their shelter animals in the name of a loved one for Christmas. The money goes towards food, shelter and medical needs. Up for sponsorship are some of the animals I fell in love with while volunteering there this time last year. Including Rambo & Tina, two of the gorgeous paralyzed dogs at the hospital. Please consider donating to Animal Aid as part of your Holiday shopping list!
Erika Sullivan is one of my greatest friends and heroes.
I met Erika when we were paired up as roommates on my first trip to India. We immediately clicked and were mostly inseparable for the length of the trip. We bonded over our shared love for traveling and helping animals. Though she is quite a bit better at helping animals than me since she is a veterinarian. (So, clearly a lot better at helping animals.) I must have asked her a million questions and marveled at how she reacted when we saw animals in need. Since our trip to India, we have remained good friends and continue to plan future adventures.
Having just finished Week 2 volunteering at Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur, Rajasthan (India) I am completely in awe of the incredible staff that runs this amazing hospital and sanctuary. Though the ENTIRE staff should (and will) be recognized for their beautiful work, the women of Animal Aid are this week’s Girls Who Are Changing The World.
Erika Abrams founded Animal Aid with her husband Jim about 15 years ago. They moved to a small village close to Udaipur from Seattle to create a haven for the un-owned street animals of India. Though neither of them had veterinary experience, they had a love of animals and a passion to help them. Along with their daughter Claire, they settled here and haven’t looked back.
“As they deepened roots and their understanding of how things work here, they learned that in most cities in India there are no hospitals or shelters for un-owned animals. The government veterinary facilities are aimed toward milk production and animal farming.”
Claire spoke fairly good Hindi by the time she was 10 and has been an ambassador for animals in schools throughout the area. She began doing slideshows at the age of 15, giving presentations to inform kids what Animal Aid does and why their work is so important. She also conducts vegan outreach activities in the community. I like to watch her with the animals. She gives unconditional love to every one.
Claire giving love to Octopus, a deformed & handicapped dog.
Trudy is the Volunteer Coordinator. She’s basically my boss and one of the coolest chicks you will ever meet! She gives tours to visiting groups and assigns the volunteers their jobs. She knows the place inside and out. She also has a huge passion for animals like I have never seen. It is a pleasure to get to work with her every day!
*Photo by Erika Sidor
Then there is the female staff of Animal Aid: Radha, Dhapu, Manju & Kamla. Each of them has their specialty. Radha and Dhapu are in charge of pups. I’m positive that the puppies think Dhapu is their momma the way they follow her around and cry when she leaves their sight for a second! Manju is the woman in charge of cleaning and let me tell you with the 100+ animals at the hospital, it’s a NON-STOP job!
Then there is Kamla who is probably my favorite person in the world! You only have to be in her presence for a minute before you know that she is someone extraordinary. Kamla’s main job is physical therapy and massage for the handicapped dogs. She has gotten many of the paralyzed dogs gain more mobility with her healing ways. Not only that, but there are at least 2 dogs that have made a full recovery thanks to her. She is magical. And probably one of the most joyous people you will ever meet!
Last but not least, there are the female volunteers of Animal Aid. In my 2 weeks, there have been quite a few people who have come through to spend time helping the hospital. 99% of them girls! Some come for a day or 2 and some come for weeks/months at a time. Julie O’Neill has been coming to Animal Aid for 6 years. The first time she came, she only planned on a week and stayed for a year! Since then she’s been coming for several months at a time, living in a nearby village and spending every day working at the hospital. Herdedication to helping the world is inspiring! Julie definitely deserves her own GCTW post one day highlighting her amazing adventures in volunteering all over the world!
All the women of Animal Aid go above and beyond to help animals in need on a daily basis. I am completely honored to get to be in their divine presence every day. Thank you all so much for inspiring me and making me a better person!
**If you know a super rad girl that you would like to nominate for our ‘Girls Who Are Changing the World’ feature, send them to us at: loveinfinitelyproject@gmail.com
You say, well that’s all fine and dandy Brenda, but I will never make it to Thailand to volunteer with elephants, is there any other way to help? To that I say, of course. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that going to Thailand and volunteering with elephants is going to save them necessarily. Not that it doesn’t take an army of volunteers to run a place like the Elephant Nature Park, it does. Plus, the money that we pay to stay there and the donations they receive from visitors help keep it running and expanding, allowing them to help rescue even more animals.
However, one question that my fellow volunteers and I discussed at length was, what else can be done to save the elephants? After learning about the history Thailand has with it’s beloved elephant, even being there made us feel helpless. But aren’t elephants endangered? Yes. Don’t the Thai people revere the elephant? Yes and no. Elephants (ช้าง) are the national symbol of Thailand. Their history is long, going back hundreds of years to when they helped save the kingdom in times of war. Their image used to be emblazoned on the flag (back when it was Siam), on their coins, Buddhist Temples and the king rode upon a white elephant in ceremonies. They are symbols of victory, wisdom and good luck. Strong. Hard-working. Intelligent and loyal. They are mighty. So, what went wrong?
After the logging industry became illegal in Thailand (still legal in neighboring Burma), there was no more work for the elephant. Not only that, but they unknowingly helped destroy their own natural habitat. No longer a way for the Thai people to use elephants for profit and no home for the elephants to go back to made for a bad situation for everyone. Until the country opened up it’s gates to tourists. Enter jumbo tourism. People come to Thailand wanting to come in contact with these magnificent creatures and mahouts (elephant trainers) know this very well.
Despite there being a law to protect the elephants in the ‘wild’, domesticated elephants have the same rights as livestock. Basically meaning that they have NO rights. One can do anything to a ‘domesticated’ elephant and it’s perfectly legal. What separates a domestic elephant from a wild elephant? Nothing. And what can stop a mahout from going into the wild, killing a mother elephant and stealing her baby for domestic use? Nothing. Frustrated yet? Me too.
It gets worse…
[Disturbing material, be advised.]
There are only a few thousand elephants left in Thailand and the amount in captivity as domestic elephants is staggering. In the video above you see what is called ‘the training crush‘, where they crush a baby elephant’s spirit in order to domesticate it. (70% of these babies are poached from the wild.) These are still-nursing babies. Put in a tiny wooden cage and tortured with sharp knives, poked with nails in their eyes, ears, feet, beaten mercilessly and kept without food or water for days or weeks. Some babies don’t survive the crush. They are continued to be beaten for the rest of their lives. Every single domesticated elephant in Thailand has gone through ‘the crush‘.
Every single one.
Even though elephants (even babies) could easily injure or kill a human with their incredible strength, they don’t. They are scared, in many cases alone without other elephant companions and they fear the abuse of the mahout. Most go blind from being stabbed in the eye so many times. Many of the elephants at the ENP are at least partially blind due to this. It leaves them crippled and physically and emotionally scarred.
If you feel helpless, don’t. The power is in our hands to change this. Each one of us. It is us after all that keeps the mahouts, elephant shows (ahem, circuses), camps and farms in business. Mahouts can make up to 2000 Baht a day with their street begging elephants. Now outlawed in both Chiang Mai and Bangkok, the major culprit is Phuket with about 400-500 elephants in the hotel and entertainment business. Elephant experiences in Thailand (and all over the world) can be stopped simply by not going to them. Many claim to be volunteer experiences like ENP, but most are not. If it involves riding the elephant, watching it paint, dance, play soccer or do tricks of any kind, don’t do it. And tell others not to as well. Not just for elephants in Thailand but for elephants everywhere.
Another thing we can do is write in to guidebooks and tourism journals and tell them not to advertize animal tourism. Lonely Planet does a pretty good job of steering people away from places of abuse. We need them all to advise against any kind of animal show. Trip Advisor needs help with this especially because it is based on customer reviews. I know this post isn’t about tigers, monkeys, snakes or crocodiles, but they are a part of this too. Places like Tiger Kingdom (which has STRONG advertizing all over Chiang Mai) are horrible places of animal abuse keeping the animals scared and even sedated.
If you want to help these animals right now, spread the word. Write in to tourism websites and guidebooks. This type of activism is what will help save these animals in the long run.
*I must note that the mahouts at the ENP are trained in a different manner. Kindness and compassion are evident. The beautiful connection between an elephant and her mahout is clear. There is love and respect on both sides. Seeing a mahout create music for his elephant, carve her likeness with the utmost care and detail out of wood and seeing an elephant get silly and play with her mahout brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.
