| Max eventually ended up in Bangkok
where he worked the Silom and Patpong districts with his
mahout begging for food. People were fascinated by the size of him. Tourist
were eager to buy bananas and other food from the mahout to give to Max.
In exchange, they could take pictures of themselves with Max to show
friends back home and tell them stories of the elephant-giant they had
encountered in Thailand. Max’s picture has gone around the world.
Yet how many people ever looked into his sad, tired eyes and tried to
understand how much fear even big elephants might have when forced to
work in a strange place far from natural environment? In 1999 the government began a campaign to get elephants out of the
streets in Bangkok. Never easy, the life of a panhandling elephant soon
became more gruelling. Max and his mahout couldn’t walk their usual beat
any longer and, hoping to avoid the authorities, fled to the outskirts
of the city. Their make-shift hiding place was at the edge of the big
municipal garbage dump. Max obtained many of his meals from this putrid
refuse, often becoming sick from the, sometimes poisonous, poor quality
food. Now and then, when the municipal police came to search the area,
the mahout fled, leaving Max alone for long periods with no shade, food,
or water.
As it became more and more difficult to make money in Bangkok, the
mahout finally moved Max to the seaside resort area of Chonburi, by
Pattaya, in 2000. One hot April evening, Max and his mahout set
out from their camp to seek out tourists in the city. The big male’s
back was piled high with bananas, cucumbers, and watermelons for his
mahout to sell to people at inflated prices so they could feed Max. In
the darkness along the super highway, an eighteen-wheeler commercial
truck struck Max from behind and dragged him some 5 meters. The
great elephant lay on the asphalt unconscious and bleeding. Luckily his
mahout escaped injury because he was walking beside Max . He called to
the police for help and a doctor came to offer assistance, but Max
collapsed, toppling over again and again.
The mahout took Max home to treat him. Max struggled hard to survive and
succeeded, but he was far from well. Although he had lots of willpower
to stay alive, infection from the injury had spread throughout his body.
Possibly broken, his right front leg stiffened until it could no longer
bend. The mahout lacked the money needed for medicine. All he could do
was look after Max as best he could.
A year later Max could walk again , but slowly, haltingly, the front leg
rigid, locked in place. The mahout took him to the streets of Bangkok
again using Max to gain sympathy from concerned well-wishers. People
were more willing than ever to give money for Max's food. The elephant
found himself working day and night along hot, busy, polluted roads. And
every year, Max had to make one trip to the distant town of Surin to
join the Elephant Round-Up festival. The year 2002 saw his
destination and life change in a way he must have found hard to imagine.
After lengthy negotiations he was brought from Surin to Elephant Haven, where he at last he can live a
natural life in a real home in freedom and with dignity. He won’t have
to pound those mean-streets again. He has plenty of good food to eat and
a chance to join with other elephants as friends. Max is still sick. He
needs lots of medicine for his treatments. Still, Max’s most important
need is for love and care from people, and now, at long last, he has a
great deal of both.
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