The Elephant Nature Park Rescue and Rehabilitation shelter in Chiangmai Thailand

My brother and his son, my six year old nephew visited me in Chiangmai for the first time this week. On Monday we went to an elephant shelter for abused and exploited elephants. My little nephew had never seen real live elephants before so he was all for feeding, petting and giving them a bath in the lake around the park. We joined a group of 10 visitors for a day-long interaction with the elephants which had one form of deformity or another. All of these elephants were rescued from villages, logging industries, tour companies and even neighboring Burma. All are being healed, rehabilitated and given a place of peace and safety from any human activity except for the care and recovery they receive at the shelter. I've been so amazed at the way my nephew treated those elephants. He did not see their "disabilities"-he just loved them all! Being the only child in the group he was constantly reminded to "go closer, she can't walk far- her leg's broken", or "don't let her reach too far for the food, she's totally blind"... the child adjusted himself to the situation immediately! No questions, no pity looks, no drama. And yet who told him about all the horrible things that got them that way? US! Without asking for it my nephew got an education in how bad people can get at the same time that he learned to love elephants in real life. Stupid adults. Why couldn't we just let him enjoy the moment first and wait for him to ask the questions later? Another hard lesson that only children can teach us...