Meet the new Elephant Artist at Mae Taeng, Elephant Park, Chiang Mai. Her name is Sidork Kum and she is 60 years old. This woderful elephant has joined our ever expanding park from Chang Dao.  She has been with the camp for approximately 20 days and is just settling in to her new surrounding.

Sidor Kum is a very gentle elephant who has spent several years in the logging industry in Thailand, where life is very hard for both the mahouts and their elephants. When the Thai government outlawed illegal logging around a decade ago, Sidor Kum and her mahout were forced to to look to the streets for hand outs from tourists and illegal begging, which is the sad predicament for many elephants that have been left unemployed due to the logging crackdown.

Sadly, during Sidor Kums medical examination it was discovered she had an abscess on her back. It is suspected that the abscess was caused by an ill-fitting seat, used when riding. This is a common problem with elephants who have spent along duration of time in the logging industries. Luckily our resident vet, Khun Imm has been treating the abscess and think it will take a few months to heal. Meanwhile Sidor Kum can relax in the elephant park receiving banana’s from the parks visitors.

SIDOR KUM’s mahout is called SITEANG.1