Elephants are incredible, the extremely smart animals roam over great distances eating around 300 pounds of grasses, roots, bark, and fruits per day. Unfortunately, they’ve been forced into captivity for hundreds of years and used for labor work.
This is a story of an elephant who was overworked and mistreated for decades before she was finally rescued in this touching video.
Sook Jai was blind, deaf, and 73-years-old when she was rescued from a life of hard work and strenuous labor
According to Elephant Voices, there are 15,000-20,000 elephants in captivity today and with the vast majority in horrible conditions. Sook Jai was one of those captive elephants, forced to slave away doing tourist trekking and street begging regardless of her age.
One day, Sook Jai got lucky when people at Elephant Nature Park learned of her situation and wanted to help. She struck luck a second time when Joan Baez decided to help sponsor Sook Jai to live free.
Once they got everything in order, Sook Jai’s 20-hour journey to freedom began
You can see the team loading her onto a truck at the beginning of the video, getting ready to take the elephant to her new forever home. This was it, after years of being passed around by several cruel owners Sook Jai was on her way to living like an elephant again.
The volunteers noticed wounds all over Sook Jai’s head and body, so they immediately began tending to them before they got any worse.
Volunteers rode with Sook Jai the entire time, comforting her along the way
The tired, hungry, and scared elephant refused to eat. She was obviously hungry but would spit out any food that went into her mouth probably due to nerves.
Another road hazard was the frigid wind that would come about at night harshly blowing from the truck’s speed. The volunteers built a shield for Sook Jai, keeping most of the cold air off of her vulnerable body.
When they finally arrived at her new home, Sook Jai cried tears of joy
As the long 20-hour journey finally came to an end, Sook Jai realized that she wasn’t just being traded to another owner this time. The majestic animal lets tears roll down her cheek, in disbelieve that she is finally free.
That’s when the big moment comes, they let Sook Jai out of the truck and the 73-year-old blind and deaf elephant is home at last.
Sook Jai excitedly walks from the truck, heading straight for a body of water to get a drink
The hard work and dedication paid off, Sook Jai was now free to roam as she may at the elephant sanctuary she now calls home. In the touching post to YouTube, Elephant News wrote:
“Finally the day came to take her journey and when we arrived in the Park, Sook Jai reached up her trunk to smell her new home, sending low rumbles out into the field, tears running down her face.” Read the end of the caption.
Almost 900,000 people have viewed Sook Jai’s Journey on Youtube, with thousands who’ve also liked it
This is such a heartwarming story, these people deserve medals for their work in saving elephants. Thanks to Elephant Nature Park, Joan Baez, and all the other volunteers, Sook Jai can now live in peace and enjoy the rest of her life.
To see Sook Jai’s rescue for yourself, watch the video below!
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