Masterton woman in elephant drama

[Guest guest]

[This New Zealand newspaper article is a little old but interesting]

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Masterton woman in elephant drama

Wairarapa Times-Age

09.06.2006

Nathan Crombie

 

A FORMER Masterton woman stuck in Thailand with eight elephants bound for

Australian zoos wept with frustration in a cage beside one of the animals at

the " hypocrisy " of protesters who this week ambushed the convoy.

 

Manu Ludden, 26, a zookeeper with the Melbourne Zoo, said she couldn't

believe activists who said they loved elephants would subject the animals to

such stress.

 

Ms Ludden was in the lead truck of eight vehicles transporting the

captive-bred Asian elephants on Monday to a giant Russian Antonov cargo

plane in Bangkok for delivery to Melbourne Zoo and Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

 

The incident dragged into the next day at the Mahidol University campus in

Kanchanaburi province, she said, where the animals were being kept at an

annexed animal hospital.

The protest has captured headlines worldwide and led to negotiations between

the governments of Thailand and Australia in a bid to complete the stalled

animal transfer that is jeopardising a multi-million dollar captive breeding

programme planned at the two zoos.

 

A core group of six protestErs led by Soraida Salwala, founder of the Thai

group Friends of The Asian Elephant, ambushed the lead truck in the convoy

in which Ms Ludden was passenger along with the elephant that for the past

18 months has been in her care, Nam Oy, the youngest animal of the eight

being transported.

 

She said the convoy had travelled barely 100m and did not make it off the

campus grounds.

 

Ms Salwala and another woman – wailing and crying out – stood in front of

the lead truck and moved behind the vehicle when an attempt was made to

reverse, Ms Ludden said.

 

" The elephants were getting very stressed. We hosed them down and put

branches on top of their crates to keep them cool. We did have to sedate

them to keep them reasonably calm, and they were let out of their pens near

the end as well. "

 

The truck was cut off from the rest of the convoy, which retreated a

distance before stopping, and through the night the animals were fed

pineapples and coconuts and other treats to encourage calm.

 

She said the next day many more bystanders, journalists, and protest

supporters were gathering, and two police officers were also at the scene.

 

While the protest was legal the blocking of the convoy was a crime, she

said, although no complaints were made and there were consequently no

arrests.

 

By late in the morning children from a nearby village were brought in to

bolster the protest ranks ahead of the arrival of the leader of Wildlife

Fund Thailand, Surapon Duangkhae, and social activist Sulak Sivarak, who

arrived with a small band of supporters.

 

" Towards the end of the day these men arrived and started hurling abuse. One

of them started banging the truck that I was on with a stick. They were

pretty aggressive. There was a little bit of a scuffle when they tried to

move up to the other elephants, " she said.

 

" We were pretty much under siege for almost 24 hours. We stayed with the

elephants the whole time but there was nothing we could really do.

 

" The protestors may well have a valid argument but my concern is Nam Oy. She

was getting very upset. She was straining in her crate, rocking, moving

around and vocalising. "

 

She said the eight animals are all registered as captive-born and the

duration and intensity of the protest siege made a farce of activist cries

that " we love the elephants " .

 

" It was very hard. My job was to look after Nam Oy and obviously I have a

very strong bond with the elephant. It's very upsetting when she's upset and

there's nothing I can do to calm her down and there's all these people not

making it any easier for her.

 

" The thing that was making me angry was that they claimed that they loved

elephants and that they were after animal welfare but when I asked the

protestors to move away from her they were ignoring me and she was getting

more and more upset.

 

" We had been sedating the elephants but that had to stop so there was no

danger to them of the sedative accumulating.

 

" There were people everywhere and a lot of camera crews. I could hide in

there with her and collect myself. I didn't want them to see they were

upsetting me.

 

" Generally it wasn't too bad but there were a couple of moments where I went

in with her and had a little cry and then came back out. "

 

Ms Ludden said that once a decision is made about a second attempt at

transfer, the training of the elephants to enter and remain in the

quarantine pens will " hopefully over-ride any bad memories " the animals

might have of the protest siege.

 

Mr Ludden said in Masterton yesterday that he and Manu's mother, Peta

Campbell, were worried for their daughter although " I have been there and

it's a safe feeling place. The people are gentle and warm " .

 

He said there was a " niggle of concern " regarding Muslim groups in the south

of the country and any opportunity for their involvement in the dispute.

 

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