Sombo the elephant is being tortured in Cambodia
Exclusive by Paul Jollands,
Daily Mirror
12th January 2012
Read an excellent article in the Phnom Penh Post: What’s Sambo’s future?
Poor Sombo has been forced to pound the pavements for 30 years after being captured and tortured by communist rebels.
There is an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/retire-sombo-ban-elephants-in-phnom-pehn
Her feet are so deformed and infected after performing for tourists she can barely support her 5,000lb weight.
And yet four days a week the 51-year-old elephant limps four kilometres through the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
And that’s BEFORE she gets to the temple where she gives rides to tourists for nine hours a day.
Now a world-wide campaign is hoping to free Sombo from her ordeal and take her to a sanctuary. She was examined last year and found to be in urgent need of medical care. Now her condition has worsened.
Talks are being held between campaigners led by charity EARS, the Elephant Asian Rescue and Survival Foundation, and the Cambodian government.
Louise Rogerson, originally from Stockport, Gtr Manchester, and now CEO of Hong Kong-based EARS, has spent the past six months trying to get Sombo to a sanctuary.
She said: “Sombo has chronic foot infections and is in excruciating pain. She has a deep abscess in the middle of one foot.
Sombo's feet
“She struggles to walk and will soon collapse. Sombo is just one of hundreds of elephants forced to perform in circuses, paint pictures, take trekking rides, or walk the city streets for tourists.
“We just need a final push to secure this rescue as we have rescue centres in Cambodia to take her.”
The remarkable story of Sombo highlights the plight of hundreds of Asian elephants forced to perform for tourists.
Sombo was born in 1960, in Kampong Speu province, and captured when she was eight. In 1977 she was seized by the Khmer Rouge.
Unlike her fellow elephants, she survived the ordeal and was eventually reunited with her owner in 1982 and moved to Phnom Penh.
But now rush hour commuters witness the sight of her plodding in agony along the roads – the only elephant in the city.
Sombo the elephant is being tortured in Cambodia
Sombo the elephant
She lives in a field behind a casino but spends nine hours a working day carrying tourists round the Wat Phnom temple.
British campaigner Nicola Olckers, from Essex, said: “I think of her every day. Elephants are magnificent and her plight is truly heartbreaking.
“If two people go on her back she has that additional weight on her feet. The worst thing is the state of her feet – sadly so common in elephant tourism. So we need to get Sombo to a sanctuary where she can be on grass and stand.”
Poor Sombo has been forced to pound the pavements for 30 years after being captured and tortured by communist rebels.
There is an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/retire-sombo-ban-elephants-in-phnom-pehn
Her feet are so deformed and infected after performing for tourists she can barely support her 5,000lb weight.
And yet four days a week the 51-year-old elephant limps four kilometres through the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
And that’s BEFORE she gets to the temple where she gives rides to tourists for nine hours a day.
Now a world-wide campaign is hoping to free Sombo from her ordeal and take her to a sanctuary. She was examined last year and found to be in urgent need of medical care. Now her condition has worsened.
Talks are being held between campaigners led by charity EARS, the Elephant Asian Rescue and Survival Foundation, and the Cambodian government.
Louise Rogerson, originally from Stockport, Gtr Manchester, and now CEO of Hong Kong-based EARS, has spent the past six months trying to get Sombo to a sanctuary.
She said: “Sombo has chronic foot infections and is in excruciating pain. She has a deep abscess in the middle of one foot.
Sombo's feet
“She struggles to walk and will soon collapse. Sombo is just one of hundreds of elephants forced to perform in circuses, paint pictures, take trekking rides, or walk the city streets for tourists.
“We just need a final push to secure this rescue as we have rescue centres in Cambodia to take her.”
The remarkable story of Sombo highlights the plight of hundreds of Asian elephants forced to perform for tourists.
Sombo was born in 1960, in Kampong Speu province, and captured when she was eight. In 1977 she was seized by the Khmer Rouge.
Unlike her fellow elephants, she survived the ordeal and was eventually reunited with her owner in 1982 and moved to Phnom Penh.
But now rush hour commuters witness the sight of her plodding in agony along the roads – the only elephant in the city.
Sombo the elephant is being tortured in Cambodia
Sombo the elephant
She lives in a field behind a casino but spends nine hours a working day carrying tourists round the Wat Phnom temple.
British campaigner Nicola Olckers, from Essex, said: “I think of her every day. Elephants are magnificent and her plight is truly heartbreaking.
“If two people go on her back she has that additional weight on her feet. The worst thing is the state of her feet – sadly so common in elephant tourism. So we need to get Sombo to a sanctuary where she can be on grass and stand.”
3 comments:
MoTo driver didn't wear the helmet...right infront of police's face? That stupid policeman busying looking at elephant'behind and drewling....what'a dumbass!!
Khmer Buddhist should make " Bunn Phka" raising money for the elephant owner so he would be able to find some other way of making a living then willing to let go the elephant.
Sambo is old and sick, she should retired. I urge Khmer Phnom Penh do her a big favor and also receive a big " Magg Phallanisangh" for themselves.
I agree with you friend! We should release her into the wild...to have freedom and reproduce!
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