Hope

I have been mistreated my whole life, worse than mistreated.  I was born in the wild but captured almost immediately and taken away from my mother. There are deep scars on my back from bullhooks and a jagged cut on the underside of my trunk from carrying heavy logs up long steep hills in the jungle. What is left of my ears is a ragged mess and my ankles are badly swollen from having to wear heavy chains. Many times I have tried to loosen the chains which deny me my freedom and on all occasions I have failed. I know that I will not have a happy future but that doesn't stop me from believing I might.

I know I could not have asked for a more frightening and beastly man to look after me. If I stray from his path he jabs me with his bullhook. If there is a pool of water on the mountain I am climbing and I put down my log to drink, he would pulls and rips my ears until I carry on with the task.

Not only does my life hurt me physically, it hurts me emotionally too.  Every night I cry and hope that tomorrow I will be rescued.  People obviously think that a creature like me, does not have any feelings and that they can treat me however they want.

Then one morning I awoke and saw four strangers standing over me. I was terribly scared and cowered backwards, my chains tied extremely tightly around my ankles. One of the strangers, a young girl, spoke softly, trying to comfort me.  I had many questions. Who were these people? Why were they here? How did they get here?

With the girl still talking to me, the other strangers loosened the chains that cut and dug into my sore ankles. Whilst they were doing this I suddenly realised that these people were not here to harm me but to rescue me.  Once free from the chains, I lifted my trunk and trumpeted noisily in happiness and gratitude. Three of the strangers retreated terrified but the girl looked into my eyes and whispered gently, "you don't mean any harm, do you? I know that you were just saying thank you."  I moved my trunk up and down in agreement.  The rest of the strangers seemed to relax slightly and joined the girl, patting me.

From that day, I have lived in a sanctuary for rescued elephants and I am treated as well as I should be. I now have a wonderful life free from chains, bullhooks and fear.  I have all the food I need and I am taken for a walk every day by my loving carers.  Every summer I see my girl and her family. Without her I would not be here. That is my story and I am an elephant called Hwạng.  My name means "hope".