(Click on the photo to view in larger format.)
This artistic elephant is painting a picture at the Maesa Elephant Camp we went to in Thailand. This particular elephant received no help from his handler, but some of the younger ones were helped here and there.
All the elephants at the sanctuary are protected and each has a handler assigned to them for life. Handlers are young when they are chosen to bond with a young elephant so that they may remain together for their entire lifetimes. The handlers and their families also live and work at the sanctuary for life.
The paintings the elephants were making were for sale and benefited the sanctuary, but we didn’t have enough baht for the one I wanted!
Edit: Oops! I had a bit of a blonde moment. The name of the elephant sanctuary we went to was the Maesa Elephant Camp, not the Elephant Nature Park. So, I changed the name and link.