Flood News, Some Sad and Some Glad

The flood situation is turning into a long term ordeal. There are a lot of dark spots.  Thousands of people, thousands of acres of land and thousands of animals were, are and will be effected.  I was going to just report the good news, but before I do that, here is a brief update directly from Sangduen "Lek" Chailert which was written late last night.

Dear All
This is our eight week that we can continue to work to rescue the animals from the flood at Bangkok. The more week of flood continue , the more difficult and risky for us to do work , because  of the water become smelly, black , most animal we found are become stressed and aggressive , Many of them are also getting sick and weak . 
I will send more continue story update.


Lek

There is a few bright spots, the most significant is the massive effort that is ongoing by many local, national and international organizations who are hard a work doing what they do best. Some are rescuing animals some are working with people in neeed. The spirit of cooperation and level of effort is amazing.
Given the stress levels, the different organizational cultures and the very difficult situation, I believe the Bangkok volunteers all deserve a resounding THANK YOU!  

Let me tell you a story, a true story in fact.  A couple of days ago one of the Save Elephant Foundation SEF rescue teams came across a tortoise in need of rescue.The poor thing had ended up on one of the Bangkok area freeways. They found him in the Pratung Thani area where he had wondered out into traffic on the freeway (super highway).  This fellow would have been ran over if the SEF team hadn’t grabbed him.

Rescued from the floods and just about to be released

He's a tortoise with a history (almost completely unkown) and a destiny.  He is a three legged tortoise who gets on quite well without his right front leg. One could only speculate how he lost his leg. All I know is that the wound was long healed before SEF found him. I’m told he is actually a Black, Soft-shell Turtle which are quite uncommon. Comparing the photo I took with the ones on the internet just might be that rare specimen. He’s certainly quite similar. Actually I wasn't told about his possible identity until after his release  or I would have taken more photos, maybe many more.
I claim no expertise in this subject area.

They took the netting off, what's happening?

The turtle's new home at Wat Omung! 

The wonderful people at Wat Umong agreed to let our 3 legged friend come and live in there lake.  Wat Umong is a very serene place with lots of history.  If you come to Chiang Mai I’d encourage you to visit this wat.  It’s known for it’s history, it’s meditation center and for it’s lake where people  come to feed the fish.  We sent him off with traditional Thai well wishes.  I’m sure that the ตะพาบน้ำ as the Thai’s call him will have a long and happy life.

I'm being put in the water! 

I'll just swim to freedom 

Given that he was rescued from a flood in a city and ended up in a lake in a very spiritual place makes me think that he may be the basis for part of a future work of mythological fiction.


Abundant Blessings,