Ellie, Andrew and Tim are running the Birmingham Half Marathon in aid of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) and we’d love it if you could help us!

This summer we (Ellie and Andrew) volunteered at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand’s Elephant Refuge (http://www.thaielephantrefuge.org), which is a sanctuary for elephants which have been rescued from abusive practices, including being used in tourist trekking camps, for street begging and as photo props. Elephants used in these industries are captured from the wild as infants (which often involves killing their mother and other members of their herd), and have had their spirits broken through a process known as pajan where a baby elephant is chained so it cannot move, then starved and beaten day and night so it cannot sleep, until it submits to human commands. By the time elephants are rescued by WFFT they have severe back problems from carrying tourists, are horrendously sunburnt from hours chained in full sun, have scars from where bullhooks have been driven into their ears and skull, and sometimes have psychological issues such as nervous tics or the inability to interact with other elephants.

WFFT not only provides a no-chain, near natural environment in which the rescued elephants can spend the rest of their days in peace, along with any veterinary care that is needed, they also campaign against animal abuse and exploitation and provide education about the realities of the cruel practices that captured elephants are subjected to. Volunteering at WFFT showed us how important their work is and how dedicated their staff members are. The sanctuary provides an amazing environment for these rescued elephants, with huge enclosures containing trees, lakes and grassland, but they are in the process of expanding by buying and developing 17 hectares of land adjacent to the current sanctuary so that they can offer a refuge to even more elephants.

So to help them along with this incredibly worthwhile cause we will be running the Birmingham Half Marathon on 15th October and would be so grateful for any donations. This will be Andrew and Tim’s first half marathon ever so that makes it all the more of a challenge! And to top it all off we will be running in elephant ears - they may be awkward to run in and pretty uncomfortable but we figure that there’s nothing like a bit of public humiliation to encourage people to donate!