Me-Bai was just a 3 year old calf when she was taken from her mother. Me-Bai was sold into a life of slavery, robbing from her the care and love a mother can provide. At an early age, the young calf was put through training and sold off to a camp where she was forced to provide rides to paying tourists.
After noticing that she was getting too thin due to stress and depression, the owner moved her from the riding business to Pamper A Pachyderm program at the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary, in Thailand.
There should would begin the healing process along with other elephants facing similar circumstances. Once she was healthy enough, the sanctuary staff managed to track down Me-Bai’s mother at another tourist camp about 62 miles away. After the staff convinced the owner of the mother to allow Me-Bai to reunite with her, they began the long trek on foot in order to reunite both of them.
After four days of hiking through the forest and muddy trails, they finally arrived.
Me-Bai did not know what was going on at first. Upon seeing each other for the first time, both seemed in shock as if disbelief and held quiet for about 30 minutes. “And then they began to talk, MeBai and her mother joining trunks, hugging each other and talking non-stop, three and half years of catching up,” wrote one staff member.
Moved by the reunion, Mae Yui owners have agreed to release her from captivity, giving both a chance to live life together.
Both have a lot of catching up to do, but the love and bond they have for each other was never lost, now it will only grow stronger.
See the video of this beautiful moment below.
UPDATED: New video below shows the fully documentary and more footage of the reunion.
