Kennebec7 Mubu

The profile drawing is of Mubu, the little animal doctor of northern Thailand, the heroine of a six-book series coming your way in July. To see who Mubu has become 43 years later, go to www.elephantnaturepark.org and read about Lek Chailert. You can also follow the exploits of the Kennebec7 at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=365353646768 or click the Kennebec7 widget.

Shirley Francona for Kennebec7

Hi,

I’m Shirley Francona.

Perhaps you remember me. I was on YouTube, CNN, the BBC and local TV here in New Mexico.

I rescued an elephant mom in Thailand that was about to be killed for trying to protect her baby boy. Mimi is the mother and Bop is the adorable ‘little’ boy who was horribly abused by employees of an animal show.

Anyway, I was just a tourist on an elephant trek in northern Thailand when all this started. They said I stole an elephant and the army was searching for us in the jungle. I’m an artist from Santa Fe, and was creating celadon elephants, which people liked a lot.

Being the adventurous type, I decided to go to Thailand to experience elephants first hand. I had no idea about the cruelty and abuse inflicted on elephants, which are misused by some trekking companies, illegal loggers and people making money by forcing elephants to beg from tourists on crowded and polluted city streets.

Luckily I got to meet Lek Chailert, a famous Thai elephant savior, who started the Elephant Nature Park north of Chiang Mai. www.elephantnaturepark.org and her staff have saved more than forty elephants from lives of suffering since her sanctuary opened a few years back. Today you can see the elephants yourselves, living natural peaceful lives without the stress of human demands.

In our movie, “The Earth Trembled,” the character based on Lek is called ‘Mint,’ short for the Thai name, Mintra.

My son Andrew came to Thailand, using his own meager savings, to help me rescue Bop from the Big Ears, Big Teeth animal show that bought the baby and almost killed him.

I’m back in Santa Fe these days, writing a book about my adventures. Andrew has returned to Long Island University, and we talk often. Finally, I am reunited with my son, just as Mimi is together again with Bop. They are both kicking up their heels, elephant style, at Lek’s Elephant Nature Park.

I hope you will see our amazing adventures, surviving snakes and scorpions in the jungle, when the movie “The Earth Trembled” comes out. Then I look forward to meeting you when I next visit Mimi and Bop at the Park.

Hugs,

Shirley

For Kennebec7

(3/11/2010)

Santa Fe