Milot

Story

Milot came from two villages where she used to carry tourists in one and haul wood in the other. She was blind in her right eye and covered in old scars that were previously abscesses. When Milot first arrived, she was very resilient and hard minded; scared of people, vehicles and other elephants. However, she settled into the project and could often be found quite close to our base camp.

She preferred to spend most of her time looking for bamboo and was a true mud-artist; she first made a mud-paste and then covered her entire body in it and then she liked to have a good scratch!

Most of Milot’s problems stemmed from being overworked by her previous owners who would overload her with which ever goods or people they were tasked to carry. She would have to haul such things as wood, oil, tourists and rice (though not at the same time) and trek between villages and far into the local forest to earn an income.

Unfortunately, the bruising caused by the overloading led to some serious elongated abscesses from her poorly fitted and overloaded basket and through the pain, she started to become uncooperative. This meant in turn, she was hit in increasing quantities as to drive her along.

Milot was fully retired at the EVP and enjoyed a restful life roaming about her private area of forest.  Milot over her last years unfortunately, lost all her teeth as a result of a poor diet in her working years. As a result, she grew very skinny and although not our oldest by age she was certainly our oldest by appearance. She was an elephant many visitors fell in love with right away. She had an energy that really touched the soul and was a poster elephant for what can happen when elephants are treated in this way.

Milot heartbreakingly passed away January 30th, 2017. She was a fighter up until the very end and left this world with dignity and peace overlooking her favorite valley to graze in. Milot’s legacy will live on forever here at The EVP.