Though animals hold a special place in many people’s hearts, several species currently face a seemingly inevitable fate of extinction.
While many loathe the word, it is a reality that we must all face. Our actions affect our environment and the many different animals that reside in it. For example, clearing forests to make way for human activities force animals from their home and limit their food supply.
One of these endangered species is the elephant.
Known for being gentle giants, the number of these massive animals have been on the decline for several years. According to National Geographic, the elephants in Asian countries has dropped 50% in the past 75 years. Astonishingly, there are only 20-40,000 of them remaining in the wild.
Most notably, elephants can be found in Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, elephants in both continents are endangered. However, Thailand is infamous in their treatments of these mammals.
In Thailand, elephants are used for entertainment, poaching, and logging. Furthermore, deforestation for agriculture, commercialization, and industrial plantations have destroyed much of the forest. All of this leaves elephants vulnerable to the hands of humans.
Many of which abuse and even kill elephants once they no longer have any use for them.
Undoubtedly, we have failed them.
However, there are organizations who are stepping up and doing all that they can to give endangered elephants a place to live peacefully and comfortably.
For example, Elephant World is a “self-supporting environmental conservation organization” located in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. There, they care for over 30 elephants. Some of the elephants arrive to the organization injured, elderly, handicapped, or sick.
Because they accept volunteers, just about anybody can come and work with their elephants (if you meet the requirements of course!).
But there is one person who took their efforts a step further.
Paul Barton is a self-taught pianist from England. Today, however, he resides in Thailand where he spends much of his time playing the piano for elephants at both Elephant World and Elephant Stay.
Barton records these “sessions” and have since garnered millions of views on his YouTube page.
Earlier this year, he performed Beethoven’s, “Midnight Sonata” for a 61-year-old elephant named Mongkol at Elephant World.
Mongkol, like many of the elephants who are not born into these organizations, has had a difficult life. His body is deformed from strenuous labor, he lost sight in his right eye, and lost his right tusk due to the brutal practice of logging.
Nowadays, Mongkol gets to relax by the River Kwai and enjoy the peaceful sounds of nature and Barton’s piano.
“I discovered Mongkol is an extremely gentle, sensitive elephant who enjoys music, especially this slow movement by Beethoven which I play to him occasionally in the day and night,” Barton wrote in the video’s caption.
The video is utterly breathtaking. Crickets can be heard chirping in the distance and the backdrop is as dark as the eye can see. It’s purely nature. Untouched and natural.
Occasionally, Mongkol looks to Barton as he plays the melancholic piece. It’s extremely calming and dreamlike, very much like the visual.
At the end, Barton gets up and hugs Mongkol’s trunk and he doesn’t shy away.
It’s an incredible video. Barton saw a need at these organizations and is doing a tremendous service to these elephants.
You can watch it in its entirety below!
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