Poon Sab
Playful Poon Sab (‘Treasure’) is the sweetest girl and in her early thirties.
Poon Sab was working long, arduous hours, carrying tourists around on a bench that was tightly strapped to her back. She was typically worked 8 - 10 hours a day, forced to walk on burning hot concrete roads and despite being desperately thirsty and hungry, she was never allowed to take a break in the shade, splash herself down or freely graze - she was enslaved into camp life, serving tourists.
Poon Sab’s owner reached out to BLES Founder, Katherine, explaining that he needed to sell Poon Sab urgently, so that he could pay back his huge debts and retire.
He spoke about feeling guilty and wanting to do better by his elephant and we were more than happy to save Poon Sab and help her owner.
Katherine reached out to Aaron - the Founder of Planting Peace - a US based foundation, who have helped BLES secure the funds needed for other elephant rescues. Aaron jumped straight into action and after an incredible joint effort, the funds were successfully raised to save Poon Sab in just a couple of days!
And so The BLES Team set off! Nine hours on the road, through the night, in The Green Machine - not the most comfortable way to travel, but our dedicated mahouts will do whatever it takes to help an elephant in need.
We arrived at the camp early morning. Poon Sab was chained up by the side of the road and watched us carefully as we completed safety checks on The Green Machine. She seemed calmer that when we first met her, almost as if she understood that we were there to liberate her.
Poon Sab walked on to The Green Machine with ease and needed little persuasion. She stood perfectly still, allowing the mahouts to secure the support frame around her and we fed her fresh watermelon to help keep her distracted and hydrated.
Within no time at all, we were off. The journey home to BLES took a total of ten hours and Poon Sab remained patient, calm and perfectly still throughout the drive.
When Poon Sab’s feet touched BLES soil, she wasted no time in devouring her welcome fruit feast, which was of course, (as it always is), laid out in a giant heart shape.
Since her arrival to BLES on the 18th February 2025 - Poon Sab has turned her life around 360! She has endless amounts of energy, is so playful and loves to thrash around in every pond, pool and muddy puddle she can find!
Poon Sab is an absolute delight to watch and we are so grateful to every single person who played a pro active part in her rescue. Special thanks to Aaron and the team at Planting Peace.
Meet my mahout - Long.
Adopt Poon Sab