Deep in the jungle-clad hills of northwest Burma, close to the border of the Indian state of Manipur, Billy Williams, delirious with fever, began to regain consciousness.
Description:
There is always a magnificence about elephants whether seen in a zoo, circus, at Disneyland on the Jungle Ride, or in a documentary on television. But to actually walk with elephants in their natural habitat is something I imagine as an almost overpowering experience. Make that interacting with a large number of elephants and there is sensory overload for me.
Such is the feeling I had reading Vicki Constantine Croke's Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II. In it she describes the elephant forces working in the teak industry in Burma just after World War I under the direction of one particular man, Billy Williams.
Imagine his first morning when seven elephants appeared for inspection before going out to work. They were immense at over nine feet at their shoulders, quietly stamping their feet, exploring Williams with their trunks, and making low humming noises to each other.
Williams even had a favorite tusker, the giant Bandoola which was the leader of the other elephants as well as the first elephant calf to be trained by Williams' new methods. Bandoola saved Williams' life by carrying him across an impossibly raging river to get medical help for the feverish Williams as recounted in the opening sentences.
When World War II and the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia threatened the teak loggers and their families, Williams organized the elephants and mahouts as transport to evacuate entire camps and populations to safety. Losing the trained elephants to the Japanese would have been devastating as these animals made movement and road-building possible in the tangled jungles. Without elephants, progress by the Japanese across Burma was impossibly slow, leading to their eventual defeat in this region.
I loved the adventure, the exploration of the jungles, the personalities and culture of the elephants themselves, and the stoic determination of Elephant Bill throughout his years in Burma. A great picture of an era gone by and the magnificent animals and men who tamed the teak forests.
Such is the feeling I had reading Vicki Constantine Croke's Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II. In it she describes the elephant forces working in the teak industry in Burma just after World War I under the direction of one particular man, Billy Williams.
Because the country had few roads and railways, an army of elephants would drag the harvested logs to waterways...The rivers of Burma with their vast network of feeder streams make possible the economical extraction, sometimes over distances of 1,200 miles and more, or teak and other waterborne forest produce to the sawmilling and shipping centres of Rangoon and Moulmein.Williams, in 1920, received a position with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. to learn how to oversee the teak operations and, of course, manage the working elephants deep in the forests of Burma. A World War I veteran serving in India, North Africa, Egypt, and Afghanistan, Williams had become hooked on the beauty, isolation, and the wild animals of Burma and therefore answered the logging company's recruitment ad to live in this country.
Imagine his first morning when seven elephants appeared for inspection before going out to work. They were immense at over nine feet at their shoulders, quietly stamping their feet, exploring Williams with their trunks, and making low humming noises to each other.
Seven elephants materialized a the edge of the clearing. They were paraded into camp, a driver sitting on each animal's neck. Huge as they were, they made a hushed advance on broad, cushioned feet. It was just as Kipling had described -- elephants walking "as silently as a cloud rolls out of the mouth of a valley."The book details Williams' daily work with these elephants, training them with love and physical affection rather than the traditional beatings. Elephants were given the freedom to roam the jungles at night away from the camps, with their large bells around their neck to signal their mahouts (rider/caregivers) where they were so they could be collected each morning for work. Fascinating!
Williams even had a favorite tusker, the giant Bandoola which was the leader of the other elephants as well as the first elephant calf to be trained by Williams' new methods. Bandoola saved Williams' life by carrying him across an impossibly raging river to get medical help for the feverish Williams as recounted in the opening sentences.
When World War II and the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia threatened the teak loggers and their families, Williams organized the elephants and mahouts as transport to evacuate entire camps and populations to safety. Losing the trained elephants to the Japanese would have been devastating as these animals made movement and road-building possible in the tangled jungles. Without elephants, progress by the Japanese across Burma was impossibly slow, leading to their eventual defeat in this region.
I loved the adventure, the exploration of the jungles, the personalities and culture of the elephants themselves, and the stoic determination of Elephant Bill throughout his years in Burma. A great picture of an era gone by and the magnificent animals and men who tamed the teak forests.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Helfer, Ralph. Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived
True story of seven decades in the life of a remarkable elephant and the boy who bonded with him, from early life as a circus attraction, to surviving and saving the boy during the sinking of a boat, to work in teak forests and eventual stardom in an American circus.
