Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and some of the kindest and most gentle animals in the world.
They go quietly through life and look forward to nothing more than fresh water, crisp green leaves, and the love of their family.
Unfortunately, we humans have taken to using and abusing these beautiful animals all over the world.
Whether it is killing them for their tusks to make ivory trinkets, or capturing and using them for entertainment.
One particular elephant was so badly treated she ended up with a lifelong physical deformity.
Medo was captured and forced into a constant breeding schedule, this caused a massive strain on her body and ended up badly injuring one of her back legs.
Medo was recently rescued and brought to the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand where she is being taken very good care of.
The keepers at the park noticed how much pain Medo seemed to constantly be in, and they vowed to help her in any way they could.
Her caretakers teamed up the with Gentle Giants Elephants team and built her a custom prosthesis.
The aide is meant to help keep her ankle straight which should greatly improve her comfort, posture, and ability to walk around.
After it was built, the team knew it was time to try and get her into it, a mammoth task; and and elephant will not do what it does not want to do.
Luckily, she seemed to realize that the team was trying to help her and so she stood still as they put the contraption on her.
After ensuring all the buckles were properly tightened and that the prosthetic leg was as comfortable for her as possible, the humans stepped back and waited.
Medo was quite unsure at first, she kept her back leg up in the air and gave it a few shakes.
After realizing it wasn’t going to fall off of her, she began to gingerly walk around her enclosure.
Everyone let out a massive sigh of relief when they realized that she didn’t seem to mind the aide and just went about her normal business.
Though they will likely have to keep a close eye on her, she seems to be doing well with it so far and everyone involved is happy.
She also seems to be more comfortable as you could almost see the pain in her eyes before the aide was given, and she now seems at peace.
Medo is a beautiful creature who lived a very hard life and deserves to be somewhere safe and comfortable, with people who love her looking after her.
The Elephant Nature Park is home to around a dozen elephants who have formed a makeshift family; a family that consists of both Asian and African elephants of all ages… and don’t forget their funny little human friends!
Watch Medo’s touching reaction to her new prosthetic leg in the video below!