Public support pour into Friends of Asian Elephants Foundation with Bt20m donations so far

[rooster59]

Public support pour into Friends of Asian Elephants Foundation with Bt20m donations so far

By The Nation

 

Photo from Soraida Salwala's Facebook wall.

 

After the founder of the Friends of Asian Elephants announced its closure mainly due to inadequate funding, the people have wired in more than Bt20 million to one of the foundation’s accounts.

 

On Friday, Soraida Salwala, the founder of the foundation, posted on her Facebook wall that she checked just the Kasikorn bank account of the foundation and found that more than Bt20 million have been wired in since she announced the closure of the foundation on Monday.

 

She said she has not yet checked the Siam Commercial Bank account of the foundation yet.

 

Soraida wrote that she initially sent a staff to update the book but it could not be done because of overwhelming number of transactions so she asked for the detail of the account balance. At first, the bank staff turned down the request, saying only the person with the authorized signature can request it. She said when she insisted that she was the one who has the authority and she would like to update the public of the account’s balance, the bank agreed to print the balance of the book for her.

 

She said the book’s balance was Bt1,380,354.16 on Monday before she announced the foundation’s closure but on Friday the book’s balance read Bt21,328,433.26.

 

“I am short of words. I could not hold back my tears. I told Doctor [Vet] Ke to tell all staff of the foundation that I thanked them. Because of their works, the people have mercy for us to continue to work. I would like to express my utmost thankfulness to the people,” the foundation founder wrote.

 

On Monday, she announced the has health problem and her foundation has developed financial crisis so she has no choice but having to cease the operation of the foundation’s elephants hospital.

 

Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation worked in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organisations, and with the local company Elephant Parade. It has been open for over 25 years. Many fear that if the elephants hospital is closed down, a lot of aged and sick jumbo mammals there will have their fate in limbo.

 

The foundation has won recognition for its  campaigns for rights for the Asian elephant, prevention of elephants being kept in cities such as Bangkok, and was responsible for the full time care of disabled elephants Motala, Mocha and Pai Bobo.

 

Soraida sad in her Facebook post on Monday that the foundation has had a negative balance sheet for 11 consecutive years, overspending by over 2 million baht.

 

In the post, the people, who would like to help the foundation in its final year, may transfer money to Kasikron bank via Ramintra branch at 088-2-20983-0 or SCB bank account, Ratchayothin branch at 111-2-27207-8 or pay cash addressed to Friend of the Asian Elephant at Hang Chat District post office. Evidence of donation can be sent to the foundation via email [email protected] or by fax 054-829-308.

How to donate to @FAEeleHosp please visit: www.friendsoftheasianelephant.org

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309507

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-18

 

[webfact]

Flood of cash gives reprieve for sick tuskers
By Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation

 

Soraida

 

Plea by founder of friends of the asian elephant draws Bt20m in donations

 

BANGKOK: -- THE FUTURE of six sick elephants being treated as inpatients at the Friends of the Asian Elephant’s hospital looks much brighter after more than Bt20 million flooded into the foundation’s coffers over the past week.

 

The foundation’s founder and secretary-general Soraida Salwala said the donations were enough to finance her foundation’s operations for about 20 more months.

 

The foundation has been in operation for about 25 years already. But on Thai Elephant Day, last Monday, Soraida said the foundation may have shut down due to lack of funds for operations, raising concern over the fate of the six elephants, currently under intensive care.

 

Soraida said last week that the group’s hospital in Lampang was operating as normal and working hard to treat the six tuskers, which require full-time intensive care.

 

“Right now we have five elephants that are too weak to be taken care of outside hospital and thus are full-time residents of our hospital, while there is another younger long-term inpatient, Dante, who can leave the hospital when he is old and healthy enough,” Soraida said.

 

The elephants would receive the best treatment, no matter how the group’s financial problems are, she said. However, she admitted that if they were forced to close, she wouldn’t know what to do with elephants with such special needs.

 

Adisorn Nuchdamrong, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department deputy director-general, said the National Elephant Institute, which also has an elephant hospital in Lampang, could treat the ill elephants now at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation.

 

“I am not sure about the transfer procedures and there will have to be a discussion between the two bodies, but we agree on the standpoint that the elephants will have to get the best care,” Adisorn said.

 

Soraida said her foundation was not in debt, as earlier reports had said, but the current budget could only sustain operations for a matter of months, and if more elephants need care, the hospital would be unable to look after them.

 

“In the worst-case scenario, we can only operate the foundation for around 12 months, because the entire [annual] budget is only Bt11 million, and we have expenses of around Bt800,000 to Bt1 million per month,” she said.

 

Although this was the worst financial problem the foundation had ever faced, she said she didn’t want to ask for donations from the public because she did not want to bother people.

 

However, donations can still be made for care of the sick elephants at the Kasikorn Bank account “Friends of the Asian Elephant”, account number 088-2-20983-0, or via Paypal at friendsoftheasianelephant.org/en/donate. Soraida also said she was considering legal action against people who reportedly made defamatory statements.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309598

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-20