Made from hand painted poly resin each painted Elephant with vary slightly due to them being painted by hand. Each one is part of a numbered limited edition and comes with a certificate of authenticity and an Elephant parade hollogram.
Please note that due to the hand-painted nature of the Original elephants there will always be minor variability between two identical products. The elephant Original pictures shown online are mainly of the 20 cm models, some variations in detail are possible based on the complexity of the design and the size chosen. Images are not to scale and lifestyle images tend to feature full size elephant originals and the design may differ on a smaller originals.
Mosha is the inspiration for Elephant Parade and they have pledged to support her for the rest of her long & happy days. Mosha means star in the Karen language and is the name of the worlds first elephant to have received a prosthetic leg after having lost a limb to a landmine on the Thai-Myanmar border. When Mosha was only seven months old, she was walking in the jungle with her mother, a logging elephant, when she stepped onto a landmine and lost part of her right front leg. Mosha was fortunate to have had a mahout who cared and had resources enough to contact Friends of the Asian Elephant, home to the worlds first elephant hospital, where she was rushed to. Her life was saved and her wound treated, but Mosha began to shun both food and company.
Mosha was not the first and won't be the last elephant, or man, to be injured by landmines. A worrying 16 of Thailand's 77 provinces are still affected by landmines, and Friends of The Asian Elephant (FAE) Hospital has treated over a dozen such injuries over the years. Again, chance and fortune led to a meeting with Dr. Therdchai Jivacate an orthopaedic surgeon who made Mosha her first prosthetic leg from plastic, sawdust and metal, which has the ability to support her weight (adult elephants weigh around 5 tonnes) as well as offer her mobility, much needed in an active and naughty young elephant!
As Mosha has grown, she has had to be fitted with a new prosthesis and now at 14 years old, she is a healthy and vibrant young elephant with a long life ahead of her. She will need a new prosthesis every year until she stops growing at 20 years old.
Elephant Parade work with world-renowned conservation experts to deliver the best possible defence against the destruction of Asian elephants, and the diverse wildlife that share their habitat. They believe in creative conservation. Hosting large-scale public art events in order to mobilise public concern is at the core of our strategy. If the endangered Asian elephant is to survive, our efforts must be both fun and fearless. To win support its plight must become known.
