Motala

Meet Motala! This 48-year old elephant used to work in Thailand moving large trees when she stumbled upon a land mine that destroyed her left foot and some of her leg. After her owners tried to save her leg by amputation, she got a temporary prothesis to help her learn how to walk on a new artificial leg.

She was recently fitted for her new leg thanks to the conservation group, Friends of the Asian Elephant. They also released some absolutely heartwarming photos of Motala learning how to walk with her new leg!

The world hardly needs more poster material for the plight of land-mine victims. But Motala is as innocent as they come. The 38-year-old Asian elephant stepped on a land mine deep in the war-torn jungle in southern Burma while rummaging for food on a break from her heavy workload. She was part of an ugly, illegal trade: her Thai mahout, or trainer and owner, had been hired by loggers to illegally harvest and haul the heavy trunks of valuable teak trees that grow in the jungle. The mahout, Somwang Arunwiriya, had heard of the Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand, and decided to try to recoup his loss: the elephant had cost $8,000 — four times the average annual income in Thailand — four years ago. For three days, he and Motala walked through thick, mountainous jungle across the Thai border, then hired a truck to carry them the rest of the way. The elephant's injured limb became badly infected. As Motala staggered into the hospital, onlookers wept. The animal was in such terrible pain that hospital workers swore they saw tears fall from Motala's eyes.