THE campaign to free a 37-year-old Malaysian elephant has been boosted
thanks to a Windermere woman cycling non-stop for 12 hours.
Cyclist Julia Savory and her supporters have so far raised £3,192 to
raise awareness of the international bid to get captive Lasah into a
sanctuary - far exceeding her £2,000 target.
The wild-born creature appeared in a 1999 Hollywood movie called Anna
and the King which starred Jodie Foster as an English governess to the
King of Siam’s children. Lasah is now used to give elephant rides in
Malaysia.
Animal lover Julia embarked on her static-bike marathon to help raise
the profile of efforts to free Lasah more than 6,5000 miles away in
tropical Malaysia, South East Asia.
She began pedalling at the National Trust's straw-bale Footprint
building, near Windermere, at 7am on Saturday, February 3, feeling
"nervous but glad to get on with it".
Julia told the Gazette how grateful she was to other riders who joined
her, saying: "They brought energy with them that gave my legs a boost.
Gill and Malcolm Mead, from Ambleside, arrived first and cycled from
11am to 1pm. Then Joan Mccadden, from Kendal Cycle Club, arrived at noon
for her two-hour ride."
Well-wishers arrived throughout the afternoon, and at 3pm Julia said
she "hit the wall". Feeling weary, she could not eat and it was all she
could do to keep going. She added: "Luckily at 4pm Tim Price, from
Kendal Cycle Club, arrived to do his three-hour stint. Thank goodness!
His pace was good and although I couldn’t match it, it was a good
boost."
At 7pm when Julia finally stopped she said she felt "exhausted, elated
and humbled", and there was "no way" she could not have completed the
ride without such support.
"I have since been contacted by people from around the world who wish
to help elephant Lasah," said Julia, who is now to write a detailed plan
to make sure the money is spent wisely.
She also hopes to visit schools to teach children how best to interact
with elephants. "The UK is one of the world’s largest markets for
elephant riding so it’s important to get the message out there in a fun
and non-distressing way," she told the Gazette. "Just to make sure that
elephants like Lasah, that are taken from the wild and broken, become a
thing of the past."
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