Waikato graduate to serenade rescued elephants in Thailand

During lullaby time at a Thailand sanctuary, Niamh Lovelock remembers elephants galumphing over from all corners to listen.

The rescued elephants would fall asleep at the feet of the singer, Lek, who founded Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, where Lovelock volunteered for a week.

Soon, Lovelock will be serenading elephants herself.

Later this year, the 22-year-old will head to Thailand where she's landed her dream role as a volunteer and education programme manager at Kwan Jai Elephant Foundation, founded by Viv and Jack Lanting.

Mistreated elephants will be rescued from places such as riding camps, circuses, street begging and the illegal logging industry.

And singing to them will be a part of their rehabilitation, Lovelock said.

"In any situation where they're answering to human command basically, they go through some sort of intensive training which is quite harmful to them mentally and physically. So they come to us with a lot of mental trauma.

"When we actually rescue them and take them from wherever they come from, we'll have them on the truck and I'll be on the truck singing to them and trying to calm them down and show them that we're not there to hurt them."

She's never sung to elephants, but has practiced on her rescue cat Pizza.

"I remember driving home with her and she was freaking out being in the car and I would start singing to her and she would sort of stop meowing and calm down a bit.

She reckons they will respond best to slow, low, soothing songs and classical music, like Mozart, although she'll also try some Irish folk songs and Māori music to honour her Irish and New Zealand roots.

Lovelock, who specialises in classical singing, completed her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Music at the University of Waikato in 2016.

She hadn't expected use her music degree this way, initially planning on a performance career.

But combining two life-long loves - singing and elephants, seems perfect.

Lovelock has always been drawn to elephants and even sports a tattoo of one on her back.





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