How a 'Love on the Spectrum' star and a Topeka charity saved an elephant in Laos

Madelyn Smith had no idea her brother Tanner Smith would one day be a Netflix star who would get recognized no matter where he went.

So finding herself in southeast Asia helping her brother rescue an elephant from captivity was a shock.

But it happened, thanks to a Topeka-based charity.

"I've been telling people it's so fun being like famous adjacent because he's going to go on all these cool adventures and stuff," Madelyn Smith said, "and I either get a front row seat to watch or get to go along with him."

Tanner Smith starred on "Love on the Spectrum" earlier this year. In June, he partnered with Planting Peace to rescue an elephant named Joy, who was being held captive in Laos.

"Rescuing elephants and seeing all the animals ... that was my favorite," Tanner Smith said.

Tanner Smith became a star on 'Love on the Spectrum'

Tanner Smith, a South Carolina native, made his television debut in the second season of "Love on the Spectrum" in mid-January.

Little did he or his family know, he'd become famous online and in his daily life. On TikTok, Tanner Smith has grown his platform to more than 521,000 followers and on Instagram he has more than 490,000 followers.

While on the show, he shared his love of animals — specifically gorillas — and it was through this interest Planting Peace president Aaron Jackson decided to reach out and ask him to come rescue an elephant with him.

"We had a lot of fun and it was really fun working with him," Jackson said.

Madelyn Smith said it was interesting to see someone so passionate about rescuing elephants.

"It's really cool to see Aaron's passion for things that I'm not necessarily like, super, super passionate about," Madelyn Smith said, "but because he's fired up about it, it was amazing to kind of catch sparks of his passion."

Topeka-based charity Planting Peace helps rescue captive elephants

Planting Peace is a Topeka-based charity that focuses on humanitarian efforts across the globe. Some of its accomplishments include creating the Equality House across from Westboro Baptist Church, advocating for gay rights, and in more recent years, rescuing elephants from captivity or enslavement.

"So rescuing elephants, that's kind of become more of a primary focus," Jackson said. "That's something I just kind of fell into by accident in 2018. I was watching a documentary in the Equality House about abused elephants and decided I was going to try and rescue one."

More recently, Jackson said he has been using TikTok as a way to raise funds when rescuing various elephants. Through TikTok, Jackson has built a platform of more than 529,500 followers and rescued a handful of elephants.

Siblings able to travel to meet Joy with Topeka's Planting Peace founder

While traveling with Jackson, siblings Tanner, Madelyn and Taylor Smith met Joy. She was an elephant who has been used for labor for many years. Once she had outgrown her usefulness, Joy remained chained up for years to different trees and was rarely allowed to roam.

Madelyn Smith said Jackson warned them Joy could be nervous around strangers because of the consistent abuse, but Joy took a liking to Tanner Smith quickly.

"She was very receptive, actually, to Tanner, which is just so interesting because Tanner really does have a way with a little kids and with animals," Madelyn Smith said. "She was very gentle."

After a couple of visits with Joy and a few fundraisers done with Tiktok videos, Joy was liberated from captivity and taken 100 miles to sanctuary.

"I feel like we were all just kind of overwhelmed with gratitude of like, we get to do this because Aaron took us on this trip, he invited us and planned everything and did it all," Madelyn Smith said.

Planting Peace founder surprised by how quickly rescue funds were raised

Jackson said he and Tanner Smith were able to quickly raise the funds to rescue Joy. He was surprised at how quickly.

"The show is insanely popular on Netflix," Jackson said of "Love on the Spectrum." "So, we were able to raise the money for her rescue really fast."

While this wasn't Madelyn Smith's first time traveling, it was the first time her brother and sister left the country.

Madelyn said Tanner Smith was rarely interested in traveling before, but now she sees a change in his attitude toward travel.

She also said Tanner Smith wants to go back to Laos to see Joy again and also wants to rescue or see gorillas in the future.

"I definitely think it would be fun for him to go, and he's got fans all over the world now," Madelyn Smith said. "We get comments all the time with like, 'Come to London,' 'Come to Australia' and all that kind of stuff. So, I won't be surprised if we do a lot more traveling in the future."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: 'Love on the Spectrum's Tanner Smith and Topeka charity save elephant