Wildlife Conservation Thailand Project #6539

Save and Rescue an Asian Elephant Today

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Apr 22, 2021
Elephants are meant to roam free!

By Shayle Havemann | project leader

Introduction

Many Elephants are forced to work in cities to bring in an income and this project aims to change this to a new strategy to promote ethical and responsible tourism in Asia. We are working with a number of carefully selected local communities to fight the illegal act of forcing elephants to work in the tourism trade, whilst working to guard the elephants that are still in the wild by monitoring and funding protected areas

Report

Our project works across Asia and actively rescues Elephants and rehabilitates them in a protected forest, whilst providing protection and monitoring to ensure they remain safe. $15 provides the resources and support required to run an awareness workshop for 10 local community members to help decrease unethical elephant tourism practices in the area.

Thank you for your support

Permalink

Dec 28, 2020
A fresh approach now tourism is small

By Tyrone Bennett | CEO / President

Aug 31, 2020
Huay Pakoot's Elephants Return Home

By Liane Fulford | Program Manager

Mahouts walk their elephants home from the city

Dear Supporters,

We thank you for your continued support during these challenging and unpredictable times. With international tourism in Thailand not likely to resume until at least 2021, this has posed all kinds of threats for captive elephants across the country, and their owners, who rely on the tourism industry as their main source of income.

The village we partner with in Huay Pakoot has been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic. With approximately 70 elephants in their care - most of whom work in tourism camps in Chiang Mai - they have had to work fast to ensure all these elephants stay well-fed and looked after. The forests surrounding the village, which normally support just 12 elephants (including Lulu, Sah Jah and Lah Lah), are now home to over 50, as camps closed and mahouts spent a gruelling 3 days walking back from the city to their home, with their elephants.

The villagers continued to show dedication to their elephants through the dry season by driving up to 3 hours a day to buy elephant grass and other food from the nearest town. Unfortunately during this season, the forest is not enough to feed this many elephants. All villagers pitched in to help support all these elephants, as they consider them a part of the family.

With the pandemic going on longer than most of us expected, we are now brainstorming with the community some sustainable ways they can continue to support their elephants with the lack of international tourists. They plan to focus more on domestic tourism and to bring tourists to the village for an immersive experience involving seeing the elephants in the forest, as well as staying in local homestays and integrating into the culture of this mahouting village. The local scholars we have trained over the past few years - Dee, Don, Su and Boh Duh - will be an integral part of starting up this initiative.

We need your continued support to ensure the elephants can remain in the forest through these times, and we can start working towards a more sustainable future for them. It is lovely to see them all in the forest during this time, blissfully unaware of all the stress that we are dealing with all over the world!

With Gratitude,

Thailand Elephants

Lukaye and Sadja

Everyone in the village caring for the elephants

Driving 3 hours a day to get food - with a smile!

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 21 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.