Thailand Elephant Rehabilitation and Community Project!

Daisy Grieve Start Date: Mar 28, 2016 - End Date: Sep 27, 2016
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
  • Chiang Mai Thailand

My Travel Story

by: Daisy Grieve Start Date: Mar 28, 2016 - End Date: Sep 27, 2016
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Volunteer Trip
The population of Asian elephants and their habitat is rapidly declining. With less than 1,000 left in the wild in Thailand, but around 3,000 in captivity, we are one of the few viable alternatives to the reality of their domesticated future within detrimental tourist camps.

( this is an ethical volunteer program and we do not partake in riding elephants, demonstrating unnatural skills, or interacting hands-on with the elephants more than necessary.)

Your contribution will help to keep these elephants in protected forests, continue the conservation of these beautiful animals and their habitats, provide funding to keep the project running, and offer alternative livelihoods to the local community. The goal of this project is to have semi-wild herds of elephants living, socializing, and foraging in their natural habitat, supervised by their mahouts around their local village.

How this project makes a difference:

Elephants can be very expensive to care for, and are viewed as private property and a means of generating income for the local communities. The elephants are often forced into camps or street begging to make money through tourism in Thailand. The lack of viable alternatives for income from elephants is detrimental to their health and well being.

As an unregulated industry, elephant tourism can be an ugly business. Elephants require a specific environment that provides them with social, mental, and physical stimulation to thrive. With a huge increase in the demand for tourist camps, elephants are deprived of their imperative self-medicating diet, migratory urges to move, complex social interactions, and brain stimulation, leading to shocking repercussions in the health of the elephant.

This volunteer project aims to provide an alternative way for the elephants to bring in money for the local village while continuing to lead healthy lives that will ensure their long term conservation and survival. I'm very excited to be able to help make a difference and your donation will make that possible! 
  • Chiang Mai Thailand

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