Recently the
Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) welcomed a new elephant to
the camp: Bounjan. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to write a little
about the organization and why TEI have chosen to work with them in particular.
 |
| Bounjan |
GTAEF was
founded in order to provide a safe haven for abused elephants or those who
cannot work. Many of the elephants have come from the streets of the larger
cities in Thailand, where they were forced to beg for food and money in busy
and dangerous situations. The foundation rescued them from this often traumatic
situation and offered the elephants and mahouts (elephant caretakers) a better
life here in the north of Thailand.
Once they arrive
at the Anantara Resort where the foundation is based, the elephants are able
live in natural jungle habitat, with other elephants around and an ethical work
situation; working only a limited number of hours a day and without doing any
‘tricks’ that are unnatural or harmful to the elephants. As well as this the
mahouts are welcome to bring their families to live here to and are provided
with housing, health care and education. We would all prefer that elephants
were only found in the wild, but given that this is not that case and that these
are some of the best kept elephants in Thailand, TEI chose to use this
population to study. We hope that this will ultimately help their wild
counterparts by increasing our understanding of the species as a whole.
As well as
providing all this care for the 25 elephants here, the foundation supports a
number of other conservation initiatives. This ensures that as well as
increasing the welfare of these few elephants, the foundation also contributes
to the bigger picture of elephant conservation in Asia which is essential to
save the species.
 |
| GTAEF vet checks that Boujan is healthy |
Bounjan arrived
on the 30th November, causing a lot of rumbling commotion amongst
the other elephants! She has come from a trekking camp near Chiang Mai. She’s
43 years old and has obviously done a lot of trekking in her time but is
otherwise healthy and settling in well. We look forward to spending more time
with her and we hope that she will enjoy a more relaxed pace of life here at
GTAEF.
