Mission and policy plan
Bring the Elephant Home is - starting in Thailand - actively participating in the protection of Asian elephant which is threatened to become extinct.
Unfortunately Asian elephants have to deal with a great lack of room to live and food. Therefore, we are aiming reforestation, protection of the remaining forests, and solving the human-elephant conflicts.
The forests being planted for the Thai elephants are the solution. The elephants get more space, with a greater variety of food, the area is protected against further demolition, and the forests help solve the conflict with local farmers. One cannot imagine a future without elephants living in the wild. We will do anything to prevent this.
All elephants should be living in the wild. If this is not possible, they should be able to live in an environment as natural as possible, where they can behave as normal as possible. Therefore, we focus on projects that can make this possible: elephant parks and reserves.
Bring the Elephant Home is against using elephants in entertainment, when this is done against the animal’s natural behavior, only in the pursuit of profit, and not in the interest of a better future for elephants. Elephants simply do not belong in the streets. Nor at the trekking camps where they are often worked to death. Tourists are being transported on a chair on the back of an elephant, but this much weight is degenerative to its fragile spine. Education should make tourists decide against it.
We understand that using elephants to make money is necessary to the survival of elephants. Therefore, we plead for and support animal friendly, natural, and sustainable elephant projects. We want to help owners and mahouts find a different way to earn a living with their elephant. The elephant should be able to roam, find its own food, and live together with other elephants. It is proven time and time again that tourists love to watch elephants in their natural habitat.
Bring the Elephant Home is aiming for a better future for the Thai elephants. We want to accomplish this by animal friendly ecotourism, by the conservation and creation of a natural environment for the elephants, producing healthy food for the elephants, furthering alternative employment for elephant keepers, and by solving the human-elephant conflict.
Download (pdf) policy plan Bring the Elephant Home 2009-2011
