A city is the last place where you would expect to find an elephant. Their existence is heartbreaking. Without the forest, and sufficient food, Thai elephants won’t have a chance of survival. 'Bring the Elephant Home' is dedicated to create a better future for Asian elephants. We hope to achieve this by stimulating animal friendly eco-tourism, creating habitat for elephants, growing food for elephants, creating alternatives for elephant families and by finding solutions to solve human-elephant conflicts. With our project Trees for Elephants we have already planted over 300,000 trees for wild and domesticated elephants. To be able to extend the Elephant Nature Park, we annually organize Bike for Elephants. Read more... >>>
Dok Ngeon gave birth to a daughter!
antoinette - 16 April 2013 13:52
Once again, surprising news from the Elephant Nature Park. On April 6th 2013, at 19:45 (Thai time) Dok Ngeon gave birth to a healthy baby girl! At birth she weighed in at 252 pounds, and was 3.12 feet tall. Her name is Dok Mai, which means ‘Queen of all Flowers’. Proud mother Dok Ngeon is doing well. Best friend Sri Nuan is watching big brother Chang Yim, who was a little jealous at first at this competitor for attention and milk. Many of the elephants have already come over to meet Dok Mai. Mother and daughter will stay at the maternity ward for now. Until Dok Mai is strong enough to go and explore her surroundings, and meet the other elephants. Another addition to the family! Click for pictures of little Dok Mai.
First preparations in Borneo
antoinette - 16 February 2013 16:51
Last month I visited Sabah in the north of Borneo to prepare our new project. I received a warm welcome by Benoit Goossens, director of the Danau Girang Field Centre. This is a field station of Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University, which has been active in the area for over five years, and I would love to work together with them. Together we decided on the itinerary of my visit. Important was the meeting with two local organizations that are experienced in reforestation: Hutan and Mescot. I met with Frenchman Marc Ancrenaz, director of Hutan. After exchanging experiences and ideas, we decided to travel to Sukau, a village in the middle of elephant territory. Hutan has an office there, where their annual meeting was taking place at that moment. A perfect moment to get to know the organization and for a presentation about our Trees for Elephants project in Thailand. I also got the chance to visit Hutan’s tree planting locations. The largest problem in this area, downstream on the Kinabatangan River, is the fragmentation of the forest. Moving through elephant territory by boat, the scenery is overwhelming. But on a map the situation looks distressing. In some places the forest is less than 300 feet wide. Behind it, there are palm oil plantations, the main reason for deforestation. In several places they reach all the way to the river side, completely blocking elephant migration routes.
Check dam and fire break making with IBM Solution
Dutsadee - 15 February 2013 19:43
Every dry season, there is a risk of forest fire, which can damage our planting sites seriously. Therefore we need to cut a fire break to stop forest fire, before it spreads to our planting sites. This year, during February - May 2013, we will arrange to cut a fire break around our plating sites of 2012 for this coming dry season. While we are working inside the forest, we will also build rock check dams to slow down the flow of water during the monsoons and to preserve water from the next rainy season. This will provide drinking water for wild elephants and other animals and will create higher humidity in the forest.
This year we started to make our first fire break system with the great support of 30 volunteers from IBM Solution Co.,Ltd (head office) from Bangkok, together with local villagers from Baan Klang Pla Kod village and the forest rangers from Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary. All activities were done very quicly and successfully, thanks to the hard work of all volunteers. Also, over 18,500 Baht was donated by IBM Solution Company to the Baan Klang Pla Kod local nursery to produce native tree seedlings to restore the Salakpra forest this coming rainy season.
Volunteer event: Fire break cutting and rock check-dam making for wild elephants 23/2/2013
Dutsadee - 12 February 2013 19:27
The dry season of 2013 is starting soon. It’s time to make the fire break system to protect the trees that we planted in 2012. Please join our next event inside Salakpra wildlife sanctuary! Our ambition is to make a fire break cutting around the planting site to protect the trees from forest fire before the coming dry season. During the same event we will also make a rocked check-dam to preserve water for the wildlife. We need many volunteers to help with this important forest conservation event! The project helps to improve the habitat of wild elephants and to solve human elephant conflicts around the sanctuary.
The dry season in Kanchanaburi caused water shortage inside the jungle of Salakpra before. This forced many wild elephants to roam outside the wildlife sanctuary to find water for drinking and bathing. On their way to the water source, the elephants also ate from fruit plantations of the local people. This leads to more conflicts between the wild elephants and the local people. An easy way to reduce this conflict, is to catch and store as much water as we can in the rainy season. The water pools, and the extra elephant food we plant, we hopefully keep the wild elephants inside the jungle.
Bike for Elephants raises THB 141,000
admin - 23 January 2013 14:49
January 19th opened on a cool, dry Saturday morning, buzzing with the excitement of 26 cyclists as they prepared to cycle over 100km to help improve the lives of elephants in Thailand. The participants gathered Mae Rim Lagoon hotel, as they have done since the first Bike for Elephants tour three years ago.
We welcomed participants from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ireland and The Netherlands. Everyone was assigned a bicycle (thanks to Spice Roads Chiang Mai) and assembled at the starting line. A brief silence fell as Antoinette, BTEH founder, counted down 3…2…1…let the 4th annual Bike for Elephants begin!
Street Begging Elephant seen in Northern Thailand
admin - 7 January 2013 12:01
A young male elephant, just 10 years old, was seen in Mae Sai, a border town in the far North of Thailand just last week. Both he and his mahouts came from Surin. They live off the main highway several kilometers from Mae Sai town, meaning that the youngster has to endure a very long walk along a road bustling with cars and trucks. Elephants feet are extremely sensitive to the heat of the road and the rumble of the vehicles; they use their feet when communicating with other elephants, picking up vibrations that humans cannot hear.
There are several laws in Thailand which prohibit bringing elephants into cities or towns (though none of these cover animal welfare), including Beast of Burden Act of 1971, Public Health Act of 1992, Animal Epidemic Disease Act of 1956, Highway Act of 1992, Land Transport Act of 1979 and the Wild Animals Protection Act of 1992. Despite this, mahouts who see no other option for themselves risk fines and even imprisonment to take elephants begging on the streets in big cities, particularly Bangkok.
71 Check-Dams Inside Erawan National Park
Dutsadee - 21 December 2012 08:00
On Saturday November 24 2012, Bring The Elephant Home and the Paper for Trees Project arranged a volunteer event to erect check-dams in the forest at Erawan National Park, on the boundary with Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi. The check-dams aim to preserve and slow down the stream in the forest, providing drinking water and bathing areas for wild elephants. Many wild elephants roam between both forests in search of food and water during the dry season. A tree planting plot, established in May 2012, was also checked and an additional 300 native trees were planted. Despite heavy rain in the afternoon, the 140 volunteers were undeterred.
Handmade Jewellery by Elephant Families in Surin
admin - 18 December 2012 08:30
Suzanne van GIls and Manouk Mass, students of the Green Campus in the Netherlands, visited Baan Tha Klang Elephant Village in Surin in May 2012 and saw an opportunity for families of mahouts to generate income without exploiting their elephants. The girls arranged a jewellery workshop and the local people agreed to produce several hundred pieces to be taken and sold in the Netherlands, the proceeds to be shared amongst the group. Bring The Elephant Home proudly sponsored this venture, providing guidance and translation for Suzanne and Manouk, as well as beads and materials.
Update: Tree Monitoring at Surin Elephant Village
admin - 07:29
A tree planting event was organized at Surin Elephant Village to mark World Environment Day, June 5 2012. Over 220 volunteers planted 2,800 native trees of 24 different species in an area of 6 rai. The seedlings were grown by the community tree nursery in Kanchanaburi, which is supported by Bring The Elephant Home.
The aims of this project are to create more biodiversity in the natural forest for over 120 captive elephants living in the Village and to generate extra income from the existing elephant food plantation.
