Thailand -- Thai Elephant Research and Conservation Fund

Image Source

One afternoon while in Thailand we visited the Thai Elephant Center for Conservation in Saraburi Province, which is part of the Thai Elephant Research and Conservation Fund.

It was quite an interesting visit as we learned more about the Asian elephants and the relationships and conflicts between elephants and humans in Thailand. I was pleasantly surprised that this elephant-related visit should be part of our program. I was under the impression that our visit would be focussed solely on the health concerns of people; however, this visit to an animal conservation centre brought a delightful extra dimension to the trip.

The director of the centre gave us a presentation on Thailand’s elephant history and human-elephant conflict. He also discussed the various programs they ran on educating people – particularly the Thai youth – about elephants, saying that as the elephant is Thailand's icon, it is imperative that the next generation be educated on this representative animal. This includes a series of booklets, known as the Elephant Curriculum, that they publish to educate children on elephants, covering a whole array of elephant related topics such as elephant evolution, elephant physiology, elephant behaviour, elephants in religions, wild elephant conservation and the mahouts (traditional elephant trainers).

Finally we went on a fifteen minute elephant ride. Honestly, having grown up with horses I’ve never really seen the appeal in riding on an elephant and after having done it I still prefer horse riding. Nonetheless, I guess it is a unique enough experience with one sitting so high up. An elephant also moves quite differently from a horse.

In the photo is John and I. His mother is a doctor at our university and a researcher in Nutrition. She presented the session on Malnutrition during the Health Education Trip.