Elephant Welfare & Sustainable Income In Thailand

The first priority right now for everyone in Huay Pakoot is to support their families and their elephants, and any donations will be evenly split between all 70 elephants in the village and will help the mahouts to feed and look after them. The donations will allow the mahouts to spend more time with their elephants rather than striving to earn income elsewhere, which will drastically improve the elephants’ wellbeing and health. We will leave you with the story of Thanapol, who is a mahout in his early 20s in Huay Pakoot. At the moment, Thanapol wakes up at 6:30am to spend some time with his elephant, Lulu - making sure she is well-fed and healthy. He then travels to the corn fields to help his parents plant corn - he is there all day, leaving around 4 or 5pm. He then assists his uncle in mahouting for another elephant, and will not return to his wife and baby until around 6 in the evening. This is a testament to how hard the community members are working at the moment for their elephants and families. I want to thank all the supporters of our project through this time, as you are making such a difference to the community. Many of the villagers say they cannot wait for the international tourists to return and that they really miss the ‘golas’ (foreigners) being in their village, as it is boring without them! They are all so grateful for any support from afar and look forward to welcoming visitors back when the situation improves.