Elephants can become very old, up to 80 years. When we commit ourselves to the protection of elephants, this always means a long-term commitment. For every elephant calf born today in human hands, we must ensure that his livelihood will be maintained in the coming decades. Projects for the protection of our grey giants must be designed across generations and hand in hand with the local population in order to offer the elephant in human hands a life as natural as possible. The funds needed for this must flow continuously, be it through income with the animals in gentle tourism or sponsorships and donations. In order to earn money in tourism with and for our elephants, responsible guests from all over the world must continue to visit elephant camps, which guarantee a responsible and respectful approach to the animals. You see, it will not work without you!

The relationship between elephants and humans was and is a very special one. Domesticated elephants play a significant role in Thailand’s history and culture and many elements of the Buddhist religion are intertwined with these gentle giants. Their appearance and character have often been used as metaphors in Buddha’s teachings. In the history of Thailand, elephants were used in temple construction and in the timber industry. However, in 1989, when the teak strike stopped, the situation of working elephants changed from one day to the other. Thousands of elephants and their owners became unemployed – the families’ main source of income had become an intolerable financial burden due to high running costs. Some elephants found rewarding work in the tourism industry. Many, however, were not so lucky and were forced to fight hard, often under unworthy living and working conditions. In order to lead our animals into a promising future – in an environment as natural as possible – working close with the local people is inevitable. We can only guarantee this by combining their centuries-old traditions with the demands of modern animal welfare. To ensure this path regarding traditional experiences of elephant-owning families, respect their religion and culture, and mix it with the latest scientific researches and animal welfare aspects is necessary.

The conflict between elephants and people does not only worsens on the edges of national parks due to closer growing villages and agricultural areas.  Our camp is located near a river, surrounded by dense forests, small villages, rice fields and banana plantations. If one of our elephants gets on a rice field or the banana plantations illegally, he does not only eats as much as he wants but destroys all harvest of farmers in the villages nearby. The high compensation payments are only one problem in this scenario. If a farmer sees his harvest or his family threatened by invading elephants they will defend themself accordingly. As a result the life of our elephants can be in serious danger. We include the local villagers in our concepts. We do not only provide information about these gentle giants and contact with our animals but the Tong-Bai Foundation creats jobs and supports social projects in the villages. As long as we stick to certain rules we are a welcomed guest around here. We are for example allowed to use the river for bathing our elephants but have to make sure it is not over-polluted with elephant dung. Since the river is used as a food source and service water our mahouts have to remove elephants dung from the water after a nice bath with our guests.

Elephants spend about 18 hours a day eating. Since their digestion is not very effective they have to consume large quantities of food to meet their nutritional needs. As our elephants spend a lot of time each day and night in the camp surrounded by a species-rich forest and grassland, they are able to eat as natural as possible. They can add to their diet every herbs, grass, bark and roots they want to. Due to the immense amount of feed of about 200 kg, which requires a full-grown elephant a day, elephant grass, corn and hay must also be fed. The permanent provision of hay is a great feature and we are proud to be the only privately managed elephant camp to offer our animals this raw food which is rich in fiber and protein. The production of hay has a long history in Europe but is not common in Thailand. The long rainy season and high humidity make hay production very difficult. Hay, which is healthy and herb-scented for elephants, can only be harvested in December and February, and the widespread application of pesticides must be avoided, making annual productivity comparatively low and hay accordingly cost-intensive. Only in a few places in the country this high-quality feed is produced. One of these places is the village of Ta Goa Muang in the district of Lampun, about 80km from Mae Sapok. Here, a group of 20 small farmers collectively cultivate an area of ​​about 48 hectares (300 Rai). Even the corn, of which we feed only the stems and not the fruit flask, must be grown pesticide-free. Of course, this will give the farmer less crops and the loss of earnings will have to make up for the “waste product”. The harvest of elephant grass, specially planted for the elephants, is very labor-intensive and sweaty.