Benefits mean that elephants have found a new worth other than agriculture and work productivity, receiving better care than ever before. Challenges is ignorance of tourists around how elephants need to be treated, and the high costs of caring for elephants especially in a non-working setting.
We must stress that these elephants are domestic and raised by humans, so they cannot take care of themselves and do not know how to live in the wild. This means they must rely on humans for their care, which is a huge responsibility, but highly rewarding.
During the day the elephants are trained to be around people by visiting the tourists. They also get showered and bathed twice a day so that the careers can check them over for any cuts or injuries. At night, the elephants sleep in the forest where they can supplement their diets with jungle shrubs.
One elephant came to them with a severe tetanus infection in her neck. Tetanus is not well studied in elephants so had to apply human care strategies. Also had to perform surgery to remove a large part of the infected area. The elephant is in full recovery now and showing no further signs of illness.
Firstly, it is not a sanctuary it is a conservation / rehabilitation center. The aim of the center is to support rehabilitation of DOMESTIC elephants in Thailand. The center was opened as a means of funding their veterinary hospital and clinic needs. They offer free elephant health care and advice to any owners of domestic elephants. Injured or sick elephants can stay at the center for an extended period, until they are returned to their owners, adopted by someone else OR surrendered to the center permanently. All of the funding for running the center, paying staff and running the hospital is generated through [...]
