Vietnam

A wild baby elephant-abandoned by his herd-frantically struggles to survive after falling into a water-filled well.  A young bull elephant’s foot and trunk are severely damaged by a snare and he can no longer keep up with his herd; survival is doubtful. 

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These two orphan elephants, "Gold" and "Jun",  are among the reasons Elephant Care International partnered with Animals Asia, Wild Welfare, and the North Carolina Zoo to form the Vietnam Elephant Initiative (VEI). VEI team members care deeply about animal welfare and wildlife conservation.

 

Working together, we donated our collective time, energy, resources, and skills to safeguard the elephants of Vietnam by providing technical and material support to Vietnam’s Elephant Conservation Center (ECC).  

 

The VEI team provided guidance in elephant management, positive reinforcement training, veterinary care, environmental enrichment, facility design, and other aspects important to elephant welfare. 

 

VEI was instrumental in helping ECC staff to properly care for Gold and Jun. We built a sturdy digital scale to weigh them in order to monitor and manage their health and wellbeing, and we taught Positive Reinforcement Training techniques to ECC's staff mahouts to ensure Jun receives daily treatments for his injured foot and other essential veterinary care procedures.

 

Moreover, we co-hosted the "Vietnam Elephant Management Workshop" in January of 2017, bringing together national and regional government officials, elephant owners, tourism companies, veterinarians, animal managers, and international NGOs from around the globe to identify the needs of captive elephants and create a plan for a better future.

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Click here to watch "Saving Gold" - a heart-warming  video created by our partner and colleague, Hollis Burbank-Hammarlund, founder/ director of Work for Wild Life International.

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