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About GTAEF

We are a Thai registered non profit foundation established in 2006 in collaboration with the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort. Situated in the northernmost region of Thailand, where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos converge known as The Golden Triangle, we work with local partners to promote ethical work for elephants and provide them with a safe and healthy environment.

Why do Thailand’s elephants need help?

Following the 1989 logging ban, captive elephants and their mahouts turned to unethical work in trekking camps or street begging to survive, with mass tourism as their main income source.

Elephant Care

GTAEF rents the elephants from the mahout, provides fodder, a forest environment and shelter as well as vet care for the elephant; along with food, accommodation, health care and insurance for the mahouts and their families.

Elephant Rescues

From the streets, shows, trekking camps and illegal logging camps.

Elephant Welfare

GTAEF also cooperates with the government and other organisations in 'bigger picture' projects throughout South East Asia in the hopes of improving conditions for captive elephants as well the remaining wild population.

Our Aims

  • We aid elephants in need, those unable to support themselves, their mahouts, or families.
  • Our working elephants demonstrate ethical alternatives to dangerous or degrading labour like street begging and shows.
  • We offer a safe space for ethical and non-invasive research on Asian elephants to understand their behaviour and intelligence to enhance captive elephant care and conservation of wild populations.
  • We collaborate with conservationists to safeguard Thailand’s wild elephants and foster harmonious coexistence with affected human communities.
  • We collaborate with conservationists to safeguard Thailand’s remaining wild elephants and their habitat. We also engage with local communities to mitigate conflict arising from Human-Elephant Conflict.

How can you help?

Each year, approximately $18,000 is needed to care for a single elephant.
Every donation we receive significantly impacts our elephants' well-being and supports our other various projects.

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We Don’t Buy Elephants

We do not buy elephants because we learned very early on that taking away a mahout’s elephant and giving him enough money to replace it only causes him to source a new elephant. This can either be a baby which needs to be trained or, thankfully rarely, an elephant caught from the wild. Either way the problem of too many elephants in captivity is made worse.

CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS IN THAILAND

Historically, Thailand’s captive elephants and their mahouts worked in the logging industry, hauling trees from dense jungles. However, the 1989 logging ban left them unemployed.

Maintaining these elephants, which consume over 10% of their body weight daily (over 200 kg for adults), proved costly. Many elephant owners turned to illegal street begging in major cities to survive, despite its illegality. Others worked in illicit logging camps, facing overwork, malnutrition, and accidents, including landmines. Others resorted to working in trekking camps, though care quality for the elephants varied widely with many of them overworked and living in non-forest areas.

Collaborative efforts are crucial to ensure the welfare of these captive elephants, as mass tourism remains their main income source.