Wildlife Conservation Thailand Project #6539

Save and Rescue an Asian Elephant Today

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Jul 1, 2016
Two Elephants Come Home

By Kate Robey | The GVI Trust, Operations Manager

Dee Dee

Dear Supporters,

The main goal, of this project, is to provide the village of Huay Pakoot with an alternative income to the current method of renting their elephants to tourist camps. One of the main incomes that GVI provides for this village is paying the elephant owners to keep their elephant in the surrounding forest. In March, we added two more elephants to its current herd in Huay Pakoot; bringing the total number of elephants up to 8.

The tourist industry in Thailand has put a strain on the elephant population of this country. It used to be the case that elephants were captured from the wild, often at a young age, and then trained to do tricks or to give rides. Although this practice may still happen in some areas, many elephant owners/camps obtain more elephants through their current elephants giving birth. These elephants born into captivity are very unlikely to ever see the wild. So the kind of camp/sanctuary these elephants are born into is the determining factor in whether they will have a decent life or not.

The Karen hill tribe village of Huay Pakoot owns around 60 elephants, the majority of which currently reside within tourist camps in Northern Thailand. Renting their elephants to these camps provides a good source of income for many families in the village. Although some of these camps don’t make these elephants perform tricks or undertake in saddle riding, it is the goal of GVI Chiang Mai to provide the best quality of life for the elephants as possible.

Our aims is to bring back as many elephants to the village as possible; making sure that the number of elephants in the surrounding forest of Huay Pakoot remains at a sustainable level. It is important that the number of elephants brought back to the village does not go over the carrying capacity of the surrounding forest. If more elephants, than the surrounding forest can support, are put into the forest then this will cause degradation of the local ecosystem. This would be bad for the elephants, the local biodiversity, as well as the villagers.

Our newest recruits

During the last few months, the team in Chiang Mai has been looking to increase the number of elephants here in the village (it can take a long time to negotiate terms). During the month of March, we were able to secure two more elephants; a female called Gureepoh and a male named Dee Dee. It’s great to see these elephants spend more time in the forest, where they should be. Without having to perform tricks or provide exhausting rides to tourists.

Gureepoh was placed in a heard with Khum Suk, Kha Moon, and Saja (3 older females), Lulu (a juvenile female) and Wan Mai (our baby male elephant). Gureepoh settled into the group pretty much instantly and is now able to walk in the forest and learn from the more experienced individuals on how to actually be an elephant. When Dee Dee first arrived he was kept more separated from the other elephants, this is because the mahouts wanted to make sure he was settled before introducing him; a male elephant can affect the dynamics of a herd more than a female joining the group. So safety first, especially when volunteers are in close proximity to these giants. Dee Dee, however, was extremely calm and was introduced to the others relatively soon after arriving. The current relationships between the elephants are stable and Dee Dee and Lulu seem to have become good friends!

We want to ensure that as many elephants as possible have the best, most natural, life they can.

Thank you for your generous support, whch helps make this possible!

With Gratitude,

GVI Chaing Mai

Gureepoh

Links:

Permalink

Apr 8, 2016
Interns fund raise for Huay Pakoot

By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager

Stefan on his journey!

Dear Supporters,

Recently we have been working a lot on our relationships with the village that our elephant project runs from because we work very closely with them and rely on them for a great number of things.

The GVI interns decided to do something to give back and show our support!

Volunteers and interns who come to this project are encouraged to get involved with the community as much as possible. The interaction is also good for the villagers, helping them learn English as well as learning about different cultures from around the world.

One of our interns has taken becoming part of the culture to the next level. Stefan, who is spending 6 months in the village as a biodiversity intern, has really become part of the community since starting here. Part of the 6-month internship is to complete a group project together. This group of interns deciding to fundraise for spotlights for the school football pitch, as well as putting money towards the meditation school which is currently being built.

As part of Stefan’s contribution to the fundraising effort, he agreed to become a Buddhist Monk for a week. Practicing as a monk for a week is a common pursuit, with many Thai men doing this at least once in their lives. Along with our head mahout, Dee, Stefan underwent the induction ceremony to become a monk. Three other younger Thai men also joined Stefan and Dee in this process. Stefan’s homestay family also attended and offered to pay the donation needed to the monk/temple; indicating the string bond that Stefan has made within his host family. This was all after he had his hair, eyebrows, and beard completely shaved off!

During his week as a monk, Stefan followed the strict rules that monks abide by. He was unable to eat after midday, had to collect food donations while walking around the village barefoot, as well as several other rules which he had to follow. One of the toughest parts of his time as a monk was a 30km walk that he had to complete in order to reach a Buddha statue in another village. He completed this walk in crocs! Since this walk, he strongly advises everyone not to complete a long hike in crocs.

Stefan has truly attempted to get involved in the community as much as possible, the respect he already had around the village has increased even more. This is the first time that anyone within GVI has become a monk, but it is a testament to what a volunteer/intern can become part of while on the GVI Chiang Mai project. It’s definitely a case of the more effort one puts into their time here, the more they get out of their experience.

The more time that GVI spends here in the village, the more that we become part of the large family that exists here. This strengthens our project and helps us in our pursuits to bring more elephants to the forest and create alternative livelihoods for locals.

Thank you for your continued support.

With Gratitude,

GVI Chaing Mai

Links:

Permalink

Jan 19, 2016
Working on community empowerment

By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager

Elephant masks in English class

Dear Supporters,

As well as caring for the elephants by keeping them living free in the forest, this project also aims to provide a sustainable, alternative livelihood to the mahouts and the community that we live in.

One of our main goals for GVI Chiang Mai is to empower the community to take over and run their own sustainable volunteer project, it is important that they have a good level of English. This will allow members of the community to communicate effectively with volunteers and tourists.

GVI staff and volunteers constantly teach at the local school, as well as run informal lessons in many homestays around the village; with the intention of providing, at least, a basic knowledge of English to the majority of the community.

Nicki, our community coordinator, has brought an increased enthusiasm into the teaching side of the project. With some extra organisation, we now have an extra class added to our teaching schedule- a kindergarten class to go along with grades 1-6 that we already teach English to at the school.

Being able to start English lessons with children at a younger age will aid them in the future, hopefully allowing them to be leaders in their community, with the sustainable tourism business increasing in their local area. It also allows the volunteers to get some great social time with the cutest kids in the village.

Our constant work within the community has already shown results, with many of our mahouts already being able to interact, in English, with the volunteers while hiking with the elephants. Many other villagers also enjoy testing out their English skills over dinner, or while walking around the village.

We are always looking to increase our work within the community, teaching being one of our priorities. With the consistent efforts and enthusiasm of staff and volunteers, we have no doubt that we will attain our aim of providing this village with the skills it needs to go from strength to strength in the future.

Thank you for your continued support.

With Gratitude,

The GVI Chiang Mai Team.

We love our time with the children!

Links:

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ... 24 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.