History of Elephants World

History of Elephants World

It is estimated in 1900 there were 100,000 elephants in Thailand. Today their numbers have decreased to an estimated 3,000 domestic and 2,000 in the wild.

In Thailand, elephants traditionally worked with humans in the logging industry. In 1989, due to deforestation, devastating floods occurred across the country and as a result, the government officially banned logging activity. This was a good environmental decision, but posed major challenges to elephant owners needing to self-finance the upkeep of their hungry elephants needing a riverside home and to eat, ideally, a 10th of their body-weight each day, every single day.

Dr. Samart, a veterinarian and his wife Khun Fon, based in the Kanchanaburi province, wanted to help. Together, in 2008 they founded Elephants World on the banks of the River Kwai. It started initially as a solution to providing a home and food for a small number of elderly and injured local elephants in urgent need. They began their project with fundraising activities but over time, as Elephants World became better known cross the world online for caring work with elephants, eco-tourism showed signs of providing the much needed stable revenue needed to support both the growing community of elephants, mahouts and staff.

Today in 2018, Elephants World is totally self-supporting and as a result have been able to give a home to over 30 elephants and 130 staff.

Our mission is to provide the best possible care for our elephants, staff and visitors. We welcome travellers here at home in Thailand and right across the world. We strive to make every moment spent with us educational, enjoyable and rewarding in meaningful ways, understanding our visitors love elephants and wish to play a part, as we do, in their conservation for future generations.