Overview
- Saengduean “Lek” Chailert continues hands-on rescues, recently riding atop a truck for up to 50 hours to calm a freed circus elephant transported back from Phuket.
- Elephant Nature Park offers a refuge for animals taken from tourism, circuses and logging, emphasizing dignity, recovery and natural social bonds.
- Her Saddle Off model bans riding and performance tricks, with Save Elephant Foundation and Asian Elephant Projects helping camps move to animal-friendly practices.
- Chailert says about 85% of new arrivals show severe psychological trauma, reflecting abuses such as phajaan and bullhooks documented by animal-rights investigators.
- The sanctuary, founded in 2003 after early donor support, now draws volunteers and global funding and has earned Chailert international honors including France’s Légion d’Honneur.