In October 2008 I enjoyed the privilege of visiting the Elephant Nature Park near the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand which provides a safe home to rescued elephants who were previously abused and neglected.

The Elephant Nature Foundation is a non-profit organization which advocates and acts on behalf of the rights of Asian elephants in Thailand. Their mission is to increase awareness about the plight of the endangered Asian elephant, educate locals on the humane treatment of their elephants, and provide sanctuary for rescued elephants at the nature park.

Founded by Lek Chailert, Lek and her Elephant Nature Park has been documented in numerous publications around the world.
In spending the day at the sanctuary, I experienced such sadness for the cruelty of humans. However, life’s ying-yang empowers one person like Lek Chailert to be courageous and do what is right. Along with international support from mainly the USA and UK, she and her team have created a place where elephants can live out the rest of their lives in dignity. I believe that these intelligent animals give back in their own way: I carry that experience in my heart.

Roll back to earlier this year, when we visited the Elephant Sanctuary near Plettenberg Bay in South Africa where Chris Kruger and his team are doing equally fantastic work for these amazing animals. The Elephant Sanctuary provides a “halfway house” or temporary home for African elephants in need of a home and is the only elephant sanctuary in South Africa that provides in this way for elephants. “It is our vision to release all the elephants back into a semi wilderness area once they are older and experienced enough to fend for themselves in this type of environment”, says Chris.

I salute those individuals who have a thought about making wrongs better, act on it and make it work. We cannot all make the same sort of difference, but we can do our own bit by supporting those who take the lead in any format that we are able to.