By Visiting This Sanctuary, You Can Save Elephants In Laos by: Laurie Werner Laos was once known as the Land of a Million Elephants but due to poaching, logging work and other hardships including the Secret War of the 1960s and 1970s, the current number in the country is down to a mere thousand. There are several elephant sanctuaries across the country that say they are working in conservation but that still promote elephant rides, an activity now frowned upon by real conservationists and achieved through a cruel breaking of the spirit of young elephants. The Elephant Conservation Center, founded in 2011 near Luang Prabang is totally different: it is at the forefront of elephant protection, fostering the recovery of elephants formerly in damaging, stressful situations, the training of their caretaker mahouts and education of the public about the ethical treatment of these majestic animals. They do not permit riding elephants; the saddles used for rides damage elephants' spines. Instead, visitors are encouraged to observe elephants in their natural habitat. Also in the area, the year old MandaLao has a similar mission, to rescue elephants and give them extraordinary care with the intended result of reintroducing them into the wild and encouraging breeding. Their herd is smaller-- seven females along with one of the females' children, a two year old rambunctious male known as Baby Kit--compared to the ECC's 30 and they allow a bit more interaction: visitors are allowed to splash them with water and feed them bananas. But they ban riding as well.
Laurie Werner
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewerner/2018/04/29/by-visiting-this-sanctuary-you-can-save-elephants-in-laos/#68954a131b70
