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Amanda Mustard

'The Chang', a new faction of the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The original Mae Sa Elephant Camp used to offer circus-style performances, riding, and more interaction. After consulting with Lek of Elephant Nature Park, Anchalee Kalmapijit, owner of the Mae Sa Elephant Camp Co., Ltd has decided to change their model to mirror trending demands of a more welfare-friendly experience. They have recently established two new ride-free observational elephant tourism camps on their property called The Chang 1 and 2.

Chayanin ' Charlie' Patchimtassanakal is an ethnically Karen mahout that lives in a Karen hill tribe village in Mae Wang with his two elephants. He is employed at the Chai Lai Orchid, and elephant camp in Mae Wang. He feels grateful to still be employed, and to be able to take his elephants to Chai Lai for tourists to feed and take photos with.

A 'birthday cake' is prepared and presented to Gluay Hom, an elephant rescued by and relocated to Elephant Nature Park from the Samutprakarn Crocodile Zoo in 2019. 'Birthday Cakes' are nutritional arrangements presented with a message for donors online, a new virtual fundraising feature offered by Elephant Nature Park during the pandemic.

A 'birthday cake' is prepared for the elephants at the Elephant Nature Park. 'Birthday Cakes' are nutritional arrangements presented with a customized message for donors online, a new virtual fundraising feature offered by Elephant Nature Park during the pandemic.

Saengduean 'Lek' Chailert, founder and director of Elephant Nature Park. Elephant owners, camps and sanctuaries in Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province include many of Thailand’s some 3,800 captive elephants. These elephants and their mahouts face joblessness and financial crises as regular tourism revenue has disappeared amidst the global pandemic. Thailand went into lockdown in March 2020, sealing off borders from incoming tourists indefinitely. Tourism accounts for 15 percent of Thailand’s GDP.

Chok Chai Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Elephants are taken to the river on rotation due to lack of caretakers, and they are standing chained on a slanted surface for most of the day. There are currently 10 elephants that are pregnant, and 8 babies that are chained up in a section across the property.

Chok Chai Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand is geared towards tourists seeking elephant performances including riding bicycles, painting, and other circus-style acts. After having to lay off most mahouts after the pandemic began, there are currently 10 mostly-inexperienced mahouts in charge of taking care of 56 elephants.

An empty elephant performance stadium in Ba Ta Klang Elephant Village. Surin is the considered Thailand’s elephant capital, having over 1,000 elephants owned by residents there. Many of these elephants normally work in tourism venues around Thailand, but have had to return to Surin due to the absence of tourism amidst the global pandemic.

Mahout Visanchon Yongram's family owns four elephants that worked in the tourism industry - three adults and a baby. The baby remains in Ayutthaya, and the three adults have been brought back to Surin where they are kept between the family's home and a local patch of vegetated land next to a quarry.

Tong Pornchita Kaewtrakulpong, owner of Elephant Home and Nature in Kanchanburi, Thailand, partakes in a daily Buddhism merit-making ceremony with local monks. Her tourism-based elephant business has gone months without a tourist due to the COVID pandemic.