The Mondulkiri community elephant sanctuary, was established in 2015 to aid the retirement & protection of working elephants. There are only 41 domestic elephants left in the province and owners are constantly pressured to sell their elephants to tourist elephant camps in Siam Reap.
We believe these incredible animals deserve to live the rest of their lives in a protected forest. Our project provides a secure & peaceful retirement home for Mondulkiri’s ex-working elephants.
Our ethical elephant retirement program currently sponsors the full care in freedom of 5 Cambodian domestic elephants, recently freed by our team from intensive labor in illegal logging, farm work & tourist ride industry.
Local visitor programs, directly sponsor all aspects of elephant care:
Paying mahouts, dry season feeding, veterinary care costs as well as supportive income for the indigenous families who joined the project by retiring their working elephants. Please note that elephant riding is not a part of our visitor programs.
Age: 52
Weight: 2.7 Tons
Shoulder height: 2.2 M
Favorites : Splashing in mud
Story: Happy lucky is an ex working elephant from Putang village, she is owned by 6 families who are the children of her original owner. Before joining the sanctuary, she was very skinny and in poor health from year of intensive labour and tourist rides. Nowadays, she has greatly improved, she's having fun in the sanctuary forest with her new herd.
Age: 60+
Weight: 2.3 Tons
Shoulder height: 2.25 M
Favorites : Turmeric root, a natural anti-inflammatory
Story: Chepril is a very old working elephant from Putru, her owners retired her due to her old age and health condition. She was previously used for transporting crops out of forest farms and tourist rides.
Due to her age, she has trouble gaining weight and building muscle.
We do our best to make sure she eats well & is pain free & comfortable.
Age: 48
Weight: 3.5 Tons
Shoulder height: 2.2 M
Favorites : Splashing in mud
Story: Chetuit is an ex working elephant from Putang village. Owned by 5 Bunong families. Although tuit means small, she is actually a very big lady. With a healthy appetite, you can spot her by a nice & round belly.
Age: 45
Weight: 4.2 Tons
Shoulder height: 2.6 M
Favorite foods: Sugarcane and bananas
Story: Pon is an ex working elephant from Putang village. He is the only male elephant at the sanctuary. He was working at a logging camp for over 20 years, the LEAF team negotiated his retirement in 2016. Despite being a bull ( male ), Pon has no typical male tusks, he's very tall and impressive, with an extra long tunk. He is normally quite gentle, but during musth he is separated from the herd and visitors for safety, as testosterone levels peak & can cause unexpected aggression.
Age: 30
Weight: 2.5 Tons
Shoulder height: 2 M
Favorites : Splashing in mud
Story: A-home is a working elephant from Sen Monorom, the youngest at the sanctuary. Previously used for tourist rides.
Unlike the Bunong elephants, she was chained alone throughout her life and rarely met another elephant. Which is very sad as elephants are highly social herd animals. Although she now plays with elephants, this little princess still prefers human company.
Chellot was a wonderful old elephant from Putru community. She was Chepril's best friend, old but very happy and sweet. Sadly, she experienced heart problems and passed peacefully in DEC 2018. Chellot had an exceptionally loving & gentle nature and was loved by her family, many locals and visitors. Everyone was broken hearted when she passed away & we will forever miss her. We include her photo as a memorial in her honor, RIP.
What makes Mondulkiri's elephant rehabilitation program unique, is that is that it successfully includes the elephant's original families and allows them to stay involved post retirement:
Long term support is offered to owners who agree to release the elephants from work. We found it the best to keep local owners and families involved, while improving elephant life and allowing it to live as naturally as possible.
Elephants are highly intelligent, they develop a strong attachment to their their human handlers. Changing location or hands often lead to stress, depression, anorexia ( loss of appetite ) & even premature death.
"Buying & transferring" working elephants can be very risky unless their owners are fully involved and move with the elephant. There have been preventable deaths at other sanctuaries in Mondulkiri following the buying of elephants, due to separation anxiety.
We believe in creating a positive change while prioritising local inclusion, instead of buying & separating elephants from their local owners.
Mondulkiri's indigenous have been living with domestic elephants for many centuries and consider them a part of their family. Elephants were a crucial part of ancient life & culture, used for labour and transportation as well as sacred religious ceremonies. As times change, roads open and elephant habitats disappear. There are less than 40 domestic elephants left in the province.
Buying elephants is technically illegal in Cambodia, and is a form of wildlife trade. There are special cases, such as where owners have passed or cannot continue caring for their elephant, in which leave no other option.