TERF About us
History
17 years ago the Director of the project Alongkot was heavily involved in protecting wild elephants from poaching in Thailands National Parks. In his work he had to deal with many dead elephants and he realised that a huge effort had to be made to improve elephant conservation. He and a group of others who were concerned about the situation decided to study human elephant conflict (HEC) in more detail. It was realised that there was a poor level of education amongst Thai people concerning wild and domestic Elephants .After completing research into HEC they worked with local people to minimise HEC and share knowledge about the elephants. It was realised that there was also a poor level of research into wild elephants in general so research was also conducted in this area as well as the historical role of the elephant in Thai culture and traditional wisdom from the Mahout elders . The knowledge gained from this research has been shared with the community via various projects.
An education program was set up with the local Thai schools to raise awareness and share knowledge. The project mainly focused on schools situated around Khao Yai national park and focused mainly on Elephant conservation. The organisation has worked extensively with media through television and its own magazine publication Phume Chang (Elephant Knowledge). The organisation has worked with schools and higher education in several fields of study to draft en elephant curriculum. Up until now there has never been an elephant curriculum in the Thai education system. The organisation is also in the process of working with the Thai government to review Thai law to provide strong legislation which benefits elephants.
The current centre has rescued 11 elephants from cruel and dangerous situations and they now live at the centre with their Mahout (elephant keepers) and they take an active role in the education of the local school children at the centre . This centre serves a pilot scheme for potential similar operations and long term conservation efforts in the future around Thailand in the future.