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Elephant Aid International

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ELEPHANT AID INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Mahout Education / CEC Elephant Training Program

Elephant welfare | Elephants in Asia | Mahouts | Training
1 Jan, 1970
Carol target trng Thailand

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What

EAI educates mahouts and elephant care facilities in Asia in the use of Compassionate Elephant Care.

The education includes Positive Reinforcement Target Training (PRTT).

EAI can provide a one-time consultation, offering information and/or instruction, or work with a facility on an ongoing basis. EAI is monitoring its ongoing education programs in Thailand and Nepal to document the success of the technique.

EAI will also develop permanently located satellite education centers, the goal being self-sustaining centers staffed by graduates of its program.

Carol & mahout squatting
Working with mahouts to improve elephant welfare
educational materials for mahouts and elephants

EAI will also develop permanently located satellite education centers, the goal being self-sustaining centers staffed by graduates of its program.

carol-others-discussing_tiger-tops2

In Nepal, EAI works directly with private elephant owners and the country’s government to provide Compassionate Elephant Care (CEC) training for mahouts, elephants and facility managers.

elephant and mahout learn positive reinforcement target training
elephant and mahout learn protected contact positive reinforcement methods
mahout gives elephant a reward for learning prtt

CEC, which is based on Positive Reinforcement Target Training, is a new concept in Nepal. Traditional dominance-based training uses pain and intimidation to gain elephant compliance. By contrast, CEC relies on positive reinforcement training and relationship building between mahout and elephant.

Changing culture takes time and commitment. To ensure that the mahouts continue to use positive reinforcement and improve their skills at it, EAI returns to Nepal on a regular basis to provide more advanced training, along with incentives such as t-shirts, and completion certificates at the end of the course.

chain free elephants at Tiger Tops

Tiger Tops Elephant Camp in western Nepal is an EAI success story. EAI was instrumental in assisting Tiger Tops in designing a chain-free facility and redesigning its elephant program. With EAI’s guidance, Tiger Tops built chain-free corrals encompassing 13 acres, released all 12 of its elephants from chains, stopped offering elephant rides and permanently discontinued elephant polo games. Tiger Tops’s chain-free facility has received international media coverage, heralding the beginning of elephant welfare improvement in Nepal.

Most recently, Direct Aid Nepal (DAN) invited EAI to teach Compassionate Elephant Care at its chain-free facility in Chitwan, Nepal. Inspired by chain-free corrals EAI constructed for Nepali government elephant facilities, DAN built its own chain-free facility and retired eight elephants from the ride industry.

In April 2021, EAI spent a month introducing DAN’s eight elephants and their sixteen mahouts to CEC. The results were remarkable! All the elephants and their mahouts excelled, as they quickly learned the new method. DAN management is aware the mahouts will need continued education to reinforce their new skills so we look forward to returning to give them additional training. As the mahouts strengthen their knowledge and gain confidence in their skills, old dominance-based management methods become a thing of the past.

News Coverage

  • You don’t need to ride an elephant to enjoy one
  • Born to be free
  • Tiger Tops introducing a new way of Elephant adventure
  • Freedom for the elephants!
  • Tiger Tops to become Asia’s first private responsible elephant tourism outfit
  • Tiger Tops offering new style elephant tourism
  • Carrying Chitwan

Where

Thailand

India

Nepal


Goals

  • To teach mahouts more humane methods of training and handling elephants.
  • To establish permanent self-sustaining satellite education centers to provide PRTT to mahouts, staffed by graduates of EAI’s education program.

Results

Education programs initiated

Thailand

  • Elephant Nature Park (ENP): 36 mahouts; 31 elephants, both male and female, ranging in age from 1 year to 63
  • Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES): 12 mahouts; 11 elephants, both male and female, ranging in age from 3 to 55
  • Elephant’s World: 8 mahouts; 1 elephant, male, age 6
  • Wildlife Friends of Thailand (WFFT): 4 mahouts; 1 elephant, male, age 5

India

  • Wildlife SOS-India: 2 vets, 5 mahouts; 5 elephants (adult male and female)

Nepal 

  • National Trust for Nature Conservation-Biodiversity Conservation Center (NTNC-BCC): 15 mahouts; 6 elephants, both male and female, ranging in age from 2 months to 75 years
  • Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC): 165 mahouts; 63 elephants, both male and female, ranging in age from 3 months to 72 years
  • Private sector: 141 mahouts; 65 elephants, both male and female, ranging in age from 1 to 68 years

See Also

  • Why do mahouts ride on their elephant?
  • Elephant abuse in Nepal: Are the mahouts really to blame?
  • Drag Chains and Training
  • checking in at ENP
  • Seeds of Change
  • Jon and Piza
  • Jon’s progress
  • Khan Kluay shows a softer side
  • a special day for BLES visitors
  • Mee Chok and Pang Suai
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