ElefantAsia is a French nonprofit organization working with and for elephants in Lao PDR, a historical range country of the Asian elephant. Founded in 2001, and hosted by the National Animal Health Center in Vientiane since 2006, the base of their work is in the Sayaboury Province of Laos. ElefantAsia runs a mobile clinic that travels all over the country to help captive elephants that are in need of help. Many of the emergency calls are related to uncontrollable musth bull elephantsthat have broken their chains and are dangerous not only to themselves but to people as well. Owners and local authorities will call the ElefantAsia team to help calm down the elephant so that it can be taken back to areas safe for villagers. With only one sedative gun (kept in the Sayaboury province), the ElefantAsia team can’t always offer a timely response to elephant owners facing such problems in other parts of Laos.
In July 2011, Asian Elephant Support donated $1500 toward the purchase of a second dart gun for the Vientiane-based elephant mobile clinic, thus aiding ElefantAsia in their efforts to help both the elephants and people who live with and among elephants in the country of Laos.
For more information about ElefantAsia, visit their website at: http://www.elefantasia.org