In March, tourism came to a screeching halt in Thailand due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn resulted in the tourist camps closing and the mahout owners returning with their elephants back to their home regions, and in many cases to very remote areas.
Almost immediately a partnership was formed by the Thai Elephant Alliance Association and the Center for Elephant and Wildlife Research to provide medical care to all elephants including those that were no longer in areas or camps with veterinarians.
AES provided funding to both the TEAA and the CEWR to help with the additional visits, medicines and supplies that would be needed to help in this crisis. Part of that help was to provide first aid emergency med care boxes to elephant owners so that they could perform some health care themselves. TEAA provided food supplies for the elephants.
Throughout this time a total of 72 kits to help over 1200 elephants across Thailand have been distributed: some for communities where they do have some veterinary practitioners but most for camps and owners without veterinarians. And what do these big blue boxes contain to help Asian elephants? Wound dressing kits, pain killers, gastrointestinal drugs, ophthalmic drugs, vitamins, antibiotic injections, NSAIDS injections, among other medicines.
