Elephant Conservation Center

05/09/2026

03/09/2026

In Laos, when an elephant needs help, there’s a team ready to go.

18 months. 238 field interventions. One team that keeps showing up.

A year and a half ago, the WILDMED Mobile Elephant Clinic answered its first field call.
Since then, the team has been on the road through rain and dry season, day and night, travelling on paved roads, muddy tracks, riverbanks, and sometimes on foot to reach elephants in remote areas.

Because when an elephant is injured in a distant village, when a calf becomes seriously ill, or when a working elephant needs urgent veterinary care far from a clinic, getting help there quickly can make all the difference.

Since 2024, the WILDMED team has carried out 238 elephant interventions in the field:
🩺 173 preventive interventions
Health checks, vaccinations, blood sampling and laboratory analyses, the essential work that helps prevent illness and identify problems before they become emergencies.
🚑 65 emergency interventions
Urgent calls that can come at any hour. Injured elephants requiring immediate care. Sick calves needing stabilisation. Critical situations where every minute matters.

Behind every intervention is a dedicated team:
Dr. Moukthida Vilasith, Dr. Pavina Chaleugnsouk, Mr. Kan Thissamone and Dr. Melody Bomon.
They are the people behind WILDMED, working beside elephants in difficult conditions, travelling long distances and providing both preventive and emergency care with the same commitment.
And now, with a new field vehicle, the team can reach areas that were previously difficult or even impossible to access.

Fewer elephants left waiting. More elephants reached in time.

This is what conservation actually looks like when the cameras are off. Not a slogan: a team on a road, 24/7, for the wellbeing of the elephants of Laos.
To Moukthida, Pavina, Melody and Kan: thank you. Every elephant you've reached is safer because you chose to go.

The project is supported by ProBioDev, managed by the French Committee of the IUCN, and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the Wyss Academy for Nature, Univet Nature, the British Embassy in Laos, the Audemars Piguet Foundation for the Trees, the Fondation de France, the Manthano Foundation, the Egis Foundation and the Maisons du Monde Foundation.

25/08/2026

Building veterinary capacity for wildlife conservation in Laos

The National University of Laos (NUOL) has completed the theoretical phase of its Aquatic and Wildlife Veterinary Medicine programme for 5th-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students.

The programme, supported annually since 2022, has a clear objective: to connect academic veterinary education with the practical skills required to work in wildlife conservation.

Students are now preparing for field-based training across three partner conservation centers, where they will gain hands-on experience in:
-Wildlife veterinary medicine
-Aquatic animal health
-Wildlife infectious disease surveillance
-Wildlife conservation

This transition from theory to field practice is an important step in developing specialized veterinary professionals who can contribute to wildlife health and conservation in Laos.

The programme reflects a strong and continuing partnership between NUOL and conservation organizations including Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Lao Conservation Trust for Wildlife (LCTW), Free The Bears and the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC).

Since 2022, this collaboration has helped create opportunities for veterinary students to learn directly from conservation professionals and gain practical experience beyond the university classroom.

At ECC, we are proud to be part of this long-term effort to strengthen veterinary capacity in Laos.
Supporting future veterinarians today means building stronger foundations for wildlife conservation tomorrow.

18/08/2026

What does your visit to ECC silently support?

When you visit the Elephant Conservation Center, you may come to meet elephants, discover the forest and experience a different side of Laos.

But behind every visit is a much bigger story.

Your stay helps support elephant rehabilitation and daily care, the work of Laos’ only dedicated elephant hospital, and scientific research that helps us better understand elephant health, behaviour and welfare.

It also contributes to education, giving Lao children the opportunity to discover elephants and learn about the importance of protecting their natural heritage.

And, at the heart of our long-term mission, it supports rewilding, helping create a future where elephants can live in increasingly natural conditions and, when possible, return to the forest.

You may come for the experience.
But your visit becomes part of something much bigger.

Thank you for choosing a form of tourism that helps support elephant conservation in Laos.

12/08/2026

🐘 WORLD ELEPHANT DAY | 12 AUGUST 🌿

World Elephant Day is a global opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges facing elephants and the urgent need to protect them for future generations.

Elephants are much more than iconic animals. They are essential ecosystem engineers. By moving through forests, opening pathways, dispersing seeds and shaping vegetation, they play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Yet across Asia and Africa, elephants continue to face serious threats. Habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, exploitation and unsustainable practices are putting increasing pressure on their survival.
Protecting elephants requires more than awareness. It requires action.

At the Elephant Conservation Center, our work brings together elephant welfare, conservation, research and education. We provide rescued elephants with protected forest environments, support their rehabilitation and wellbeing, and work to better understand their behaviour and needs.

But conservation is a collective effort.
🌿 Support ethical wildlife conservation organisations
🐘 Choose responsible and respectful elephant tourism
🔬 Support research and science-based conservation
📚 Learn, share and raise awareness
🌳 Protect the forests elephants depend on

Every rescued elephant matters.
Every hectare of protected habitat matters.
Every person who chooses ethical wildlife experiences matters.
Our efforts do make a difference.

World Elephant Day is not just a celebration of these remarkable animals. It is a movement bringing people together through compassion, science, education and action to build a future where elephants can thrive.

08/08/2026

🐘 New science from Sayaboury: male elephants are not the loners we assumed

A new peer-reviewed study led by Dr Ana Belén López Pérez, Elephant Conservation Center 's (ECC) Head of Research and Education, with co-authors from Chiang Mai University, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the Smithsonian, has just been published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

The question it asks matters for thousands of elephants across Asia: can adult bulls who have spent their lives alone create bachelor groups similar to those in the wild?

Across Asia, male elephants in captivity are usually kept in isolation. The reasoning is old and rarely questioned – bulls are dangerous, bulls fight, and the old conception that bulls are always solitary when reaching adulthood. At the ECC, eight unrelated bulls aged 9 to 60 were gradually introduced to one another over two years in our 530-hectare forest. Most had been separated from their mothers at around three years old and had almost no experience of elephant company. Over 351 hours of observation, every interaction was recorded and analysed using social network analysis.

What the elephants did:

- Friendly behaviour dominated – by an order of magnitude. Affiliative interactions were roughly 16 times more frequent than aggressive ones.

-The aggressive network was more active at the beginning of the study and showed a decrease in weighted density over time, suggesting that the bulls were establishing a new hierarchy at the beginning, which had largely settled by end of the study period.

-They chose to stay together. Bull maintained frequent proximity associations (less than 20m) throughout the study period.

-Old bulls matter. Nearly all preferred partnerships paired a young bull with a mature one as more experienced individuals may facilitate learning and social development.

-Captive male Asian elephants can form stable, long-term associations when given the opportunity. Interactions were concentrated on preferred partners rather than spread evenly. And when the group changed – one bull left the Centre, another died – the remaining bulls rebuilt bonds rather than fragmenting.

What this means: keeping bulls in permanent isolation is a management choice, not a biological necessity. Given space, time and a careful introduction protocol, males can build stable social lives – with real welfare benefits.

What it does not mean: this is one group, at one site, with eight individuals and unusually large forest access. The authors are explicit that the study is exploratory and needs replication elsewhere before it becomes a universal recommendation. Good science says so out loud.

– Open access: López Pérez et al. (2026), Applied Animal Behaviour Science 302, 107067. doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2026.107067

Thank you to our mahouts, without whom none of this observation would have been possible.

The Team at the Elephant Conservation Center - Sayaboury, Laos

06/08/2026

🌿Want to combine ADVENTURE & DISCOVERY in your next trip to Laos? Looking for a MEANINGFUL experiential learning opportunity to expand your educational or career goals...or to fulfill a lifelong DREAM of living and working alongside elephant biologists, conservationists, and health/welfare experts?

JOIN the Elephant Conservation Center's (ECC) TEAM on OCTOBER 5 - 11, 2026 for the new 'ELEPHANTOLOGY Expedition!"

https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/7-day-elephantology/

🌿This is so much more than a vacation; it’s a personal transformation. As your time at the ECC progresses, you'll find yourself part of something larger: A shared commitment to give elephants the life they deserve!

Every moment spent at the ECC--in the Forest, at the Elephant Hospital, and in the Classroom and Lab--will directly contribute to the ECC’s elephant rescue, re-wilding, conservation, and welfare programs – the first of its kind in Laos.

The ECC is a nature-lover's paradise (watch the video in the Comments below). It's situated far from the crowds on the serene banks of Nam Tien Lake, surrounded by the majestic Phou Xang mountain range. Here, we'll become part of a living laboratory where elephants lead the lesson.

You'll gain hands-on experience in elephant behavioral observation, habitat restoration, and ethical care and conservation – all while learning from Laos’ leading wildlife professionals.

🌿You can choose your preferred accommodations—from simple to luxury—depending upon your budget. Wherever you stay, you’ll enjoy freshly-prepared, healthy meals….and you’ll be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the night forest and awakened by songs of busy birds among the trees. During free time, you can grab a kayak or set out for a sunset cruise to explore Nam Tien Lake. The views are stunning!

Don’t miss this life-changing experience! Space is limited.

🌿Learn more and book your 7-day "ELEPHANTOLOGY Expedition" today:
https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/7-day-elephantology/

Take a tour of the ECC here: https://youtu.be/CkIH6SFCIkU?si=jDQz6DFq-T6fqimt

23/07/2026

Laos, Sayaboury Province, the Nam Tien Lake... Silence, and then – the slow arc of a trunk breaking the water's surface…

At the Elephant Conservation Center, this isn't a staged encounter. It's 27 elephants living across 540 hectares of protected forest – Laos' largest herd under care, and the one of the only places in the country where you can watch them bathe, forage, and live together in something close to their natural rhythm. No riding. No Feeding. No performances. Just distance, patience, and the privilege of witnessing.

And every visit does double duty. Your stay funds Laos' only elephant hospital, supports the country's first successful rewilding of captive elephants, and keeps our vets and researchers in the field monitoring wild herds in Nam Pouy National Protected Area. The mobile WILDMED clinic reaching elephants in pain in remote villages, the data behind every newborn or rewilding milestone – your visit makes it possible.

Come see what conservation looks like when it's working.
Book your stay now. 🐘
https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/book-your-stay/

21/07/2026

Anyone can call a place a sanctuary. Proving it is another matter entirely.
At the Elephant Conservation Center, every decision about our herd of 27 elephants starts with evidence, not assumption. 🐘

🔬 We track daily social interactions – who bonds with whom, who leads, who plays – because rewilding only succeeds when the herd dynamics are right.
🩺 We run the only elephant hospital and mobile elephant clinics in Laos, delivering specialized veterinary care to elephants across the country, not just our own.
🌿 And every action feeds one goal: securing a future for wild elephants in Laos’ National Protected Areas.
This is what "sanctuary" means when you take it seriously – 540 hectares of protected forest, a team of vets and researchers, and years of data behind the freedom to thrive.

Your support funds the science that makes it possible.
📍 Nam Tien Lake, Sayaboury – 3 hours from Luang Prabang

06/07/2026

Une mobilisation vétérinaire pour préserver les éléphants d’Asie 🐘

Les éléphants d’Asie sont aujourd’hui classés «En danger» par l'UICN. Il ne resterait qu'environ 55000 individus, captifs et sauvages confondus, dans les 13 pays d'Asie qui les abritent encore.

Pour contribuer à leur protection, Univet Nature, en partenariat avec JungleVet, lance une collecte de fonds solidaire grâce au dispositif d’arrondi en caisse sur les commandes passées sur la boutique en ligne JungleVet, jusqu’en décembre 2026.

L’intégralité des sommes récoltées sera reversée à deux organisations engagées sur le terrain :

-Hutan qui œuvre pour la conservation des éléphants de Bornéo;
-Des Éléphants et des Hommes, qui soutient les actions du Centre de Conservation des Éléphants au Laos en faveur de la conservation des éléphants d’Asie.

Chaque commande peut ainsi contribuer concrètement à la protection de cette espèce emblématique.

Pour en savoir plus sur cette initiative :
https://junglevet.fr/fr/content/35-univet-nature-les-elephants