Lao PDR - Elephant Conservation Center - Mae Khram Di, a female Asian elephant and her baby Noy An at their baci ceremony

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Mae Khram Di, a female Asian elephant and her baby Noy An during their baci ceremony at the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Sayaboury province, Lao PDR. The ECC launched in association with the NGO ElefantAsia offers an innovative experience to visitors that combines conservation of the endangered Asian elephant with eco-tourism. Laos was once known as the land of a million elephants but now there are fewer than 900 living in the country. Around 470 of them are in captivity, traditionally employed by a lucrative logging industry. But captive elephants are often overworked and exhausted and as a consequence no longer breed. With only two elephants born for every ten that die, the Asian elephant, the sacred national emblem of Laos, is under serious threat of extinction. At the Elephant Conservation Center in Sayaboury province, the elephant nursery is an innovative reproduction project led by Lao mahouts and the Center. It relies on voluntary participation and aims to support mahouts involved in logging to bear the cost of breeding their elephant.

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Filename: A0030055cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x2999 / 1.4MB; Bunney Conservation ECC Lao Laos PDR Sayabouly Sayaboury Tessa Xayabouly Xayaboury centre elephant grey tourism trunk baby mother female Asian endangered animal mammal eco-tourism southeast Asia baci ceremony
Contained in galleries: Tessa Bunney - All pics, Lao PDR - Sayaboury elephant festival

Mae Khram Di, a female Asian elephant and her baby Noy An during their baci ceremony at the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Sayaboury province, Lao PDR. The ECC launched in association with the NGO ElefantAsia offers an innovative experience to visitors that combines conservation of the endangered Asian elephant with eco-tourism. Laos was once known as the land of a million elephants but now there are fewer than 900 living in the country. Around 470 of them are in captivity, traditionally employed by a lucrative logging industry. But captive elephants are often overworked and exhausted and as a consequence no longer breed. With only two elephants born for every ten that die, the Asian elephant, the sacred national emblem of Laos, is under serious threat of extinction. At the Elephant Conservation Center in Sayaboury province, the elephant nursery is an innovative reproduction project led by Lao mahouts and the Center. It relies on voluntary participation and aims to support mahouts involved in logging to bear the cost of breeding their elephant.