Page 61 - BOOK ASIA GREEN EX

e Surin Project is like Elephant Nature Park but with some considerable di erences:
e land is government-owned, so our ability to build new structures is limited
e Surin Project does not own or buy any elephants, the elephants are owned by their mahouts, so how they are treated is ultimately not our decision. e mahouts who join the project agree to leave their bullhooks at home and to take part in project activities. However they are free to leave at any time with their elephant. It´s up to us to provide them with enough incentive to stay on the project and support our concept (we can only do this with volunteer support).
ere can be between 150-200 elephants living at the Study Centre, e Surin Project can only support up to 12 elephants at a time.
Elephants that are not members of the Surin Project can be kept on their chains for most of the day with little or no shade. Many show signs of stress which we call stereotypical behaviour. the Study Center is located within the village of Baan a Klang, embedding you within a community with a unique ai culture
Many of the elephants in the area can be used for other forms of elephant tourism in the area such as the local elephant show and elephant riding which we do not support.
Volunteers may be exposed to a certain amount of su ering during their stay because of these surroundings and can wit- ness the use of the bullhook which many mahouts in the area use to control their elephants.
Asia Green 52