Two hundred years ago an estimated 50,000 elephants lived in Laos. Today, just 900 remain in the wild.
A massive increase in logging in recent decades has destroyed their natural habitat, Laos’s forests, which as recently as 40 years ago covered 70 per cent of the country.
The deforestation also means working elephants and their handlers, or mahouts, are losing their livelihoods.
In partnership with the Elephant Conservation Centre, an elephant caravan will cross 600 km of Lao territory in November and December to raise both local and international awareness in a bid to help save the last elephants of Laos.
An essential condition towards saving elephants in Laos is the effective regulation of the timber trade to fight against illegal logging, which hopefully current VPA negotiations can help to address, contributing also to the restoration of the elephants’ habitat. Click here for more information about the caravan and how to support it.
Catégorie: Laos