- India’s Vantara joins hands with Mandalao Elephant Conservation to strengthen elephant welfare and veterinary care in Laos
- Mobile Elephant Rapid Response Team inaugurated in Luang Prabang to provide free emergency veterinary support nationwide
- Fully equipped mobile veterinary unit and specialised elephant hospital to bolster rescue, rehabilitation and lifelong care
- 43-year-old Mae Khamnoy rescued from a lifetime of logging and tourist performances and given a new lease of life
- Partnership looks beyond captive care to habitat stewardship, population recovery, community engagement and protection of wild elephants
NE WILDLIFE & ENVIRONMENT BUREAU
LUANG PRABANG, LAOS, SEPT 10
For a country once known as Lan Xang—the “Land of a Million Elephants”—the survival of just about 400 wild elephants today is more than a conservation statistic. It is a warning that one of Southeast Asia’s most iconic species needs not merely protection, but a carefully planned path to recovery.
That larger conservation challenge has brought Mandalao Elephant Conservation and Vantara, a global wildlife conservation organisation based in Gujarat, India, together under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen elephant welfare, veterinary care and long-term conservation in Laos.
The partnership combines emergency veterinary response, specialised medical care, lifelong rehabilitation, local capacity building and field-based conservation, with the ultimate objective of creating a stronger ecosystem for both elephants living under human care and the country’s dwindling wild population.
From emergency response to a national conservation network
As the first major step, an Elephant Rapid Response Team has been inaugurated at Mandalao Elephant Conservation in Luang Prabang in the presence of Lao Government representatives.
Vantara has provided a fully equipped mobile elephant veterinary unit, enabling the team to respond to sick and injured elephants across Laos, covering both wild and captive populations.
The collaboration will also establish a specialised elephant hospital for animals requiring emergency treatment, long-term care and rehabilitation—creating an important new layer of veterinary infrastructure in a country where access to specialised elephant medicine remains limited.
The need is urgent. Laos is estimated to have around 400 wild elephants and more than 400 elephants in captivity, with both populations continuing to decline.
Wild elephants confront habitat loss and fragmentation, human-elephant conflict and poaching, while many captive elephants remain associated with logging and tourism and have limited access to specialised veterinary care.
The demographic imbalance is particularly stark: estimates suggest that for every one to two elephants born in Laos each year, around 10 die.
Mae Khamnoy: from a life of labour to a life of dignity
The launch comes alongside the rescue of Mae Khamnoy, a 43-year-old female elephant whose life reflects the difficult reality confronting many working elephants.
She spent her entire life in logging operations and lost two calves during pregnancy, reportedly as a result of the hardships she endured.
More recently, she was kept alone beside a busy road in Vientiane, where she was ridden by tourists and made to perform tricks.
Her story is now taking a radically different turn.
Mae Khamnoy will move to Mandalao Elephant Conservation for a well-deserved retirement, where she will receive veterinary care, a natural and balanced diet and the opportunity to live alongside other elephants.
Most importantly, she will once again experience social interaction and a more natural environment.
Her rescue also draws attention to the welfare risks faced by working elephants, including injuries linked to prolonged labour, inappropriate riding equipment and the use of hooks.
Building expertise where elephants need it most
The programme is designed not simply to treat elephants, but to strengthen the people and institutions responsible for their care.
Alongside the launch, Vantara and Mandalao veterinary teams conducted a health camp for 12 resident elephants, covering comprehensive health assessments, diagnostics and specialist consultations.
The partnership will further provide capacity-building training for elephant caregivers and veterinarians covering elephant welfare, husbandry, nutrition and preventive healthcare.
The objective is to build lasting local expertise so that better elephant care becomes an enduring part of Laos’ conservation infrastructure rather than remaining dependent on occasional interventions.
Dr Tim Bouts, Elephant Veterinary Specialist at Mandalao Elephant Conservation, said: “Establishing this Elephant Response Team is a major step forward for elephant welfare and veterinary care in Laos. We are proud to offer this service free of charge to elephant owners and Government Departments responsible for elephants across the country. We thank Vantara for its support and look forward to a long-term collaboration.”
The bigger mission: bringing wild elephants back
The partnership’s ambition extends beyond elephants living in human care.
Vantara and Mandalao plan to develop long-term, field-based solutions to support the recovery of Laos’ wild elephant population and safeguard its genetic diversity.
The work will encompass population recovery, habitat stewardship, community engagement, reduction of human-elephant conflict and measures to combat poaching.
These efforts will be developed in partnership with Lao authorities, local communities and conservation organisations, recognising that protecting elephants ultimately depends on protecting the landscapes and communities with which they coexist.
Ajit Kulkarni, Special Director, Compliance and Due Diligence, Vantara, said: “We are glad to partner with Mandalao to support the elephants of Laos, in Laos. By combining veterinary care with investment in local expertise and conservation in the wild, we hope to make a lasting contribution to the future of the country’s elephants.”
A conservation partnership with a generational vision
The collaboration brings together Mandalao’s deep experience in Laos with Vantara’s veterinary, technical and conservation expertise, creating a partnership that seeks to address the elephant crisis at several levels—from an injured animal needing immediate medical attention to a wild population requiring habitat, genetic and community-based protection.
The larger question is whether Laos can reverse the decline of a species so deeply woven into its history and identity.
The answer, this partnership suggests, will depend on treating elephant conservation not as isolated rescue operations, but as a long-term national mission linking veterinary science, animal welfare, habitat protection, community participation and the recovery of wild populations.
For Lan Xang, restoring the elephant need not mean returning to a mythical past. It could mean building a future in which Laos’ elephants have both the space to live and the protection to survive.
