Volunteering With Elephants on Holiday

Volunteering with elephants might seem like something of a dream, but you need to be so careful. Many so-called elephant sanctuaries aren’t sanctuaries at all, and actually, keep elephants in terrible conditions purely for the pleasure of tourists. There certainly are places where you can volunteer with elephants, but you need to be careful. Here are some tips:

  • Do as much research as you can. Look into the sanctuary and its history and the people who run it. Find out where the elephants have come from and if they have actually been rescued.
  • Always avoid riding elephants. This is very bad for them and they have been through a lot of inhumane treatment to get them to the point where they will accept a human on their back. Riding elephants is never kind.
  • Look at the conservation efforts the sanctuary is making. Genuine sanctuaries will help charities and elephants in the wild as much as possible and will have conservation programmes.

Posted in Elephants