Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand

Daily walks with each elephant involved a bowl of tasty fruit that the volunteers prepped every morning. As an extra treat, sometimes the mahouts and volunteers would travel to a local banana farm where we cut down and loaded dozens of sticky banana trees for the elephants to snack on.

During the summer of 2014, I knew that I wanted to travel to a country I had never been to before, but wanted to do something more impactful with my time. After my internship at the Pittsburgh Zoo, through some serendipitous searching, I discovered a B-Corp certified service called Animal Experience International. They place volunteers in responsibly and ethically run animal hospitals, rescues, sanctuaries and government programs around the world. Working with them gave me peace of mind that the experience I would have would be beneficial to both me as well as the organization and local community I'd be working with.

I went to Thailand for about 3 weeks to volunteer at Wildlife Friends Foundation, an animal sanctuary nestled in the jungles of Phetchaburi. They strive to rehabilitate, release when possible, and educate the public on the importance of wildlife conservation. Their founders have also been critical in lobbying for better animal protection legislation in the Thai government.

At the sanctuary, I spent two weeks working with the rescued wildlife in the jungles and then another week with the rescued elephants. Many of the elephants were rescued from the horrors of the tourist industry, such as elephant trekking and performance. During this time, I helped to feed, clean, and provide enrichment activities for animals like gibbons, langurs, otters, bears, a cassowary, a binturong, and more. While there, I also became friends with other volunteers from all over the world with a range of different backgrounds but all brought together by this shared passion. This was my first experience with this kind of vacation abroad and it opened my eyes to all the future possibilities in "voluntourism." I loved being able to travel to a different country and experience the natural beauty and culture there while feeling like I was making a difference in the lives of these animals.

A rescued asian elephant looks out from its enclosure. Many of the elephants were either given to the center by or outright bought from their mahouts. Since the closing of elephant-powered logging in the country, many elephant owners turned to tourism for income. Common practices such as elephant treks are incredibly detrimental to the elephants’ health, as many elephants we saw had nearly permanently broken backs.

Some animals at the center were abandoned exotic pets — a cassowary, far from its native Australia, was taken in after being imported by a rich owner. Not knowing how to handle the bird, someone had crushed its delicate casque (keratin-made crest on the head), giving the bird severe brain damage.

Two elephants go at it during a tense first introduction. The years of hardship are evident with the elephants’ tattered and frayed ears.

Baby langur monkeys required additional enrichments, like sunflower seeds stuck into corn cobs, to stimulate their growing minds.

A baby gibbon observes her mother drinking from their water pail. One of our daily tasks was refilling water regularly, a challenge indeed with some gibbons who loved to dump out the buckets for fun.

A gibbon gives the reminder that it, along with all the other animals in the center, are wild animals and are incredibly strong and potentially dangerous.

Bandit, a macaque monkey, was born without several limbs and digits but was still the head honcho of her enclosure. Macaques are often seen as pests in many parts of Thailand where they’ve learned to adapt and take advantage of urban development.

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