Thailand Elephants Annual Report 2020-21Introduction Public awareness of captive elephant welfare has made great progress over recent years. Thailand Elephants and other organizations working in this field have made huge progress. In December 2019, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) published revised guidance recommending that travel agents should not promote or sell holidays that include elephant experiences, and many prominent travel agents are complying with this. The UK government is planning to ban advertising of holidays which include exploitation or abuse of animals through the Animals Abroad Bill. At the start of the 2020-21 year, Thailand Elephants were well placed to continue improving the welfare of captive elephants in the tourist trade. However, 2020-21 has, like for other charities and individuals around the world, been dominated by the impact of Covid 19 and the subsequent lockdowns. When the financial year began, the UK and many other countries were in a period of lockdown which meant that, among other restrictions, people were unable to travel abroad. This had a huge impact on the elephant organizations and venues we work with in Thailand, most of which rely on the tourist trade or all of a major part of their income. The resultant collapse of the tourist trade meant that in many cases, mahouts and other employees went unpaid or were let go, and many organizations were left struggling to feed and care for their elephants. Thanks to our generous supporters, Thailand Elephants continued to receive donations during this period, and received £5780, enabling us to continue our work supporting and promoting sustainable elephant venues in Thailand. Due to the circumstances, our focus naturally changed to supporting ethical venues with their day to day challenges feeding and looking after the elephants currently in their care. Due to the limited space available for elephants to forage naturally, elephants need to be provided with the majority of the 200-400kg of food they each need per day. In addition, some of the ethical venues we work with were experiencing increased demand as mahouts and elephants which had been working in other parts of the tourist trade returned to their village needing support. In addition to food, there are the other requirements such as vet bills, and of course the mahouts need to be able to support themselves and their families. The outlook for Thailand’s captive elephant population and those who worked with them looked bleak, but our support throughout the year had a positive impact. The Trustees Gemma Annan, Claire Horton, Kerri McCrea and Hannah Warsop
1.Our Achievements This Year
Thailand Elephant Alliance
We donated £1000 to Thai Elephant Alliance, who were working to coordinate food and medical supplies to elephant venues and owners throughout the country. They directly provided food such as corn, pumpkins and bananas, as well as medicine where elephants were still housed in camps or venues. One of the issues facing Thailand’s elephant population was the fact that elephants and mahouts had dispersed across the country, often to very remote areas, making medical help difficult. Where elephants and mahouts had travelled back to their home villages, medical and first aid kits were supplied.
Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary
During the pandemic, over 70 elephants and their mahouts who had been working in venues around Thailand returned to the area. Foraging would not supply enough food for them, and supplying food became more and more challenging, especially throughout the dry season, which is challenging in any year.
Thailand Elephants supported Kindred Spirit with a donation of £756 towards elephant food. This complemented our previous donations to the sanctuary which had helped the villagers to diversify their incomes and reduce elephanthuman conflict caused by elephants encroaching on farmland.
Supporting ethical venues
Other donations this year were also focused on the key priority of elephant food for the venues and organizations we work with. Donations included £843 to Never Forget Elephants, £200 to BEES, and £200 to Following Giants.
Fundraising
Fundraising efforts and events were also impacted by Covid and lockdown restrictions, but money was raised through a successful sponsored run, as well as through continuing regular donations from our loyal supporters. We could not do this work without them.
2.Financial update
| out | in | balance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/04/2020 | start balance | 2272.83 | 2272.83 | |
| 06/04/2020 | Paypal donation | 94.51 | 2367.34 | |
| 07/04/2020 | Justgiving donation | 42.92 | 2410.26 | |
| 15/04/2020 | Justgiving donation | 761.51 | 3171.77 | |
| 23/04/2020 | Udemy | 18.99 | 3152.78 | |
| 23/04/2020 | Justgiving donation | 70.43 | 3223.21 | |
| 27/04/2020 | Udemy | 21.05 | 3202.16 | |
| 28/04/2020 | Justgiving donation | 203.01 | 3405.17 | |
| 30/04/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 100 | 3505.17 | |
| 04/05/2020 | Justgiving donation | 58.46 | 3563.63 | |
| 04/05/2020 | Paypal donation | 226.29 | 3789.92 | |
| 12/05/2020 | Justgiving donation | 100.32 | 3890.24 | |
| 18/05/2020 | Transferwise | 500 | 3390.24 | |
| 22/05/2020 | Never Forget Elephants | 843.32 | 2546.92 | |
| 01/06/2020 | Paypal donation | 402.48 | 2949.4 | |
| 02/06/2020 | Justgiving donation | 60.03 | 3009.43 | |
| 05/06/2020 | Thai Elephants | 1000 | 2009.43 | |
| 16/06/2020 | M Waker | 40 | 1969.43 | |
| 26/06/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1997.93 | |
| 29/06/2020 | Edytagrigg | 30 | 1967.93 | |
| 13/07/2020 | paypal donation | 319.07 | 2287 | |
| 03/08/2020 | paypal donation | 188.77 | 2475.77 | |
| 05/08/2020 | justgiving donation | 28.5 | 2504.27 | |
| 10/08/2020 | paypal card payment | 14.39 | 2489.88 | |
| 20/08/2020 | eventbrite | 145 | 2634.88 | |
| donations to elephant | ||||
| 24/08/2020 | venues | 787.28 | 1847.1 |
| 01/09/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1847.1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/09/2020 | card payment | 200 | 1676.1 | |
| 21/09/2020 | wix.com | 66.62 | 1609.48 | |
| 25/09/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1637.98 | |
| 28/09/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 7.54 | 1645.52 | |
| 30/09/2020 | terracycle donation | 10 | 1655.52 | |
| 03/11/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1684.02 | |
| 30/11/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 50 | 1734.02 | |
| 21/12/2020 | Paypal donation | 408.98 | 2143 | |
| 29/12/2020 | wix.com | 90.52 | 2052.48 | |
| 07/01/2021 | Paypal donation | 115.86 | 2168.34 | |
| 19/01/2021 | donations to KS elephants | 756.09 | 1412.25 | |
| Total | 4368.26 | 5780.51 | 14.12.25 |
out in
balance
| 04/01/2020 | start balance | 2272.83 | 2272.83 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/06/2020 | Paypal donation | 94.51 | 2367.34 | |
| 04/07/2020 | Justgiving donation | 42.92 | 2410.26 | |
| 04/15/2020 | Justgiving donation | 761.51 | 3171.77 | |
| 04/23/2020 | Udemy | 18.99 | 3152.78 | |
| 04/23/2020 | Justgiving donation | 70.43 | 3223.21 | |
| 04/27/2020 | Udemy | 21.05 | 3202.16 | |
| 04/28/2020 | Justgiving donation | 203.01 | 3405.17 | |
| 04/30/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 100 | 3505.17 | |
| 05/04/2020 | Justgiving donation | 58.46 | 3563.63 | |
| 05/04/2020 | Paypal donation | 226.29 | 3789.92 | |
| 05/12/2020 | Justgiving donation | 100.32 | 3890.24 | |
| 05/18/2020 | Transferwise | 500 | 3390.24 | |
| 05/22/2020 | Never Forget Elephants | 843.32 | 2546.92 | |
| 06/01/2020 | Paypal donation | 402.48 | 2949.4 | |
| 06/02/2020 | Justgiving donation | 60.03 | 3009.43 | |
| 06/05/2020 | Thai Elephants | 1000 | 2009.43 | |
| 06/16/2020 | M Waker | 40 | 1969.43 | |
| 06/26/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1997.93 | |
| 06/29/2020 | Edytagrigg | 30 | 1967.93 | |
| 07/13/2020 | paypal donation | 319.07 | 2287 | |
| 08/03/2020 | paypal donation | 188.77 | 2475.77 | |
| 08/05/2020 | justgiving donation | 28.5 | 2504.27 | |
| 08/10/2020 | paypal card payment | 14.39 | 2489.88 | |
| 08/20/2020 | eventbrite | 145 | 2634.88 | |
| 08/24/2020 | donations to elephant venues | 787.28 | 1847.1 | |
| 09/01/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1847.1 | |
| 09/07/2020 | card payment | 200 | 1676.1 | |
| 09/21/2020 | wix.com | 66.62 | 1609.48 | |
| 09/25/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1637.98 | |
| 09/28/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 7.54 | 1645.52 | |
| 09/30/2020 | terracycle donation | 10 | 1655.52 | |
| 11/03/2020 | Justgiving donation | 28.5 | 1684.02 | |
| 11/30/2020 | Charities Trust donation | 50 | 1734.02 | |
| 12/21/2020 | Paypal donation | 408.98 | 2143 | |
| 12/29/2020 | wix.com | 90.52 | 2052.48 | |
| 01/07/2021 | Paypal donation | 115.86 | 2168.34 | |
| 01/19/2021 | donations to KS elephants | 756.09 | 1412.25 |
Total
4368.26 5780.51 14.12.25