Future of Thailand's captive elephants: commentary on Baker & Winkler elephant rewilding

Antoinette van de Water*, Michelle Henley, Lucy Anne Bates, Rob Slotow

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

34 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Removal from natural habitat and commodification as private property compromise elephants’ broader societal value. Although we support Baker & Winkler’s (2020) plea for a new community-based rewilding conservation model focused on mahout culture, we recommend an expanded co-management approach to complement and enhance the regional elephant conservation strategy with additional local community stakeholders and the potential to extend across international borders into suitable elephant habitat. Holistic co-management approaches improve human wellbeing and social cohesion, as well as elephant wellbeing, thereby better securing long-term survival of Asian elephants, environmental justice, and overall sustainability.
Original languageEnglish
Article number18
Number of pages7
JournalAnimal Sentience
Volume5
Issue number28
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2020

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Future of Thailand's captive elephants: commentary on Baker & Winkler elephant rewilding'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this