My Motivation
My Motivation

The background behind
"The Ant & Elephant Store"

is to bring great products to Germany that do and support good causes in another part of the world.
Since the elephant projects are very important to me, the first products for "Ant & Elephant" are all elephant-related, but behind the scenes we are already on the lookout for other projects worth supporting ;-)

What's behind it

With all the products you buy, you support directly:
  • the pachyderms on site
  • the local population on site
  • the preservation of the environment / habitats of the elephants on site
Every year I donate part of the proceeds to the Save Elephant Foundation in Thailand.
You can find out more about the foundation and its projects as well as the Elephant Nature Park here.

In 2020 we will bring the ENP coffee, with whose plants I already worked as a volunteer, to Germany.

Endangered Asian Elephants, Lek Chailert and the Elephant Nature Park

The situation of the Asian elephants is dramatic. In all of Asia at the end of the 19th century there were still over a million elephants, today their number has decreased to around
30,000 wild animals are estimated, which are distributed in small, often isolated groups across 12 countries. Around
10,000 elephants live in captivity under mostly appalling conditions. They are abused as work animals, tourist attractions or for religious ceremonies.
About 4000 elephants still live in Thailand, of which an estimated 2500 of the animals live in captivity and in the tourism industry (riding, circus and other human amusement), in forced breeding and in (now illegal) logging.

The procedures by which the elephants are made compliant are unimaginably cruel. When babies are torn from their mothers, they are systematically tortured over a long period of time through pain, food deprivation and fear until their will is broken. This method is called Phajaan ("Breaking the spirit of the elephant").

The most serious problem facing Asian elephants is the destruction of their habitats by the expanding human population. Forests are being cut down, settlements and fields are being created, roads and railway lines are being built without taking into account traditional elephant habitats and walking corridors. Conflicts are inevitable, in which elephants are often shot, poisoned, or brutally driven away with firecrackers and fire.
About Lek Chailert

But there is also a way with excellent treatment of the pachyderms: This is shown by the Elephant Nature Park north of Chiang Mai, whose founder Sangduen Chailert, also known as Lek, founded in 1990. Lek was born in 1961 in a small hill tribe village in Baan Lao, two hours north of Chiang Mai Thailand. During her childhood she had many opportunities to spend time with elephants as her family ran an elephant riding camp. She began to show pictures of the tormented pachyderms on Thai television and was then rejected by part of her family and threatened several times.

Lek discovered her love for animals as a child and was strengthened in this by her grandfather, a traditional healer who not only treated the villagers, but also animals and took Lek with him. She began campaigning for the rights of elephants - a difficult undertaking because elephants are traditionally viewed as work animals in Southeast Asia. But she did not let herself be discouraged and with the protection center founded a special place for needy animals.
The animals in the Elephant Nature Park can move around freely and decide for themselves what to do and which other elephants to go with. Whether swimming in the river, wallowing in the mud or resting in the shade in the heat, they can do whatever they want. It is particularly exciting for visitors to see how the animals behave naturally. Therefore, interactions are only possible to a very limited extent.

The Save Elephant Foundation, which Lek also founded, has various projects in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. More than 50 traditional elephant riding camps have already switched to ethically correct tourism with Lek´s help.
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