Carol Buckley | |
---|---|
Born | Oakland, California, US | May 18, 1954
Education | Exotic Animal Training & Management Program, 1974 Moorpark College, California |
Occupation | Elephant Welfare Consultant |
Website |
Carol Buckley (born May 18, 1954) is an American elephant caregiver, specializing in the trauma recovery and on-going physical care of captive elephants. [1]
In 1995, Buckley realized a decades long dream and retired her elephant, Tarra, to their private farm in Hohenwald, Tennessee, which later became The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. In 2010, Buckley founded Elephant Aid International, and began consulting worldwide to help improve the lives of captive elephants and their mahouts.
While a student at Moorpark College in 1974, Buckley noticed a baby elephant, Fluffy, that a local tire dealer had bought to market his wares. [2] Buckley volunteered to feed and care for the elephant, and a year later, borrowed $25,000, bought Fluffy, changed her name to Tarra, and founded Tarra Productions.[ citation needed ]
By 1980, when Tarra was six years old and a playful, pre-adolescent elephant, Buckley taught Tarra to roller skate. [3] For their first 15 years together, Buckley lived with, cared for, trained, transported, and performed with Tarra in circuses and zoos in the US and Canada.[ citation needed ]
In 1984, Buckley began thinking that the life she and Tarra were living did not meet Tarra's psychological needs, [4] and began to search for a better life for Tarra in a variety of zoos and animal parks where she worked and consulted, but the animal seemed to be bored in confinement. [5] In the end, Buckley began looking for another option. [6]
In November 1994, Buckley, with a bank loan, bought 112 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Buckley built a barn for Tarra and co-founded The Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald) in Tennessee, the first natural habitat refuge for sick, old, and needy elephants. [7] Today, the Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald) is 2,700 acres (1,100 ha), housing African and Asian elephants in three separate sections with four barns, enclosed by 20 miles (32 km) of fencing.[ citation needed ]
In 2010, Buckley founded Elephant Aid International.
Since the founding of EAI, Buckley has spent months each year in Nepal, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka consulting on and providing elephant foot care, [8] [9] target training and Compassionate Elephant Management (CEM) [10] for elephants and their mahouts, [9] and, creating solar powered chain free corrals to get working elephants in Asia off chains.
With knowledge gained from founding, creating, building and directing The Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald), as well as the knowledge gained from work on 'Chain Free Means Pain Free' projects and other elephant welfare projects in Asia, [11] Buckley created Elephant Refuge North America (ERNA) in 2016. [12] The new Elephant Refuge in North America is located in Attapulgus, Georgia a few miles north of Tallahassee Florida. Buckley chose this site because it provides elephants 850 acres of species suitable habitat to wander and explore day and night, including pastures, forests, lakes, around 50 inches rainfall year-round, mild winters, hot humid summers. In addition the site will provide live web cams for people to observe natural elephant behaviour in real time, and an international intern/education center. [13]
Hohenwald is a city in and the county seat of Lewis County, Tennessee. The population was 3,757 at the 2010 census. The name "Hohenwald" derives from German meaning “High Forest".
The Oakland Zoo is a zoo located in the Grass Valley neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. Established on June 6, 1922, it is managed by the Conservation Society of California, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of wildlife both locally and globally. The zoo is home to more than 850 native and exotic animals and is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in Hohenwald, Tennessee, is a non-profit organization licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), and a member of both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). Founded in 1995, The Sanctuary has provided a home to 32 elephants retired from zoos and circuses. The Elephant Sanctuary provides these elephants with a natural habitat, individualized care for life, and the opportunity to live out their lives in a safe haven dedicated to their well being. The elephant habitats are not open to the public.
The San Francisco Zoo is a 100-acre (40 ha) zoo located in the southwestern corner of San Francisco, California, between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean along the Great Highway. In October 2024, A SF city report described the zoo as ‘unsafe for visitors and animals,’ The zoo's main entrance is to the west, on the ocean side. The SF Zoo is owned by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, and managed by the San Francisco Zoological Society, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. under a public-private partnership since 1993, receives $4.2 million annually from the city. As of 2016, the zoo housed more than one thousand individual animals, representing more than 250 species. It is noted as the birthplace of Koko the gorilla, and, from 1974 to 2016, the home of Elly, the oldest black rhinoceros in North America.
Zoo Knoxville, formerly known as the Knoxville Zoo or Knoxville Zoological Gardens, is a 53-acre (21 ha) zoo located just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, near exit 392 off Interstate 40. The zoo is home to about 1,200 animals and welcomes over 585,000 visitors each year.
Popcorn Park Animal Refuge is a small non-profit 7-acre (2.8 ha) animal refuge and sanctuary located in Forked River, New Jersey, within Lacey Township. According to the Associated Humane Societies, the refuge is "a sanctuary for abandoned, injured, ill, exploited, abused or elderly wildlife, exotic and farm animals, and birds." The refuge has programs to educate visitors about animals and their environments and offers hundreds of rescued dogs and cats for adoption, in their separate adoption building. The name "Popcorn Park" was adopted due to the small fee visitors pay to the entrance which grants them entry. No feeding of the animals is allowed since 2022.
Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants in Mae Taeng District, Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Chiang Mai city, co-founded by Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. In 2013, Erawan Elephant Retirement Park opened in western Thailand as an offshoot. By 2016, there were branch parks in Surin and in Cambodia, and there were plans to open a fifth park in Phuket. By then, the work was coordinated by the Save Elephant Foundation.
The Voice for Animals Humane Society (V4A) in Edmonton, Alberta, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting animals, through advocacy and education, from neglect, abuse and exploitation. This volunteer organization helps animals of all kinds through animal rescue, education, lobbying politicians, protests, letter writing and petitions. The president, Tove Reece, has been involved in animal rights' work for over twenty years.
Mona was a 7,800 pound Asian elephant on exhibit at the Birmingham Zoo in Birmingham, Alabama. Mona's age was contested. According to zoo officials, she was born in the wild around 1947. An entry in a stud book maintained by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums gives an approximate birth year of 1951.
The Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo, officially named the Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo of Puerto Rico, also known as the Mayagüez Zoo, was a 45-acre (18 ha) zoological park located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, owned by the Government of Puerto Rico and operated by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, under the agency of the Company of National Parks of Puerto Rico. It was named in honor of Juan A. Rivero, its first director. It was Puerto Rico's only zoo and had an extensive collection of animals from all continents.
In Defense of Animals (IDA) is an animal protection organization founded in 1983 in San Rafael, California, United States. The group's slogan is "working to protect the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals".
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, is a captive breeding and conservation institute for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. In 2023, there were 71 elephants, including 30 males and 41 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala.
Islamabad Zoo, previously Marghazar Zoo, was an 82-acre (33 ha) zoo in Islamabad Capital Territory. It was opened in 1978, and was under the administration of Capital Development Authority of Pakistan before its closure in December 2020 due to its mistreatment of animals.
One Lucky Elephant is an American documentary film directed by Lisa Leeman that premiered December 1, 2011 on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network as part of the OWN Documentary Club. The film focuses on the extraordinary human-animal bond between Circus Flora founder, Ivor David Balding, and Flora an endangered African elephant, and their journey to find her a permanent home that leads them to The Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald). The film provides insightful research footage to further discussion of the human-animal bond as part of anthrozoology, a new academic field that examines the relationships between non-human and human animals.
Elephants can be found in various captive facilities such as a zoo, sanctuary, circus, or camp, usually under veterinary supervision. They can be used for educational, entertainment, or work purposes.
The elephant has been a contributor to Thai society and its icon for many centuries. The elephant has had a considerable impact on Thai culture. The Thai elephant is the official national animal of Thailand. The elephant found in Thailand is the Indian elephant, a subspecies of the Asian elephant. In the early-20th century there were an estimated 100,000 captive elephants in Thailand. In mid-2007 there were an estimated 3,456 captive elephants left in Thailand and roughly a thousand wild elephants. By 2017 the number of captive elephants had risen to an estimated 3,783. The elephant became an endangered species in Thailand in 1986.
Dan Albert John Koehl is a French-Swedish zookeeper, elephant trainer, and stablemaster. An author of the Elephant Encyclopedia, he has been described as "one of Europe's most renowned experts on elephants".