Our Story

Our story began in 2007 by adopting a blind elephant named “Boon Som” from an extremely abusive mahout. “Boon Som” suffered many years of abuse working within the forest and was injected with amphetamines so he would work harder. Finally, after his rescue he could retire and have a happier life at his new home by the river, with plenty of food and his health maintained. However, it took a long time for “Boom Som” to recover. The founder and his family kept watch over him daily for 6 months during which time he fell into a coma after his rescue. The massive wounds all over his body were incredibly painful, but by treating his wounds, giving him vitamins and anti-parasitic this helped with his recovery. Slowly but surely “Boom Som” started to feel better, was eating regularly, gained weight and has now fully recovered from his traumatic past.

Devoted to providing a better quality of life for Elephants, the founder and his family have never stopped rescuing more abused elephants. A short time afterwards “Thong In” an old elephant was the second to join the family and since then the elephant numbers have expanded beyond our expectations. Our passion continues to grow and educating the public about Asian Elephants in Chiang Mai is of great importance to us.

In 2009, we opened to the public. This allows us to continue to provide a safe haven for our elephants. Running and maintaining an elephant sanctuary is a costly activity, so the founders wanted to share their experiences with the public and the decision to run it as a business was necessary for the survival of the elephants ongoing care. Ran-Tong (Save & Rescue Elephant Centre) is small but is now one of the most well-known elephant camps in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand.