Saengduean Chailert, also known as Lek, was born in Thailand in 1961. In return for saving the life of a young man, her grandfather, a shaman or traditional healer, was given an elephant named Thong Kham, meaning Golden One. The bond that developed between Lek and Thong Kham sparked a love and respect for elephants that was to shape the course of her life.
After graduating from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University with an Arts degree, Lek worked in the tourism industry where she witnessed the mistreatment and suffering of many elephants and began to provide medical aid to elephants in remote villages. In the 1990’s, Lek started rescuing injured, neglected, and elderly elephants, and in 2003 was able to establish a permanent homeland for them in the beautiful Mae Taeng valley, near Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Today, Elephant Nature Park is home to over 100 elephants who are finally able to live free from abuse within family herds and develop close friendships with one another. Elephants at the park are not required to work, do not perform tricks, and are not ridden. Instead, they are allowed to live a more natural, dignified life where they are respected.
Lek has worked tirelessly to raise international awareness about the plight of both captive and wild Asian elephants. She has been influential in improving the lives of hundreds of elephants in Asia through the work of Save Elephant Foundation, which educates elephant owners and helps them to transition away from elephant riding, performances, and other harmful practices, and instead, adopt the Saddle Off model based on compassion, understanding, and respect. In a male-dominated industry steeped in tradition and resistant to change, Lek’s desire to improve the living conditions of captive Asian elephants has required great courage, pragmatism, and perseverance.
Lek is an award-winning conservationist who has been working for over two decades to improve the lives of elephants in Asia and advance their welfare.
Lek’s work has received international acclaim and has been documented by National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, the BBC, DW, and CNN as well as in print media around the world, including The Guardian, USA Today, and Forbes. She has received widespread recognition for her work protecting elephants, including being honored as one of six Women Heroes of Global Conservation in 2010 by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of Asia in 2005, the Ford Foundation’s Hero of the Planet in 2001, and with the Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States in 2003 and 2019.
More recently, the documentary film, Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story has received international acclaim, including being named one of two Best Feature Documentary Films at the 33rd Annual Genesis Awards by The Humane Society of the United States. The film focuses on Lek’s work rescuing an old, blind elephant, named Noi Nah, from abusive conditions and poignantly highlights the plight of the Asian elephant.
Lek continues to be at the forefront of elephant rights issues, raising international awareness and working to advance their welfare. She has initiated projects dedicated to improving the well-being of elephants throughout Asia, including in Thailand, Cambodia, India and Laos. Most days, she can be found at Elephant Nature Park spending time with the rescued herds of elephants as well as the many other animals who have been given sanctuary at the park.
Save Elephant Foundation employs hundreds of people to help care for the elephants and the other rescued animals at the sanctuary.
