Nationality American Name Carol Buckley | Education Moorpark College | |
Born May 18, 1954 (age 69) ( 1954-05-18 ) Oakland, California Occupation Elephant Welfare Consultant Books Just for Elephants, Travels with Tarra, An Elephant in the Room: The Science and Well-being of Elephants in Captivity People also search for Scott Blais, Synthian Sharp, Ruslana, Jorja Fox | ||
Organizations founded The Elephant Sanctuary | ||
Carol buckley making a difference for elephants
Carol Buckley (born May 18, 1954) is an American animal trainer, specializing in the trauma recovery and on-going physical care of captive elephants.
Contents
- Carol buckley making a difference for elephants
- Carol Buckley There are no words for that connection that can be made
- Education
- Tarra Productions
- Elephant Aid International
- Elephant Refuge North America ERNA in Attapulgus GA
- Books
- Awards and honors
- References
In 2010, Buckley founded Tennessee-based Elephant Aid International, and began consulting worldwide to help improve the lives of captive elephants and their mahouts.
Carol Buckley - There are no words for that connection that can be made.
Education
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. 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.
Tarra Productions
By 1980, when Tarra was six years old and a playful pre-adolescent elephant, Buckley taught Tarra to roller skate. 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.
In 1984 Buckley began thinking that the life she had chosen for Tarra amounted to animal abuse, 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. In the end, Buckley began looking for another option.
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. 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.
Elephant Aid International
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, target training and Compassionate Elephant Management (CEM) for elephants and their mahouts, and, creating solar powered chain free corrals to get working elephants in Asia off chains.
Elephant Refuge North America (ERNA) in Attapulgus, GA
With knowledge gained from finding, 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, Buckley created Elephant Refuge North America (ERNA) in 2016. 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.