Trunk Heaven Sanctuary

Our Story

We May Not Own Them Yet.
But We Can Protect Their Time Today.

We are not beginning Trunk Heaven by purchasing elephants and calling them rescued. Today, we may not yet have enough funding to permanently purchase every elephant we hope to protect. But we believe that not being able to do everything should never become a reason to do nothing.

So we begin with what we can provide now: Time. Safety. Space. Care.

Through long-term agreements with elephant owners, we aim to secure elephants at Trunk Heaven for at least three years. Three years where their daily lives can change. Three years with more freedom to walk, forage, rest, explore and make choices. Three years where tourism is designed around their wellbeing — rather than asking elephants to perform for tourism.

And during those three years, we work toward something bigger: turning temporary protection into lifetime security. Our long-term goal is to raise sufficient resources to secure the elephants' permanent future so they can remain at Trunk Heaven until their final day.

Because saving an elephant does not always begin with ownership. Sometimes it begins by giving them one safe day. Then another. And another. Until sanctuary becomes home.

A Family's Decision

One Home. Many Stories.

Mo Ngae Po, Mali, and Chicha come from a Pga K'nyau family in Ban Nam Hom, Mae Tuen Subdistrict, Mae Ramat District, Tak Province, where elephants have been closely connected to family life for generations. Mr. Mae Che inherited elephants from his father and later passed their care and ownership on to members of his own family — Mo Ngae Po to his wife, Mrs. Mue Kae Pho, and Chicha to his eldest son, Mr. Chura, when she was about five years old. Mo Ngae Po later gave birth to Mali.

Before coming to Trunk Heaven, Mo Ngae Po, Mali, and Chicha had been living and working at an elephant camp in Mae Taeng District, Chiang Mai. When the family began looking for a new place for them, one thing mattered deeply: they did not want Mo Ngae Po, Mali, and Chicha separated. Mo Ngae Po, Mali, and Chicha share a strong social bond — they walk together, forage together, and choose to spend time close to one another. There had previously been interest in leasing only some of them, but the family wanted all three to remain together. That is why the three came to Trunk Heaven together, under a three-year lease agreement with their owners.

Two of the elephants standing close together, muddy, at Trunk Heaven

Staying close — the bond the family didn't want broken up.

We do not describe them as elephants we have "rescued," because the truth is that they still have their respective owners. What Trunk Heaven has been given today is something meaningful: the opportunity to care — to give them more space, more time of their own, and more choices.

In the future, if their owners are willing to sell, Trunk Heaven hopes to become financially capable of purchasing Mo Ngae Po, Mali, and Chicha and providing a secure, long-term home here. If not, we hope to keep renewing their care agreements for as long as we're allowed to. Because for us, the most important question isn't simply "who owns the elephants?" — it's "while they are in our care, how much can we improve the quality of their lives?"

Meet the elephants

A Separate Story

Naw Keer

Naw Keer's path to Trunk Heaven was different. Before coming here, she lived a life defined by limitations. Born with deformed, bow-legged hind legs, her original owner in Myanmar saw her only in terms of utility. Because her condition made it impossible for her to bear the weight of mating — meaning she could not produce calves to sell — he planned to sell her to a logging camp, where she would have been forced to haul heavy timber through the forest despite her disability.

A compassionate elephant camp owner in Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai, learned of her situation. Moved by her circumstances, he bought Naw Keer to spare her the logging industry, bringing her to Thailand to do lighter work for tourists instead.

When Trunk Heaven met Naw Keer, we felt she deserved more than a lighter workload — she deserved a true sanctuary. We entered a three-year rental agreement to bring her here, where she can walk at her own pace, rest her weary legs, and experience the dignity, freedom, and consideration every elephant deserves.

Our hope is to one day purchase Naw Keer permanently, so Trunk Heaven becomes her forever home — a place where she will never have to work, move, or worry again.

Naw Keer's full profile →

From 3 Years to Forever

Three years is not our destination. It is our opportunity.

An opportunity to demonstrate that another model of elephant tourism can work. To improve welfare. To raise funding. And, eventually, to secure each elephant's permanent future.

Our dream is that one day we will no longer need to ask "how much longer can this elephant stay?" — instead, we can simply ask "what does this elephant need for the rest of their life?" That is what forever means to us.