Blog

Reaching our fundraising goal for the male Asian habitat was a major milestone for us in 2021. So many of you contributed and we are once again overwhelmed by your generosity. We truly cannot thank you enough for visualizing a new future for male elephants here at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil. Major donors Teresa and Peter Easter and The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee provided funds for the barn roof – and your individual donations covered the cost of the stalls and fencing for the first three yards. 

Now that the barn is completed, except for one remaining treatment stall, and the first yard is fenced, it is impossible not to get excited about seeing male elephants here soon. Our contracted fence crew is currently off for the holidays, but the second yard is partly fenced in and the pond has filled itself, thanks to all of the rain we’ve gotten recently. The grass in the yards is fresh and green. The fencing crew is actually erecting the fence posts from the outside of the yard, so that we can keep the inside as pristine as possible. There are palms throughout the new yards and a host of parrots live in the trees next to the barn. 

It is both exciting and surreal to know that soon enough, there will be male elephants here at ESB. There is a special feeling about welcoming males to sanctuary, because we know how different captivity can be for males, versus females. It isn’t uncommon for males to receive harsher treatment, simply because they are misunderstood or facilities don’t know how to properly care for them. Completing this space means that the bulls who arrive here will have a life that most others never have a chance to experience.

You, our supporters, understand that this project is unique from the others we’ve built in the past; it requires more funding, more work, and more materials to ensure that everyone is safe here at sanctuary. Your understanding that males deserve as many chances for freedom as females embraces the true nature of sanctuary. Though elephant time will be the ultimate determinant of the exact ‘when,’ just knowing that our first male elephant will come home to ESB is a hopeful and fulfilling feeling.