Frequently Asked Questions

On May 10, 2026 we were made aware of a nursing female elephant being forced to breed with a male elephant in musth at the Elephant Breeding Center in Sauraha in Nepal. The footage shows the female elephant visibly distressed and attempting to defend her young calf and herself from the situation. The Elephant Breeding Centre is a government-run facility, and the most direct path to change lies with Nepal's decision-makers. Organizations across the animal protection movement are working together to determine the most effective strategy for meaningful, lasting change. AfA and NGOs around the world have since received thousands of emails from the public. We have been in touch with our network member organizations in Nepal as well as our Elephant Coalition experts to determine the most effective actions we can all take.

Three organizations working in Nepal who we are in direct contact with are: Animal Nepal (https://www.animalnepal.org.np/) Jane Goodall Institute Nepal (https://janegoodall.org/our-story/about-jane/jgi-nepal/) Stand Up 4 Elephants (https://www.su4e.org/) We are also in touch with World Animal Protection, PETA Asia and other members of AfA's Elephant Coalition.

*Information provided by AfA Network Member Organization: Stand Up 4 Elephants (May 2026) BACKGROUND The Chitwan Elephant Breeding and Training Centre (EBC), operated by the Government of Nepal, is routinely described as a conservation facility on the grounds that the captive breeding of an Endangered species (Elephas maximus, IUCN Red List, CITES 1075) is itself a contribution to that species. The international correspondence received in May 2026 has reopened the question of whether what is practised at the EBC is, in 2026, actually conservation. We argue that it is not. HOW “BREEDING” ACTUALLY WORKS AT THE EBC Captive females at the EBC are tethered at the forest edge of Chitwan National Park, with the two front legs commonly shackled together. Wild bull elephants — drawn out of the protected area by the scent and proximity of receptive females — approach the facility and mate with the immobilised females. The female cannot move away, choose or reject a partner, or terminate the encounter. This is the procedure the facility presents as “breeding for conservation.” This is not how Asian elephants reproduce in the wild. Asian elephants live in matriarchal societies whose cognitive, emotional and social complexity is comparable to that of great apes and cetaceans, including mirror self-recognition, long-term social memory and documented grief behaviour (Poole & Granli, 2009; Plotnik, de Waal & Reiss, PNAS, 2006). Within those societies the female is the active participant in mate selection: a female is attended by her family group, assesses several bulls enters into a multi-hour or multi-day "consortship" with her chosen partner, and retains the capacity to withdraw at any stage (Sukumar, The Living Elephants, OUP, 2003; Poole, Behaviour, 1989). Few wild mammals exercise mate choice as deliberately, or as observably, as the Asian elephant. Removing that choice — by shackling the female so that any bull who finds her can mount her — is therefore not a reproduction of natural mating; it is its precise inverse, and it is being inflicted on one of the cognitively most advanced animals on Earth. There is a second consequence. The presence of chained, receptive captive females at the boundary of the National Park draws wild bulls out of the park and into the buffer-zone and human settlements of Sauraha and the Parsa–Chitwan complex — a documented driver of Human–Elephant Conflict, with associated crop loss, property damage and human injury (Mongabay, 2023; Szydlowski, Gajah, IUCN ASESG, 2023). The EBC’s breeding model therefore actively generates the very HEC that Nepal’s conservation program is trying to reduce. CALVES AND TRAINING Captive-born calves are separated from their mothers and trained for patrol, ceremonial and visitor-facing duties. Training in Nepal and India still relies on the regional “training kraal” tradition — the cognate of the Thai phajaan (“crushing”) — combining confinement, restraint, food and water deprivation, and physical correction with the bullhook, sticks or even axes. A peer-reviewed Tufts field study of 53 captive Asian elephants found that 74% met clinical criteria for complex post-traumatic stress disorder (Carnahan, 2017). World Animal Protection (2026) concludes that around two-thirds of captive Asian elephants in the region still live in conditions classified as “poor.” Captive breeding at the EBC therefore does not simply produce additional members of an Endangered species — it produces additional animals with a high probability of clinical trauma in their first years of life. CAPTIVE BREEDING IS NOT A RECOGNISED CONSERVATION TOOL FOR ASIAN ELEPHANTS Under the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group framework, captive breeding qualifies as a conservation activity only where it forms part of a documented program of release into self-sustaining wild populations. No such program exists in Nepal. The Government’s own Elephant Conservation Action Plan for Nepal 2025–2035 (NTNC / Ministry of Forests and Environment, 2025) places its strategic emphasis on in-situ measures — corridor connectivity, habitat management and HEC reduction. It estimates Nepal’s wild population at ~230 and the captive population at ~180, but does not commit to using the latter to augment the former. The most recent State action confirms this in practice. In December 2025 the Government of Nepal transferred two Chitwan-born elephants — Khagendra Prasad and Rudrakali, aged six and seven — to Al Khor Zoo in Qatar as a diplomatic gift (Kathmandu Post, 18 Dec 2025; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal). It was the first formal transfer of Nepali elephants to a foreign zoological facility. The breeding output of the EBC is being treated as a State asset for diplomatic and exhibition purposes — not as a stock of animals destined to be returned to the wild. USING AN ENDANGERED SPECIES AS ITS OWN “CONSERVATION ARGUMENT” IS CIRCULAR A secondary defense is that the captive elephants are themselves “used for conservation” — anti-poaching patrols, jungle surveillance, research support. This is not species conservation in any technical sense. It is the use of individual members of an Endangered species as a labour force to protect their wild conspecifics, and it produces no net increase in the wild population. World Animal Protection’s Bred for Profit (2023) identifies this as a category error: an Endangered species is not a conservation instrument. The operational case has also been overtaken: in 2026 patrol, surveillance and anti-poaching are routinely and more reliably delivered by drones, AI-enabled camera-trap networks, GPS-collared monitoring, satellite imagery and trained ranger units — the very tools the 2025–2035 Action Plan itself prioritises. CONCLUSION The Chitwan EBC is, in 2026, a captive-management facility, not a species-recovery program. Its breeding model relies on the immobilisation of females and the attraction of wild bulls — welfare-damaging, ethologically inconsistent with wild mating, and a contributing factor to HEC. Its calves are exposed to training practices documented in peer-reviewed literature as a cause of complex PTSD. Its output is not released into the wild; the most visible recent destination has been a zoo abroad. And its claim to “conservation” rests on a circular justification that neither modern conservation science nor the Government of Nepal’s own 2025–2035 Action Plan supports. This brief is not as a criticism of Nepal’s broader conservation record — which is in many areas internationally exemplary — but as a sober assessment of one specific practice that no longer fits the conservation framework Nepal itself has adopted. LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACTION PLAN FOR NEPAL (2025-2035) Fourth Asian Elephant Range States Meeting in Cambodia 2025 Third Asian Elephant Range States Meeting in Nepal 2022 REFERENCES NTNC / Government of Nepal (2025) Elephant Conservation Action Plan for Nepal 2025–2035. Carnahan, S. (2017) Prevalence and Patterns of Complex PTSD in Asian Elephants, Tufts University. Sukumar, R. (2003) The Living Elephants, OUP.  Poole & Granli (2009) Behavioural Contexts of Elephant Acoustic Communication.  World Animal Protection (2023) Bred for Profit.  World Animal Protection (2026) Elephant Tourism Report.  Mongabay (2023) Mating urge adds new pressure to HEC in Nepal.  Szydlowski (2023) Gajah, IUCN ASESG.  Kathmandu Post (18 Dec 2025) Chitwan elephant pair flown to Qatar.  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal (Dec 2025) Handover of Two Elephants to Qatar.

The most effective action you can take is to: (1) Support organizations like Asia for Animals and the organizations working on the ground in Nepal by making a donation. Support the people who end elephants suffering across Asia! (2) Email your concerns urgently to the Nepali authorities responsible for overseeing this facility. We have prepared a template letter to help make this as straightforward as possible.  EMAIL:  Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) (the government body with direct oversight of wildlife facilities) Email: info@dnpwc.gov.np  Website: dnpwc.gov.np National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) (Nepal's leading autonomous conservation organisation, which manages programmes including those involving captive elephants.) Email: info@ntnc.org.np  Website: ntnc.org.np EMAIL TEMPLATE: To whom it may concern, I am writing to express my serious concern about the welfare of elephants at the Elephant Breeding Centre, Sauraha, Chitwan, and to urge you to take immediate action. I wish to raise the following specific issues: Forced breeding practices: Restraining female elephants - including shackling their front legs - while wild bulls attempt to mate is both dangerous and deeply distressing. The inability to move away or exercise any control over the situation causes significant physical risk and psychological harm to the animals involved. Long-term chaining: Elephants at the Centre are chained for extended periods, severely restricting their ability to perform natural behaviors. Prolonged chaining is well-documented as a cause of both physical injury and serious psychological harm, including stereotypic behaviors associated with chronic stress. Captive breeding is not conservation: Breeding elephants who will spend their entire lives in captivity serving human entertainment purposes does not constitute conservation. Captive elephant breeding programs are not recognized by the scientific community as a meaningful contribution to wild population growth or species survival. Cruel training methods: Calves born at the Centre are separated from their mothers and trained for patrol, ceremonial, and visitor-facing duties. Training practices in the region continue to rely on confinement, restraint, deprivation of food and water, and physical correction using bullhooks, sticks, and in some cases axes. This causes lasting trauma and suffering. I urge you to launch an independent investigation into elephant welfare at the Elephant Breeding Centre, led by international experts and in partnership with local NGOs, and to develop and implement a comprehensive, elephant-centred welfare improvement plan across Nepal. The welfare of these animals is a matter of national and international concern. I hope you will treat this with the urgency it deserves. Yours faithfully,  [Your name]  [Your country] (Nepali version) विषय: हात्ती प्रजनन केन्द्र, सौरहामा हात्तीहरूको कल्याणकारी अवस्थाबारे गम्भीर ध्यानाकर्षण र सुधारको माग । जो जससँग सम्बन्धित छ, म यो पत्रमार्फत चितवनको सौरहास्थित हात्ती प्रजनन केन्द्रमा रहेका हात्तीहरूको स्वास्थ्य र कल्याण (welfare) को वर्तमान अवस्थाप्रति आफ्नो गम्भीर चिन्ता व्यक्त गर्दै तत्काल आवश्यक कदम चाल्न आग्रह गर्न चाहन्छु । विशेष गरी म निम्न लिखित विशिष्ट मुद्दाहरू उठाउन चाहन्छु:  जबरजस्ती प्रजनन् गराउने अभ्यास: जङ्गली भाले हात्तीहरूसँग संसर्ग गराउने क्रममा पोथी हात्तीहरूलाई नियन्त्रणमा लिन उनीहरूको अगाडिको खुट्टामा नेल (shackles) लगाएर बाँध्नु अत्यन्तै खतरनाक र मानसिक रूपमा कष्टदायक कार्य हो ।  यस्तो परिस्थितिमा हात्तीहरूले आफूलाई जोगाउन वा स्थितिमा कुनै नियन्त्रण राख्न नसक्ने हुँदा उनीहरूमा गम्भीर शारीरिक जोखिम र दीर्घकालीन मनोवैज्ञानिक आघात पुग्ने गर्दछ । लामो समयसम्म साङ्लोमा बाँध्ने कार्य: यस केन्द्रका हात्तीहरूलाई लामो समयसम्म साङ्लोमा बाँधेर राखिन्छ, जसले गर्दा उनीहरूको प्राकृतिक व्यवहार प्रदर्शन गर्ने क्षमता पूर्ण रूपमा कुण्ठित हुन्छ । लामो समयसम्मको साङ्लोको बन्धनले शारीरिक चोटपटक मात्र नभई 'स्टेरियोटाइपिक व्यवहार' (stereotypic behaviors) जस्ता गम्भीर मनोवैज्ञानिक क्षति पुर्‍याउने कुरा विभिन्न अध्ययनहरूले प्रमाणित गरिसकेका छन् । बन्दी अवस्थाको प्रजनन् संरक्षण होइन: मनोरञ्जन र मानवीय स्वार्थका लागि जीवनभर बन्दी बनाइने हात्तीहरूको प्रजनन् गराउनुलाई संरक्षणको कार्य मान्न सकिँदैन । वैज्ञानिक समुदायले यस्ता बन्दी प्रजनन् कार्यक्रमहरूलाई जङ्गली हात्तीको संख्या वृद्धि वा प्रजाति बचाउने कार्यमा अर्थपूर्ण योगदान पुर्‍याउने कार्यक्रमको रूपमा मान्यता दिएको छैन । क्रुर तालिम विधिहरू: यस केन्द्रमा जन्मिएका छावाहरूलाई उनीहरूका आमाहरूबाट सानै उमेरमा अलग गरिन्छ र गस्ती, औपचारिका समारोह तथा पर्यटकहरूका लागि तालिम दिइन्छ । यस क्षेत्रमा हात्तीहरूलाई तालिम दिने क्रममा अझै पनि खाना र पानीबाट वञ्चित गर्ने, साङ्लोले बाँध्ने र अङ्कुश (bullhooks), लौरो वा कतिपय अवस्थामा बन्चरो जस्ता सामग्री प्रयोग गरी शारीरिक दण्ड दिने गरिन्छ । यसले हात्तीहरूमा आजीवन आघात र पीडा पैदा गर्दछ । तसर्थ, म चितवन हात्ती प्रजनन केन्द्रमा हात्तीहरूको अवस्थाबारे अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विशेषज्ञहरू र स्थानीय गैरसरकारी संस्थाहरूको सहकार्यमा एक स्वतन्त्र छानबिन सुरु गर्न र नेपालभर हात्तीलाई केन्द्रमा राख्ने गरी व्यापक कल्याणकारी सुधार योजना लागू गर्न जोडदार माग गर्दछु । यी प्राणीहरूको कल्याण राष्ट्रिय मात्र नभई अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय चासोको विषय पनि हो । मलाई विश्वास छ कि तपाईंले यस विषयलाई यसको संवेदनशीलता र गम्भीरताका साथ सम्बोधन गर्नुहुनेछ । भवदीय, [Your name] (3) You can also leave an honest review on Google Reviews or TripAdvisor for the Elephant Breeding Center. Visible public feedback from people around the world helps signal to decision-makers that this issue has global attention.