Wildlife SOS rescues, rehabilitates and provides lifetime care for rescued Asian elephants exploited in the tourism and “begging elephant” industries.
For anyone interested in wildlife conservation and welfare, the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care facility near Agra is a great educational visit that will provide a thorough understanding of these gentle giants and their vulnerability to unethical treatment. During your holiday, you may encounter ‘domesticated’ or ‘working’ elephants on the streets, offering rides. A visit here will ensure that you make ethical tourism choices.
The Wildlife SOS specially trained, highly knowledgeable Education Officers will show you around the centre, answering your questions and providing much information about each of their elephant ‘residents’. The stories of each individual elephant are both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Sadly, elephants rescued from lives of abuse in captivity can never be rewilded, however, this centre is the next best thing. With a dedicated Elephant Hospital, that sees the most needy elephants being housed in spacious enclosures complete with bathing pools and enrichments, and also the Field of Dreams where the elephants can wander and talk long walks, this truly is an experience not to miss. If you are visiting India with children, we highly recommend this visit, as the children will come away with greater appreciation for, and love of wildlife, hopefully ensuring that they will grow up respecting wildlife and avoiding any kind of human exploitation of these sentient animals.
The centre is able to provide a delicious traditional lunch for visitors, making it a perfect stopover if you are driving between Delhi and Agra.
There is a well-stocked gift shop, offering handicrafts made by the Kalandars; the erstwhile ‘Dancing Bear’ community who have since the 1990’s been educated and upskilled by way of the Wildlife SOS Tribal rehabilitation program. This program has seen thousands of children educated, women upskilled and empowered as a direct result, and the Kalandar men trained and provided with all of the tools to earn a sustainable life without the abuse of wildlife.
Please note that Wildlife SOS are strongly committed to the ethical treatment of animals, therefore direct contact with the animals in the facilities is not a part of the volunteering programme. Only trained Wildlife SOS staff can interact directly with them, however you will be observing the animals from close proximity when visiting.
Wildlife SOS aims to sensitise and create awareness about the plight of India’s vanishing wildlife, illegal wildlife trafficking, human-wildlife conflict mitigation and our efforts in the field of wildlife rehabilitation and conservation. Instep Adventures is proud to contribute to Wildlife SOS’s efforts.
For every visit to the Elephant Centre, Instep Adventure will contribute £15 to Wildlife SOS, all of which goes toward the upkeep of the facility, and the ongoing medical treatment and care of all the rescued and injured animals.
Instep Adventures can also arrange for volunteering stays of 3 to 5 days at the Elephant Care Centre, as part of your holiday itinerary, making it even more unique, ethically beneficial and of course highly memorable. Please contact us if you are interested, and we’ll provide more information.
