Ella's Internship

Hey, my name is Ella Trayte, I’m a zookeeper from Australia.

I am doing a three month internship with this program and I am currently half way through. I decided to join this program as an opportunity to travel to Thailand and see Asian elephants in an environment where they are not forced to work for a living and experience living with a tradition hill tribe.

Being half way through, I am now enjoying the added responsibilities I’ve been given with my animal knowledge I have been given the opportunity to pave the way for new volunteers and interns; by leading and educating new volunteers on how to conduct health checks on the elephants, I have recently implemented individual specimen records (this is a way of keeping more scientific records of their behaviour and health), and I am also currently working on presentations that will give the volunteers more knowledge on Asian elephants.

I have also taken full responsibility for recording social and feeding data and conducting health checks for ‘Song Kran’ (the youngest calf in the project).

With this project being so new, it gives interns the opportunity to personally make their mark and develop improvements or create something new for how things are run in the future. I have also enjoyed improving on my leadership skills and it is a great place to meet new people and form friendships that will last a lifetime.

Ella's Internship