New Staff: Welcome to the Team Allie

Hello, my name is Allie Mayberry and I am the GVI Thai Elephant Program’s new Volunteer Team Leader.I am 22 years old and a very proud Canadian from a small town called Rothesay in the province of New Brunswick. This past spring, I graduated from Mount Allison University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology, and I hope to eventually pursue further education in the field of environmental sciences and international conservation management. Over the past few years, I’ve developed a passion for international, volunteer, and out-of-the-ordinary travel and have been fortunate enough to make this a part of both my education and leisure time. In July 2009, I travelled to the Peruvian Amazon where I volunteered for a month as a biodiversity survey research assistant with an organization called Operation Wallacea. This past summer, as part of my degree, I worked abroad in the Alaskan tundra as a research assistant on a project using light-level geolocation to track the migration of shorebirds.

Since I arrived in Huay Pakoot, I’ve learned so much about Karen communities in northern Thailand and their traditional elephant keeping ways and have gained so much appreciation for this way of life. Needless to say, I look forward to spending the next several months expanding on that by helping this project run smoothly, and continuing to support an ethical and sustainable future for the elephant tourism industry in Thailand.

New Staff: Welcome to the Team Allie