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The Elephant Conservation Centre (ECC) is returning to the 2019 Sayabouly Elephant Festival on 22-28 February with activities aimed at action, education, and conservation.
For the action category, ECC will be holding a race. Elephants, due to their size, are incapable of running. This led ECC to create the slogan “Elephants can’t run, but we can run to protect them”. There will be a procession of elephants walking, with a small group of people following behind. This will be safe for both the people and the elephants.
Although the elephants cannot run, they will be the winners as ECC raises awareness for their cause. At the end of the race there will be three donation boxes to contribute for medicine, helping the elephants at the festival, and food. This, in turn, will contribute to the educational activity, “Eat Like an Elephant”.
At “Eat Like an Elephant”, two tables will face each other, one for people and one for the elephants, to show both can eat the same food. This is a very light-hearted event, intended be entertaining and educational on how diverse an elephant’s diet is. Of course, people eat much less than an elephant, but all can learn and enjoy sharing a meal together.
The final event will be a Baci ceremony for the elephants. This event will illustrate ECC’s work in conservation. These elephants will be sent into the Nam Pouy National Protected Area to meet and breed with wild elephants. They may even form stronger bonds with each other while the forest.
With these small additions to the festival, ECC hopes to create more awareness and open up the festival to conservationists from around the world as an opportunity to support the elephants and the Lao communities helping them. Â
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