page_title: Patara Elephant Farm
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Patara Elephant Farm / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: A mahout at Patara Elephant Farm near Chiang Mai, Thailand. He is wearing the shirt and pants traditionally worn by mahout.
context_page_description: Patara Elephant Farm is an elephant breeding farm located near Chiang Mai in Thailand.
context_section_description: Patara Elephant Farm is a health-recovery and reproduction-management farm for elephants. Its focus is on educating the public on elephants and the threats they face. To do this, the farm pairs visitors up with an elephant for a day and assigns them the task of caring for that elephant. As of December 2014, the farm is home to 55 elephants. It is located in the mountains near Hang Dong Valley, 45 minutes south of Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was founded in 2001 by a man named Theerapat "Pat" Trungprakan's and his wife Anocha "Dao" with the goal of preserving the elephant population in Thailand. Theerapat says there is much sacrifice involved, and says he and the other caretakers spend more time with the elephants than with their wives The elephants' caretakers, known as mahouts, are from a nearby Karen village and are paired-up with their own elephant to take care of.
caption: A mahout at Patara.
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