Carol Buckley
Executive Director/ co-founder
The Elephant Sanctuary
Carol, born in 1954, has over 30 years experience in the care and
management of elephants in captivity. For
nearly fifteen years Carol traveled the
US, Canada and abroad performing in a number
of circuses including Circus Gatini in
Quebec, Canada and the Big Apple Circus in New York City.
She has implemented educational demonstrations
for a number of zoos throughout North America
including Racine Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo,
Kansas City Zoo, Nashville Zoo and Granby
Zoo in Quebec, Canada. Carol has an extensive
background in developing elephant management
programs and providing elephant medical
care.
Before founding The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, Carol owned
and operated her own elephant management company, Tarra Productions,
for twenty years. Her experience with Tarra Productions included promoting,
exhibiting, training and caring for Tarra, a female Asian elephant,
who performed for television, motion pictures and circus shows.
In
1995, Carol co-founded the nation's first
natural-habitat refuge for sick, old and
needy endangered Asian elephants, and was
honored as A Hero For The Planet by TIME magazine for her innovative
work. As executive director, she helps to care for 19 elephants at
the Sanctuary, runs the business office, organizes elephant acquisitions,
develops and implements educational programs for the public, and works
with governmental agencies and private organizations to strengthen
regulations pertaining to the welfare of captive elephants. She is
a well-known speaker on the subject of elephant care.
Carol attended the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program
at Moorpark College in California, and
is licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
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Scott Blais
Operations Director/co-founder
The Elephant Sanctuary
Scott, born in 1972, has been managing and caring for Asian elephants
for over fifteen years. While studying
biology at York University in Ontario, Canada, Scott spent five years
as an elephant keeper at Ontario's African Lion Safari. As an elephant
keeper, he treated sick animals, monitored elephant breeding, trained
elephants, assisted in the training of other keepers, and presented
educational demonstrations and elephant rides to the public.
In 1993, Scott became an elephant trainer for Tarra Productions where
he provided care for Tarra, a female Asian
elephant who entertained in circus, television
and motion pictures, Two years later, he
co-founded The Elephant Sanctuary with
Carol Buckley.
Scott is operations director and the primary caregiver for 7 of
the Sanctuary's elephants. He designs,
develops and directs the 2700 acre natural-habitat
refuge for sick, old and needy elephants.
Scott has been instrumental in the design
and construction of the Sanctuary's new
state of the art elephant house and administrative
office, as well as the 20 miles of Sanctuary
fencing. He also aids in implementing public
education programs about the plight of
captive elephants.
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