Carol Buckley
Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder
The Elephant Sanctuary
Carol, born in 1954, has over thirty 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 seventeen 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
Chief Operating Officer/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 seven 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 twenty miles of Sanctuary fencing. He also aids in implementing public education programs about the plight of captive elephants.
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