In February 2025, villagers in Mokkok-Noy, a remote community tucked into the mountains of Phongsali Province, Laos, discovered a juvenile elephant trapped in a drainage ditch. Its legs were pinned, and its body exhausted. For villagers who live alongside elephants, seeing an animal in distress was alarming. But in Laos, when an elephant is in danger, help can be days away—if it comes at all.

When the alert reached provincial officials, they immediately contacted the WILDMED mobile wildlife clinic. The team raced along narrow, winding mountain roads. Leading the mission were veterinarians Melody Bomon and Pavina Chalernsouk, who coordinated closely with villagers and provincial officials.

For five days, the community and rescue team labored together, constructing a wooden lifting structure to free the exhausted calf. In the end, despite everyone’s tireless effort, the young elephant could not be saved. The calf had been trapped in the ditch a few days before the call reached the team. Villagers initially sought help from local authorities, but referral to the province took time as the officials were not yet aware of the mobile clinic. Reflecting on the mission, Melody noted how the system responded: “They [provincial authority] knew us because I had gone to them before and they called us. So, I’m hoping next time will be even faster.” The rescue, though tragic, revealed what is possible when knowledge, community, and systems converge. This was also the WILDMED team’s very first wild elephant rescue, which gave them a rare chance to gain the hands-on experience.

Moukthida Vilasith, the first Lao woman licensed as an elephant veterinarian and hired through WILDMED, now leads elephant care at the ECC and expands the outreach to local Lao students “Elephants are an umbrella species. Their day-to-day activities sustain countless other creatures within their ecosystem,” she explained. “Many students are now more interested in pursuing wildlife veterinary work after seeing that I, as a Lao woman, can do this.” Looking to the future, Mouk’s hope is simple yet profound: “We just hope our next generations won’t know elephants only from pictures,” she said. For her, having the same large herds that once roamed the country feels like a distant dream.

Maintaining the elephant population is no easy task. Young elephants, especially in their first fifteen years, are highly vulnerable to the often fatal Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EHV). This year alone, while only four calves were born, twelve elephants died. The total number of elephants in Laos is estimated at around 800, though some believe the actual figure may be lower. These realities highlight the urgent need not only for emergency veterinary response, but also for stronger conservation knowledge systems.

WILDMED addresses this need by combining emergency care with long-term capacity building anchored in the Nam Tien Solutionscape. Alongside rescue operations, the mobile wildlife clinic strengthens the Education, Conservation and Research (ECORE) programme, co-developed by the Wyss Academy and the ECC to position the latter as a hub for biodiversity research and professional training. During rescues, veterinary teams collect biological samples for biobanking, supporting long-term research on elephant health and population trends. The ECC, active in Laos and particularly in Xayabury Province since 2010, is a key institution supporting conservation in and around the Nam Tien Protected Forest Area.

Since operations began in November 2024, mahouts have contacted the mobile clinic 21 times, having their elephants receive treatment that may have prevented fatalities. In its first year, the WILDMED team collected more than 100 different samples from rescued animals. This is the Solutionscape at work in Nam Tien— emergency care linked to capacity and evidence—so each call-out strengthens governance for an umbrella species and for the communities living alongside it. The gains are practical and cumulative: faster coordination, skills that stay in the country, and data that guide the next decision.