In Laos, a rescue rarely starts with sirens. It often travels as a message —a call from a village head, relayed to a district desk, passed to the province, and only then to the few people who can help. Through Hub Southeast Asia, the Wyss Academy for Nature supports that chain—co-financing the mobile wildlife clinic and working with the Lao Conservation Trust for Wildlife and the Elephant Conservation Center to strengthen wildlife health on the ground. This account follows one case to show how that response is taking shape. 

By the time they reached Mokkok-Noy that evening, night had settled over the mountains. The village sits in Phongsali, Laos’s northernmost province—off the grid, without electricity or running water. And communication added another layer: apart from the village head, residents spoke only their ethnic language, not Lao. 

The wild juvenile elephant, about nine years old, had fallen into a village drainage ditch. When villagers noticed something was wrong with the water flow, they went to check and found the elephant stuck there. By the time rescuers arrived, it was wedged too deep to reach without equipment. “If it had been just the two of us, there wouldn’t have been much we could do. But the whole village came to help, everyone leaving their day-to-day life to come help this animal, even though we didn’t even speak the same language,” Melody recalled.  

According to Pavina, most locals in this remote village grow sugarcane, and elephants often raid their farms. One villager had previously been attacked by a wild elephant. “Even so,” she said, “everyone came together to help.” 

After five days, they were finally able to lift the elephant from the ditch using a wooden structure made by the villagers. The animal was cold and severely exhausted. The two veterinarians on site immediately administered intravenous fluids and collected blood samples for testing. A villager then drove four hours to the nearest hospital to have the samples analyzed. 

Despite their efforts, the elephant did not survive. 

Once the elephant was pulled from the water, its forelegs would not move. “Elephants can suffer from nerve paralysis when they’ve been lying down for too long,” Melody explained.  By then, his nerves and lungs were already damaged, and blood had begun to drip from his trunk. “It must have been stuck in the water for a long time,” she added. 

Despite the loss, the rescue team found some silver linings.  Villagers first sought help from local authorities, but referral to the province took time—officials were not yet aware of the mobile clinic. Eventually, the provincial authorities called the WILDMED rescue team. “They knew us because I had gone to them before and they called us. So, I'm hoping next time will be even faster,” Melody said hopefully. The government officials also stayed to help — they accompanied the team to the village and coordinated closely with the villagers throughout the rescue. This was also the WILDMED team’s very first wild elephant rescue, which gave them a rare chance to gain hands-on experience in wild elephant rescue. 

After the elephant’s death, the rescue team traced his tracks about one kilometer upslope and discovered a small landslide, which they believed was where he had first fallen. From there, he likely tried to move downhill before collapsing in the ditch. As climate change intensifies, landslides in Laos have become increasingly frequent, threatening not only local communities but also wildlife. 

This tragic case underscores the urgent need for stronger wildlife response systems in the country. WILDMED, the mobile wildlife clinic in Laos co-financed by the Wyss Academy for Nature, is laying the foundation for such efforts. With this support, the Lao Conservation for Wildlife Trust (LCTW) is partnering with the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) to train local veterinarians and ECC’s team in wildlife rescue. While the ECC has long been a national leader in caring for domestic elephants, it is now expanding its expertise to wild elephant rescue. The center now has more capacity to respond to emergencies involving both wild and semi-wild elephants beyond its own site. 

Calls from local mahouts have become increasingly frequent as word spreads that help is now available when their elephants fall ill. At last year’s elephant festival in Xayabury, veterinarians from the ECC introduced WILDMED to the community and shared their contact information with local mahouts. Since then, they have received 21 calls.  And the mobile clinic has provided treatment that, in several cases, likely prevented fatalities. 

The WILDMED funding also supported the hiring of the first Lao woman licensed as an elephant veterinarian. “Elephants are an umbrella species. Their day-to-day activities sustain countless other creatures within their ecosystem,” Mouk emphasized. When asked about being the first Lao woman in this role, she said, “Many students are now more interested in pursuing wildlife veterinary work after seeing that I, as a Lao woman, can do this.” 

For Mouk, the wildlife mobile clinic is vital for Laos, as there has never been one like it before. “The mahouts are always happy when we share our contacts,” she explained. “Without help, their elephants often die. They usually have no one to turn to when the animals get sick.”  

Looking to the future, Mouk’s hope is simple yet profound—that future generations in Laos will have the chance to know the elephants first-hand. For her, having the same large herds that once roamed the country feels like a distant dream. “We just hope our next generations won’t know elephants only from pictures,” she said. 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. 

This is also why the Wyss Academy for Nature supports the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) beyond its work with the mobile wildlife clinic. Through WILDMED, the ECC works closely with its ECORE program and the endocrinology laboratory, helping to fill a major gap in elephant conservation in Laos—the lack of research facilities and scientific capacity. Today, when an elephant rescue team heads out to treat injured or sick elephants, they also collect biological samples for biobanking. Each rescue mission now not only saves lives but also contributes valuable knowledge for the future of elephant conservation in Laos. 

“The main challenge for us, and for ECORE, is that we’re the first ones doing this,” noted Anabel Lopez Perez, a biologist at the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC). “We had to set everything up from scratch, and that’s why it takes time. Every step forward requires us to also build our capacity. Hopefully, in the next five to six years, things will become much easier, and everything will run more smoothly.” 

After years of dedication, the ECC team is beginning to see the fruits of their work. For the past decade, they have attended the annual elephant festival in Xayabury, offering health checkups and building trust with local mahouts. “Ten years ago, you had to convince the mahouts to let you treat their elephants,” Anabel recalled. “So, the most memorable moment for me was seeing how they reacted when they learned we now have the mobile clinic. We went to the festival and saw about 60 mahouts, all happy to see us and reassured to know there’s help available. The government and local people responded positively to the clinic as well.”  

Through WILDMED, ECORE, and the ECC’s endocrinology lab, the Wyss Academy has helped link veterinarians, local communities, and government authorities, turning individual actions into a coordinated network of care. By training rescuers, supporting research, and backing initiatives like hiring the first Lao woman licensed as an elephant veterinarian, this support is helping give elephants a better chance, and it is drawing in a new generation of wildlife professionals to sustain elephant care in Laos for years to come. 

In Hub Southeast Asia, our role is to help connect what happens in places like Mokkok-Noy to a wider system—so a difficult rescue also strengthens referrals, training, and diagnostics for the next case. We support partners to capture what works, share it with authorities, and fold it into practice—small steps that add up over time.