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ELEPHANT WELFARE INTERNATIONAL

Our Story

We are a team of scientists and animal welfare experts who are passionate about creating a kinder world for elephants.

Timeline

2013

Dr. Lisa Yon and her team began to develop and validate the Elephant Behavioural Welfare Assessment Tool

2015

The Elephant Behavioural Welfare Assessment Tool was officially launched. This began the use of this tool by UK elephant-holding zoos

2020

Established the Elephant Welfare Project (EWP) at The University of Nottingham. Launched the initial version of our Elephant Welfare App

2023

Launched the new multi-platform version of our Elephant Welfare App for use by anyone working with elephants to help monitor their welfare

2024

Elephant Welfare International, a UK non-profit, was created

2025

Raising funds to further develop our Elephant Welfare App and keep it free for use by anyone working with elephants, anywhere in the world

Our Work

PUBLIC
OUTREACH

KNOWLEDGE
EXCHANGES

TRAINING

FUNDRAISING

RESEARCH

RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT

APP

ELEPHANT WELFARE INTERNATIONAL

Our Values

Creating Long- Term Change

We care about meaningful, measurable, long-term change. That’s why our focus is on championing change in elephant welfare policies and practices.

From Research
to Reality

We started as an academic team, and everything we do is still based on strong evidence. We’re not only led by the latest science – we help to create it with our research.

Working with Facilities

We work in partnership with zoos and sanctuaries to help make the biggest difference to the lives of captive elephants.

Every Elephant Matters

We believe that each and every individual elephant deserves a full life in which they can thrive and be happy. That’s why we take a tailored, individualised approach to care and welfare.

ELEPHANT WELFARE INTERNATIONAL

Our People

Dr Lisa Yon

Lisa Yon is a veterinarian and wildlife researcher. She has worked with and studied elephants all over the world for over 30 years, and is the Founding Director of EWI.

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Dr Sue Kelly

Susan Kelly has been a practising veterinarian for over 30 years, with particular experience in shelter animal and wildlife medicine. She sits on several animal welfare organisation boards.

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Jane Howorth

Jane Howorth MBE is the Founder and CEO of the British Hen Welfare Trust, saving an average 60,000 hens from slaughter each year to be rehomed as pets.

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Georgina Groves

Georgina Groves has worked in the animal welfare field for over two decades, with a particular focus on the welfare of captive zoo animals for the past 15 years.

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'EWI's work has been integral to the development of welfare markers and improvements in elephant welfare in the UK.'

Miranda Stevenson (current Chair, EWG)

Dr Lisa Yon

Lisa Yon is a veterinarian and wildlife researcher (with a PhD on elephant physiology) and an Associate Professor in Zoo & Wildlife Medicine in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham UK.  She has worked with and studied captive and free-living elephants for over 30 years in Europe, North America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and is a member of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group.  

She serves on the UK government Advisory Committee, the Elephant Welfare Group (as Vice Chair, and Head of the Behaviour Subgroup), overseeing projects to improve captive elephant welfare.  She led the development and validation of an elephant behavioural welfare assessment tool, designed for routine use by elephant keepers/mahouts, to enable them to use observed behaviours to monitor their elephants’ welfare over time. This tool has been used by UK elephant holding facilities since 2015, and has since been developed into the multi-platform Elephant Welfare App, available free of charge to anyone working with elephants, and used by numerous international facilities. Her work has helped drive the use of robust scientific evidence to shape legislation and policies for captive elephant care in the UK and internationally.  

Dr Yon is the Founding Director of both the Elephant Welfare Project (www.elephantwelfarproject.org) at the University of Nottingham, and Elephant Welfare International.

Dr Sue Kelly

A graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Susan Kelly has been a practicing veterinarian for over 30 years with a focus on shelter animal medicine and surgery for the past 20 years and, in addition, wildlife medicine since 2018.  She has supported and/or served on the board of numerous animal welfare organizations and is the veterinarian of record for several licensed wildlife rehabilitators in her home state of Vermont, USA.

Jane Howorth

Jane Howorth MBE is the Founder and CEO of the British Hen Welfare Trust, a charity she began in 2005 to raise awareness of commercial laying hens. She began an innovative pet adoption scheme for laying hens heading for slaughter and set up a network of volunteer led teams across the UK.  The charity has grown rapidly and after just a few years reached an average of 60,000 hens per annum being saved from slaughter and rehomed as pets.  In 2024 her one millionth hen was adopted by His Majesty King Charles III.  The charity now has a staff of around 20 and a volunteer team of 1,400+ operating across the UK. The charity has also set up an associate organisation in France, Champs Libres aux Poules, which is growing faster than the UK. Ms Howorth was awarded the MBE in 2016.

Georgina Groves

Georgina Groves has worked in the field of animal welfare for over two decades and for the past 15 years, her work has been predominantly centred on the welfare of captive zoo animals.  She has collaborated extensively with world and regional zoo associations, and has delivered numerous international training workshops to build capacity in welfare practices in zoos, sanctuaries, and government facilities worldwide. She is currently Chair of the charity Crustacean Compassion, Advisor for the Pangea Trust, Animal Law Foundation and Board Member for Elephant Welfare International.

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ELEPHANT WELFARE INTERNATIONAL