Kuala Gandah Elephant Shelter Or Jumbo Torment

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 While the sanctuary has been promoted as a safe haven for the pachyderms, some visitors have painted a very troubling picture of activities within.
While the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary has successfully relocated over 700 wild elephants, some visitors have raised concerns over alleged mistreatment of the animals.PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, located in the Krau Wildlife Reserve in Temerloh, Pahang, has long been celebrated for its efforts to protect Malaysia’s endangered Asian elephants
Established in 1989 by the wildlife and national parks department (Perhilitan), the sanctuary has successfully relocated over 700 wild elephants, helping to minimise the risk of the species going extinct, and reducing damage to agricultural areas.
Despite these achievements the sanctuary, which is a two-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur, is now under scrutiny for alleged mistreatment of its animals.
Visitor reviews on platforms such as Google paint a troubling picture of its operations.

Many highlight what they describe as “distressing scenes”. One reviewer called it a “torture spectacle” and another has labelled it as an “exploitative nightmare”.
Common complaints include the use of bullhooks, which are sharp tools used to handle and train elephants, and chains to restrain them. Many also claim seeing repetitive swaying and head bobbing by the elephants, which are visible signs of distress.
The sanctuary offers tourists a chance to bathe with elephants in the river, an activity animal welfare groups have frequently labelled as risky.Acts of cruelty 
The sanctuary offers tourists a chance to bathe with the elephants in the river, an activity that animal welfare groups have advocated against given the high risk of it turning deadly.
The daily shows are another area of concern.
Billed as “informative” rather than performative, these presentations feature elephants walking on planks or standing on stools — tricks that violate the sanctuary’s own guidelines against such displays.
These activities, designed to entertain visitors, are at odds with ethical standards advocated by organisations like the World Animal Protection and Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), which explicitly discourage punishment-based training and performative displays that cause physical and psychological harm.
Visitors to the sanctuary sharing water with an elephant.A sanctuary employee FMT spoke to revealed further concerns, particularly the living conditions of the elephant calves.
The animals, according to the personnel, spend most of their time confined in small, cage-like enclosures with minimal opportunities for structural, objective, dietary or social enrichment.
According to GFAS, sanctuaries can only be considered to be driven by ethical standards if they provide sufficient space for the elephants to travel a distance of at least 10km a day while foraging, socialising, and exploring, with interconnected enclosures to ensure freedom of movement for all individuals.
Rajesh Nagarajan.Rajesh Nagarajan, the president of environmental group Peka, is also a vocal critic of the sanctuary, describing it as “a site of deeply troubling exploitation” masked by an educational facade.
“Behind the sanctuary’s stated mission of rescue and rehabilitation lies a reality marked by suffering, confinement, and systemic neglect,” the animal rights lawyer told FMT.
Nagarajan detailed how elephants are routinely chained to concrete slabs, deprived of freedom of movement, and forced into performing for tourists under the threat of physical punishment with bullhooks.
These practices, he argues, betray the sanctuary’s core mission.
Nagarajan’s critique is reinforced by the sanctuary’s violation of GFAS standards, which prohibit the use of chains, except in rare cases like transportation, and a ban on tools like bullhooks that inflict pain or fear.
He envisions a true sanctuary as “a place of freedom from chains, freedom from fear, and freedom from exploitation — not a venue where elephants are displayed, manipulated and monetised”.
Demands have been made for Perhilitan and the government to take immediate action, some outlining specific areas of concern.
Among the demands are:
an immediate stop to all public performances and direct contact with the animals in Kuala Gandah;a ban on the use of bullhooks and chains;implementation of transparent oversight with independent audits of elephant welfare; anda transition to an observation-only model rooted in ethical, evidence-based conservation.The time for change is now. - FMT
FMT has reached out to Perhilitan for comments. A call to the number listed on the National Elephant Conservation Centre website drew a voice response saying it was a wrong number.
Greta Bagdonaite is an undergraduate at City, St George’s, University of London, and an intern at FMT.

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