Banti Bhuyan Elephant Aashram
Banti Bhuyan Elephant Aashram
A sanctuary for dignity. A refuge for healing. A future for coexistence.
In the foothills of Assam, where forests, rivers, villages, and elephants have shared the same landscape for centuries, a quiet revolution has been taking place.
The Banti Bhuyan Memorial Elephant Aashram was born from a simple belief: that India’s elephants deserve dignity, compassion, and a future where humans and wildlife can coexist in harmony. What began as a dream has today become one of the most ambitious community-led elephant welfare and conservation initiatives in Northeast India.
For years, our team at Hati Bondhu Assam has worked on the frontlines of human-elephant coexistence. We witnessed aging captive elephants abandoned after a lifetime of service. We saw injured and neglected animals with nowhere to go. We met mahouts struggling to provide care without adequate support. We watched wild elephants enter villages in search of food as their traditional habitats continued to shrink. Rather than treating these as isolated problems, we chose to address the root causes.
The Banti Bhuyan Memorial Elephant Aashram was established as a sanctuary where elderly, retired, injured, and neglected elephants can receive lifelong care, medical attention, proper nutrition, and, above all, respect. Today, the Aashram stands as a growing symbol of hope—a place built not merely for elephants, but with elephants at its heart.
The Aashram is envisioned as far more than a shelter. It is being developed into a comprehensive elephant welfare and rehabilitation centre, equipped to provide veterinary care, rehabilitation facilities, nutritional support, and specialized treatment for elephants in need.
Plans include dedicated medical infrastructure, hydrotherapy facilities, research and training opportunities, and educational programs that will allow future generations to learn from and connect with these magnificent animals.
The Aashram will also serve as a platform for collaboration between veterinarians, conservationists, forest officials, researchers, mahouts, and local communities, creating a model that can be replicated elsewhere in India.
The Aashram carries the name of Late Mrs. Banti Bhuyan, whose life was defined by compassion, courage, and an unwavering commitment to nature and society. Her values continue to guide every tree planted, every elephant cared for, and every community partnership forged through this initiative. The project has also been strengthened by the support of numerous well-wishers, conservationists, volunteers, industry partners, and elephant lovers from across India. Among them is Padma Shri awardee Parbati Barua, whose lifelong dedication to elephants continues to inspire and guide our work.
The story of the Banti Bhuyan Memorial Elephant Aashram is only beginning.Every enclosure built, every sapling planted, every elephant treated, and every village protected brings us one step closer to a future where elephants and people can thrive together. Our vision is a future where no elephant is abandoned, no injured elephant is left without care, and no community is forced to choose between its livelihood and the survival of wildlife.
Elephant Habitat Enrichment Program
Hatikhuli, Assam is one of our primary and pioneering areas of operations where the habitat restoration program was first initiated. Hatikhuli, which falls under two districts – Golaghat and Karbi Anglong, is marked as an important and frequent migratory route for wild elephants. However, expansion of agricultural and industrial activities have left forest areas in Hatikhuli barren and depleted. To address this issue, we initiated a Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and Tiger Broom grass (Thysanolaena) plantation program in Hatikhuli – which has been ongoing since May 2020. Both Napier and Tiger Broom grass are endemic to the area and are characterized as fast-growing grass species with high regenerative capacity.
For this program, we planted 100,000 saplings of Napier and Tiger Broom grass (each) on approximately 70 acres of barren land in Hatikhuli. Based on our field observations and report, plantation of such fast-growing – yet favourable grass species – was a significant step forward towards supplementing food security and enriching the quality of elephant habitat in the area. Due to the program’s positive outcome in Hatikhuli, we extended our habitat enrichment model to Nonoi, Assam, which has also been identified as another important elephant migratory route in need of habitat restoration and preservation.