Our Founder

Namaste !
I am Lena Quénard, founder of Association Moey, a Swiss non-profit organization established in December 2013 with the mission to help captive-held Asian Elephants. I have spent 30 years working in various medical and holistic practices, including ten years in a palliative care unit. I graduated in reflexology and massage therapy with 25 years of experience.

In 2012, I rescued an elephant in Thailand. Shortly after her rescue, Moey passed away and I created my organization in her memory. Since that time, I have dedicated my life to elephant conservation, increasing my knowledge about captive elephant health and welfare  – living and working in a variety of conservation centers in Thailand, India, Laos and Nepal.

I am an elephant foot care specialist providing foot trimming to the captive working elephants in Nepal where Association Moey has been present for years. I live in Thailand, I am very passionate about the quality of care I provide and I spend several months a year with the working elephants in Nepal.

“Once elephants roamed vast territories, migrating freely with the seasons, guided by the wisest and oldest female, the Matriarch. Today, African and Asian elephants are disappearing. The loss and fragmentation of habitat, human-elephant conflicts for sharing the same resources and poaching for the ivory trade are threats that put the elephants on the edge of extinction. If we do not change deeply our attitude, they will be gone soon, taking with them many other animal and plant species that depend on the elephants for their own lives.
Elephants are keystone species, playing an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live.

In 1800, there were 26 million elephants in the African plains. In just over 200 years, we have exterminated them. 25.5 million elephants are gone forever. In 1900, there were 1 million wild Asian elephants. In just over 100 years, we have exterminated them. Today they are less than 40,000. Their habitat has decreased by 95% in a hundred years.

Their extraordinary skills such as the ability to solve problems and make decisions, their emotional intelligence, extremely rich social lives, their lifelong family bonds, their compassion, selflessness and their respect for deceased make elephant species the most inspiring and exemplary Nation of Beings on Earth. While the last free elephants are struggling to survive, around the world thousands of elephants are being held in captivity. Most of them endure loneliness, abuse and poor living conditions daily.”

This is why Association Moey endeavors to do the work that we do.

Thank you for your support.