52-year-old Mae Beepoh eats bamboo from the community forest at Elephant Freedom Village in northern Thailand.As COVID devastated Thailand’s tourist industry, thousands of elephants typically forced to work in the tourism industry in Thailand are now not working due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with their owners struggling to feed and maintain them. The EFV community forest model has emerged as a sustainable alternative for co-existence and is proving to be popular with international tourists who want to learn more about Karen elephant culture and experience elephants in their natural environment without the abuse and exploitation that often occurs at traditional tourist camps.