Why should I continue to donate to an organization whose Baord of Directors ousted the very insirational primary founder and CEO, but did not make that info public until months afterwards so they could continue to solicit donations in her name? This charity does not file mandatory paperwork in a timely manner. The last 990 covers 2009. They were late in filing the proper paperwork to maintain their non-profit status in the state of Tennessee. They do not publicly list their Board of Directors identities nor remuneration on their website. This organization has not submitted to independent financial audit. Their overall Charity Navigator rating has fallen to 3 stars. There are just too many issues with this organization for me to maintain my desire to contribute. There are other elephant welfare organizations that have transparent operations and I believe are more worthy of my hard earned money.

I had been a donor for eleven years because of the excellence of the dream that Carol Buckley created for old, sick, and needy elephants. I kept in touch with what they did during all that time, through newsletters, web site, national news media, and special programs about animals that included The Elephant Sanctuary. All during this time, they did everything right! I contributed all I could and even set up a trust that was to go to them upon my passing.

Now, however, that evil people, attracted by the money good people have donated to help the elephants, have descended into the Sanctuary, huge amounts of money are being given to spouses of board members and to contractors who have done no work. Worst of all, they have, in a coup that blindsided her, ousted Carol Buckley, the inspiration for The Elephant Sanctuary, without whom the Sanctuary never would have existed or have been the excellent refuge for beleaguered elephants that it was. They knew she would never stand for their evil acts -- in fact, she closed the bank account from which the spouse and contractor had been paid!! This is all described in the lawsuit Carol filed against the Sanctuary, referenced in a comment above.

I have supported The Elephant Sanctuary for years. I even have my front
license plate from this organization. I read "Water for Elephants" and can't help but want to help those beautiful creatures. However, the news
letters have changed and I have become suspicious of the new organization. Why is is possible for the "founders" to be fired. My biggest concern right now is the elephants and their care. I have noticed that more have died and fewer have found sanctuary since these changes have occured. Shame on you.

I have donated to this charity for several years, but stopped in this last year when I had more questions than answers given.

Donor beware as this charity has lost its non-profit status with the State of Tennessee.

Fifteen years ago, Carol Buckley had a dream for her personally owned elephant. That dream was The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. She built this dream into a reality and became nationally known as one of the foremost authorities on the rehabilitation of sick and exploited zoo and circus elephants. She sacrificed her own personal comfort and wealth in order to build a place where elephants would be safe and put aside enough money to insure their well-being for years to come. One day, a hostile takeover from within the ranks, threw Carol out and The Elephant Sanctuary (TES) has been turned into a high dollar organization. High salaried CEOs have been hired, PR people, attorneys, and more "management staff" than Carol needed to run the entire sanctuary. My husband and I have not only stopped donating, since the very things that drew us to TES have all been removed and/or changed, and TES is NOT the sanctuary that it was first set up to be. We have also removed them from our Living Trust Endowment Fund. Until Carol Buckley is put back at the helm, we want nothing to do with this charity. They have never been truthful with the donors and have erased Carol from her own vision, dream and reality. They are taking credit for everything with the co-founder now claiming to be the founder. If you love elephants, do NOT donate to The Elephant Sanctuary. They are not disclosing all of the truth.

The sanctuary was founded in 1995 by two people, Carol Buckley and Scott Blais. There is an error on the Guidestar profile of sanctuary People. Mr. Scott Blais is listed as Founder which is incorrect. When two people perpetuate an enterprise, they forever remain each a Co-founder. To call one person Founder, is to steal the entire endeavor from the other. However this occurred, it needs to be corrected immediately. The other Co-founder, Ms. Buckley, was removed by a vote. Essentially, the vision, the elephant responsible for the vision, and it remains to be seen how much more, seem to have been taken from Ms. Buckley. The reason for this thus far remains a secret.

So glad that I stopped donating to them just about the time that Carol was ousted. Lots of fishy and malicious stuff seems to have been and continues to be going on. Shame on them. Review a lot of stuff here - http://www.carolbuckley.com/pdf/Lawsuit_Oct2010.pdf. Thank you to the other reviewer B Ko for the info! : - ) There are two sides to every story - but wow!!!

They seem to still help elephants (thank goodness) - but now you have to wonder how YOUR money is truly being used - payments to the Board's spouses - contractors that do not do any work, etc...

Why is Carol Buckley still listed as an employee, when she was ousted awhile ago? In fact, she has sued the sanctuary (http://www.carolbuckley.com/pdf/Lawsuit_Oct2010.pdf).

Something seems odd here.