Dan Albert John Koehl is a French-Swedish

zookeeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

, elephant trainer, and

stablemaster A stable master or head groom is the manager in charge of a stable. At large horse establishments there may be several grooms under the management of the stable master. In a professional establishment the head groom usually has complete responsibil ...

. An author of the ''Elephant Encyclopedia'', he has been described as "one of Europe's most renowned experts on elephants".

Early years

Dan Koehl was born 28 October 1959 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden, the fifth child of parents Gösta Köhl (1916–1996), Swedish engineer and Margot Nordholm (1922–2006). Koehl grew up in Mountain View, California, United States, and on

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of Sweden's most populous and exclusive districts. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest ho ...

in Stockholm. He studied zookeeping at Enskede gårds gymnasium, besides higher education at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

and Calle Flygare Teaterskola. Koehl began his career in aquarium and zoo-shops, and as commissioned

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

for the Royal Herd of Sheep at

Gärdet Gärdet is a part of Stockholm, Sweden, east and northeast of Östermalm. Its official name is Ladugårdsgärdet. It is renowned for its large number of modernist apartments. Gärdet is one of the largest residential districts built in Stockholm d ...

in Stockholm. He carried out apprenticeship as elephant-keeper at Circus Scott in Stockholm under elephant trainer Banda Vidane, as

mahout A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retainin ...

in Sri Lanka and India, and in traditional German elephant management at Hanover Zoo and

Tierpark Hagenbeck The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by Ca ...

in Hamburg, Germany, by elephant chief trainer Karl Kock.

Professional career

Helmut Pechlaner Kurt Kolar Dan Koehl Vienna Zoo 1998

Since the late 1970s, Dan Koehl has served as head elephant keeper, stable master (

equerry An equerry (; from French language, French 'stable', and related to 'squire') is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attend ...

) and consultant at

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

es and

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

es around the world. European locations have included

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

, Cirkus Scott,

Hellabrunn Zoo Hellabrunn Zoo () is a 40 hectare (99 acre) zoological garden in the Bavarian capital of Munich. The zoo is situated on the right bank of the river Isar, in the southern part of Munich near the quarter of Thalkirchen. A high ratio of enclosures ...

(Munich), Borås Wildlife Park,

Tiergarten Schönbrunn Tiergarten (German for "zoo") may refer to: Places * Tiergarten (park), an urban public park in Berlin ** Berlin-Tiergarten station, a railway station adjacent to the park ** Kleiner Tiergarten, a smaller public park in Berlin ** Tiergarten, Berli ...

Dresden Zoo Dresden Zoo, or Zoo Dresden, is a zoo in the city of Dresden, Germany. It was opened in 1861, making it Germany's fourth oldest zoo. It was originally designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. The zoo is located on the southern edge of the Großer Gart ...

Zoolandia Zoolandia is a zoo located Lieto, Finland, about a 20-minute drive north of Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the ...

. Parco Natura Viva,

Kolmården Wildlife Park Kolmården Wildlife Park () is a zoo that opened in 1965 overlooking Bråviken bay in Sweden. It is the largest zoo in Scandinavia, includes the first dolphinarium in Scandinavia, which opened in 1969 and has daily shows, and the world's first ...

Circus Krone Circus Krone, based in Munich, is one of the largest circuses in Europe and one of the few in Western Europe (along with Cirque d'hiver de Paris, Cirque d'hiver d'Amiens and Cirque Royal in Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-C ...

, Tiergarten Walding,

Karlsruhe Zoo The Karlsruhe Zoo (German: ''Zoologischer Stadtgarten Karlsruhe'') is a city garden with a zoo in the southwest of Karlsruhe, Germany. It also encompasses the outer area; Tierpark Oberwald in the southeast of the city. The main area totals 22 h ...

and

Prague Zoo Prague Zoological Garden (Czech: ''Zoologická zahrada hl. m. Prahy'') is a zoo in Prague, Czech Republic. It was opened in 1931 with the goal to "advance the study of zoology, protect wildlife, and educate the public" in the district of Troja (Pra ...

. While at Skansen, pending the departure of the stable's elephants "Nika" and "Shiva" to inferior living conditions abroad, he figured in a campaign that sparked nationwide debate over "Stockholm's beloved elephants". Despite described by

Cynthia Moss Cynthia Jane Moss (born July 24, 1940) is an American ethologist and conservationist, wildlife researcher, and writer. Her studies have concentrated on the demography, behavior, social organization, and population dynamics of the African elephan ...

in ''Elephant Memories'' as "among the best-cared-for and happiest I had ever seen in captivity", after much controversy, Skansen's elephants were shipped to Cricket Park, England, only to face premature death. At Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna 1998, Koehl assisted Director Dr Helmut Pechlaner in elephants retraining and staff management when the zoo was induced to establish a new team of elephant keepers, facing a critical campaign concerning its keeping of elephants. Likewise he assisted Director Dr

Herbert Lücker Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territ ...

with elephant training and staff coaching in

1999, when the zoo was under criticism by members of animal rights organisations. At Kolmården Wildlife Park, Koehl was commissioned "royal head groom" for the management of the elephants "Boa" and "Saonoi" donated to King

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. Having reigned since 1973, he is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history. Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, K ...

by King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any List of Thai mo ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. Since the 1990s worldwide locations have included Elephant Experience and Sondelani Game Lodge in Zimbabwe,

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage (), is a captive breeding and conservation institute for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, northeast of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala has the largest herd of captive ...

in Sri Lanka, and Airavata Elephant Foundation and the elephant Sanctuary Kulen Elephant Forest, both latter ones in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. Dan Koehl has contributed to various animals and wildlife care and preservation foundations related especially to elephants, including Asian elephant victims of war at

. and has since early nineties been a contributing Professional member to the

Elephant Managers Association The Elephant Managers Association (EMA) is an international non-profit organization, for elephant professionals and interested people. EMA, having the largest collection of elephant experts and enthusiasts in the world, promotes welfare, husband ...

, as Deputy of the Executive Secretary for the European Elephant Keepers and Managers Association (EEKMA) 1998–2008, he co-worked out the ''Elephant management safety guidelines'' (2002). Koehl has served as board of director for Elefanten-Schutz Europa, as Chairperson for the Swedish organisation Defend the elephants and the Swedish National Union of Aquaristic Societies (SARF), and as

Web developer A web developer is a programmer who develops World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the client, and any general-purpose programming language in the server. is used ...

created websites for enterprises like

Tropicarium Kolmården Tropicarium Kolmården is a public aquarium and terrarium, situated outside Kolmården Wildlife Park (but run by a different management), close to Bråviken and from Norrköping town in Sweden. Kolmården Tropicarium is one of Sweden's largest tr ...

, and ImageWare Austria. Since 2023 he is advisor to leaders in elephant venue auditing,

Asian Captive Elephant Standards Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from As ...

(ACES), as part of a program coordinated by

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit The (GIZ, ) is the main development agency of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn and provides services in the field of development cooperation, international development cooperation and international education work. The organizat ...

(GIZ) and the

Pacific Asia Travel Association The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a membership association working to promote the responsible development of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region. History In 1951, Pan Am Regional Manager for the South Pacific Bill Mull ...

. Koehl has resided in

Siem Reap Siem Reap (, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. Siem Reap possesses French-colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter ...

since 2019, being responsible for care and management of elephants and

s as elephant trainer, manager, and welfare director at Kulen Elephant Forest. He founded the ''Elephant Encyclopedia'' in 1995, one of the first

online encyclopedias An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Ency ...

in the world.

References

External links

''Elephant Encyclopedia'' and database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koehl, Dan Year of birth missing (living people) Elephant trainers 20th-century Swedish educators Living people People from Stockholm