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What about elephants
- Thread starter MIST
- Start date
MIST
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Obama launches initiative to fight elephant, rhino poaching in Africa .
Pres. Barack Obama has signed an executive order aimed at combating wildlife trafficking in Africa, particularly the sale of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks.
The State Department will provide $10 million to train and assist African authorities fighting the illegal poaching and selling of animals and animal parts.
The World Wildlife Fund says close to 30,000 elephants are slaughtered annually for their ivory. Ivory estimated to weigh more than 23 metric tons - a figure that represents 2,500 elephants - was seized in the 13 largest seizures of illegal ivory in 2011.
"Poaching and trafficking is threatening Africa’s wildlife," said Obama. "Today I issued a new Executive Order to better organize U.S. government efforts in this fight so that we can cooperate with the Tanzanian government and others. This includes an additional millions of dollars to help countries across the regions to build their capacity to meet this challenge.”
“The entire world has a stake in making sure we preserve Africa’s beauty for future generations.”
Poaching operations have expanded beyond small-scale, opportunistic actions to coordinated slaughter commissioned by armed and organized criminal syndicates, the executive order says.
"The survival of protected wildlife species such as elephants, rhinos, great apes, tigers, sharks, tuna, and turtles has beneficial economic, social, and environmental impacts that are important to all nations."
The World Wildlife Fund called Obama's action "groundbreaking."
“President Obama’s commitment to help stop the global crime wave that is emptying the continent’s forests and savannas is welcome news. It gives a critical boost for everyone involved in fighting wildlife trafficking—from rangers on the ground to local conservation groups to decision-makers around the globe,” said Carter Roberts, President & CEO of WWF-US.
WWF says wildlife crime has direct links to regional conflicts, national security and even terrorism.
http://www.king5.com/news/environme...afficking-initiative-in-Africa-213887741.html
Pres. Barack Obama has signed an executive order aimed at combating wildlife trafficking in Africa, particularly the sale of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks.
The State Department will provide $10 million to train and assist African authorities fighting the illegal poaching and selling of animals and animal parts.
The World Wildlife Fund says close to 30,000 elephants are slaughtered annually for their ivory. Ivory estimated to weigh more than 23 metric tons - a figure that represents 2,500 elephants - was seized in the 13 largest seizures of illegal ivory in 2011.
"Poaching and trafficking is threatening Africa’s wildlife," said Obama. "Today I issued a new Executive Order to better organize U.S. government efforts in this fight so that we can cooperate with the Tanzanian government and others. This includes an additional millions of dollars to help countries across the regions to build their capacity to meet this challenge.”
“The entire world has a stake in making sure we preserve Africa’s beauty for future generations.”
Poaching operations have expanded beyond small-scale, opportunistic actions to coordinated slaughter commissioned by armed and organized criminal syndicates, the executive order says.
"The survival of protected wildlife species such as elephants, rhinos, great apes, tigers, sharks, tuna, and turtles has beneficial economic, social, and environmental impacts that are important to all nations."
The World Wildlife Fund called Obama's action "groundbreaking."
“President Obama’s commitment to help stop the global crime wave that is emptying the continent’s forests and savannas is welcome news. It gives a critical boost for everyone involved in fighting wildlife trafficking—from rangers on the ground to local conservation groups to decision-makers around the globe,” said Carter Roberts, President & CEO of WWF-US.
WWF says wildlife crime has direct links to regional conflicts, national security and even terrorism.
http://www.king5.com/news/environme...afficking-initiative-in-Africa-213887741.html
MIST
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US to destroy ivory stocks in effort to stop illegal elephant poaching
White House to crush 6m tons of seized ivory as it tries to elevate wildlife trafficking to an urgent national security concern
The Obama administration said on Monday it would destroy all 6m tons of its stocks of seized ivory – potentially millions in contraband – stepping up efforts to crush an illegal trade that has brought wild elephants to the brink of extinction.
The ivory destruction, announced at a White House event addressed by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, was part of a broader effort by the administration on Monday to elevate wildlife trafficking from narrow conservation interest to urgent national security concern.
Destroying the ivory would signal that Obama was committed to stopping illegal trafficking in wildlife that has devastated species such as elephants and rhinos, and is a growing security threat, officials told the audience.
"Rising demand for ivory is fuelling a renewed and horrific slaughter of elephants in Africa, threatening remaining populations across the continent," the interior secretary, Sally Jewell, said. "We will continue to work aggressively … to disrupt and prosecute criminals who traffic in ivory, and we encourage other nations to join us in that effort."
The destruction – which officials said would be public – was scheduled to take place on 8 October, officials said.
Jewell also announced a new advisory council, made up of former administration officials, conservation and business leaders, to help guide the crackdown on the criminal poaching syndicates.
Obama has given growing prominence to the dangers posed by wildlife trafficking over the last year amid an explosion of the illegal trade.
Jewell said wildlife trafficking had doubled over the past five years into a global trade worth $10bn. Poaching of elephants had risen by a factor of eight in Tanzania. Killing of rhinos for their horns had gone up by a factor of 50, Jewell said.
State Department officials now openly refer to wildlife trafficking as a national security crisis.
As many as 35,000 African elephants were killed for their tusks last year. That amounted to 96 elephant killed every day, Clinton said.
"At this rate, African forest elephants will be extinct within 10 years," said Clinton.
The profits from the illegal ivory trade were also fuelling extremist groups, including affiliates of al-Qaida in Somalia, she said.
A zero-tolerance strategy was the only way to stop wildlife trafficking, Clinton said.
"You can't be a little bit OK with buying ivory goods, because that opens the floodgates. Therefore we are doing everything we can to stop the trafficking, stop the demand and stop the killing," Clinton said.
Most of the demand for trafficked ivory was from Asia, but there are also American buyers. The owners of two Manhattan jewellery shops were convicted last year of selling ivory trinkets.
Conservation groups said America's decision to destroy its ivory stocks would hurt the contraband market.
A number of other countries – including the Philippines – have also destroyed their stocks of seized ivory.
The Philippines crushed 15m tons of seized ivory beneath industrial rollers earlier this year.
The stockpiles of contraband ivory were seen as a "time bomb" by conservation groups, creating confusion about governments' seriousness to ban the ivory trade, and keeping prices high for trafficked goods.
Officials said the seized US ivory included raw tusks and carved ivory intercepted by the authorities over the past 25 years.
The administration was also thinking of introducing harsher penalties for wildlife trafficking.
"I think the penalties are not significant enough for wildlife trafficking," said David Hayes, a former interior official who was named to the advisory council on Monday.
"We are not creating the kind of disincentive for wildlife trafficking that this problem deserves."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/09/us-ivory-stocks-illegal-elephant-poaching
White House to crush 6m tons of seized ivory as it tries to elevate wildlife trafficking to an urgent national security concern
The Obama administration said on Monday it would destroy all 6m tons of its stocks of seized ivory – potentially millions in contraband – stepping up efforts to crush an illegal trade that has brought wild elephants to the brink of extinction.
The ivory destruction, announced at a White House event addressed by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, was part of a broader effort by the administration on Monday to elevate wildlife trafficking from narrow conservation interest to urgent national security concern.
Destroying the ivory would signal that Obama was committed to stopping illegal trafficking in wildlife that has devastated species such as elephants and rhinos, and is a growing security threat, officials told the audience.
"Rising demand for ivory is fuelling a renewed and horrific slaughter of elephants in Africa, threatening remaining populations across the continent," the interior secretary, Sally Jewell, said. "We will continue to work aggressively … to disrupt and prosecute criminals who traffic in ivory, and we encourage other nations to join us in that effort."
The destruction – which officials said would be public – was scheduled to take place on 8 October, officials said.
Jewell also announced a new advisory council, made up of former administration officials, conservation and business leaders, to help guide the crackdown on the criminal poaching syndicates.
Obama has given growing prominence to the dangers posed by wildlife trafficking over the last year amid an explosion of the illegal trade.
Jewell said wildlife trafficking had doubled over the past five years into a global trade worth $10bn. Poaching of elephants had risen by a factor of eight in Tanzania. Killing of rhinos for their horns had gone up by a factor of 50, Jewell said.
State Department officials now openly refer to wildlife trafficking as a national security crisis.
As many as 35,000 African elephants were killed for their tusks last year. That amounted to 96 elephant killed every day, Clinton said.
"At this rate, African forest elephants will be extinct within 10 years," said Clinton.
The profits from the illegal ivory trade were also fuelling extremist groups, including affiliates of al-Qaida in Somalia, she said.
A zero-tolerance strategy was the only way to stop wildlife trafficking, Clinton said.
"You can't be a little bit OK with buying ivory goods, because that opens the floodgates. Therefore we are doing everything we can to stop the trafficking, stop the demand and stop the killing," Clinton said.
Most of the demand for trafficked ivory was from Asia, but there are also American buyers. The owners of two Manhattan jewellery shops were convicted last year of selling ivory trinkets.
Conservation groups said America's decision to destroy its ivory stocks would hurt the contraband market.
A number of other countries – including the Philippines – have also destroyed their stocks of seized ivory.
The Philippines crushed 15m tons of seized ivory beneath industrial rollers earlier this year.
The stockpiles of contraband ivory were seen as a "time bomb" by conservation groups, creating confusion about governments' seriousness to ban the ivory trade, and keeping prices high for trafficked goods.
Officials said the seized US ivory included raw tusks and carved ivory intercepted by the authorities over the past 25 years.
The administration was also thinking of introducing harsher penalties for wildlife trafficking.
"I think the penalties are not significant enough for wildlife trafficking," said David Hayes, a former interior official who was named to the advisory council on Monday.
"We are not creating the kind of disincentive for wildlife trafficking that this problem deserves."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/09/us-ivory-stocks-illegal-elephant-poaching
MIST
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- Jul 25, 2011
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As feds crush ivory in Denver to curb poaching, Kerry offers $1M reward to stop elephant killing
U.S. authorities on Thursday crushed 6 tons of seized ivory, each piece cut from dead elephants, signaling resolve to kill a $10 billion illicit trade linked to international crime and terrorism.
Tusks and carved objects seized from airports and border crossings over the past two decades were loaded into a blue rock-grinder near a warehouse at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge where the ivory was kept, and pulverized it all into fine chips.
"By taking this action, the United States will help raise the profile of the issue and inspire other nations," said Judy Garber, deputy assistant secretary of state, one of the senior Obama administration officials in Colorado for the invitation-only event. "All of us have to step up our game and work together to put an end to this before we lose the species forever."
Poached ivory may have financed the recent Somali terrorist attack on Kenya's Westgate mall, Garber said: "That issue is being looked into."
This first U.S. government destruction of illegal ivory was orchestrated as part of a broader campaign including increased funding to fight poaching and crackdowns on consumers. President Obama in July launched a task force. Diplomats have engaged governments in China, Vietnam and Thailand.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the dismantling of the Xaysavang Network, a Laos-based criminal operation that that "facilitates the killing of endangered elephants, rhinos and other species for products such as ivory."
The State Department said the group has affiliates in South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and China. Profits from illegal activities by this group and others, the department said, funds other illicit activities such as narcotics, arms and human trafficking.
Consumer demand for ivory objects is blamed for a surge in killing African elephants. Expanding wealthy classes in East Asia covet ivory items, many of them carved in Chinese government-backed factories.
At least 25,000 elephants were illegally killed in 2012, and even more this year, according to the 178-nation UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
That's the most since CITES banned ivory commerce in 1989. The ban was relaxed in 1997 to let southern African nations with elephants cull herds and sell ivory. CITES allowed ivory sell-offs by governments in 2008 and 2010.
The global population of elephants, estimated at around 600,000 in 1989 is estimated by CITES at 472,000 today.
Assistant U.S. Interior Secretary Dan Ashe compared the intensifying slaughter of elephants today to mass killings of bison in the late 19th century that brought the species to near extinction.
"We have a moral obligation to respond," he told group of U.S. officials and global wildlife conservation leaders gathered at the Arsenal to witness the crush. "You have the chance to crush wildlife trafficking and save these magnificent creatures."
"Sex and the City" star Kristin Davis, a patron of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which has worked to raise orphans of slaughtered elephants in Africa, said the orphans themselves now are in jeopardy.
U.S. officials estimate elephants could go extinct in 8-10 years if the current rate of slaughter continues.
The soul of the human species is what is at stake if we allow elephants to go extinct," said "True Blood" actress Kristin Bauer van Straten, an ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Van Straten, 46, threw carvings her late father brought to the U.S. after his military service into the grinder for destruction Thursday. She urged other Americans who have heirloom ivory objects in their possession to destroy them, calling it an ethical choice.
"Are we playing more for the team of consumerism and things? Or are we playing for the team of life?" van Straten said.
U.S. officials are ramping up action because ivory smuggling funds crime and terrorism.
A Sept. 6 report from the Director of National Intelligence says demand for ivory and rhino horn so outpaces supply and is so lucrative that "criminal elements of all kinds, including some terrorist entities and rogue security personnel, often in collusion with government officials in source countries, are involved in poaching and movement of ivory and rhino horn across east, central and southern Africa."
The report echoed congressional testimony by then-Sen. John Kerry last year, before he replaced Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, about armed men crossing from Sudan into Central African Republic and from Somalia into Kenya to kill elephants and smuggle out ivory.
The crush Thursday was was highlighted at U.S. embassies abroad, where diplomats have worked to draw attention to the toughening U.S. approach to illicit wildlife trafficking.
"This material has no economic value because it is seized and forfeited material," said Robert Dreher, acting assistant U.S. Attorney General for the environment, pointing at the pile of ivory before it was loaded into the crusher, promising stronger prosecution of poaching and smuggling inside the U.S.
"The scale of this criminal activity demands a vigorous response," he said. "This is criminal activity that the U.S. will not tolerate."
Wildlife conservation leaders in Denver are calling on Congress to fund the African Elephant Conservation Act with $5 million a year for anti-poaching in Africa and to ban any import, export and interstate movement of ivory. Night vision gear will be an essential tool for African rangers because poachers work at night using sophisticated weapons, said Born Free U.S.A. vice president Adam Roberts.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have said a monument to slaughtered elephants, using the crushed ivory chips, is envisioned.
Some critics contend symbolic destruction of ivory might boost the value of illegal ivory, which a CITES study said sold for $8,185 per kilo in China. They argue U.S. officials should re-inject the ivory into the market to try to make it less lucrative.
But a widening movement of elephant supporters is pressing for total prohibition.
In June, Kristal Parks, director of Denver-based Pachyderm Power, staged a 10-day hunger strike outside China's embassy in Washington, D.C. She displayed signs - China! Elephants need your help - and sent letters to the ambassador inside.
"No amount of ivory will drive down the price because the lust for ivory is insatiable," said Parks, 63, who works several months a year in Kenya and was there during the mall attack.
"All ivory should be illegal," she said. Elephants are "profoundly noble and majestic in stature with a heightened awareness and sensitivity that dwarfs our own. I couldn't bear to live in a world without them."
http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_24518193/u-s-government-crushing-ivory-save-elephants-and
U.S. authorities on Thursday crushed 6 tons of seized ivory, each piece cut from dead elephants, signaling resolve to kill a $10 billion illicit trade linked to international crime and terrorism.
Tusks and carved objects seized from airports and border crossings over the past two decades were loaded into a blue rock-grinder near a warehouse at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge where the ivory was kept, and pulverized it all into fine chips.
"By taking this action, the United States will help raise the profile of the issue and inspire other nations," said Judy Garber, deputy assistant secretary of state, one of the senior Obama administration officials in Colorado for the invitation-only event. "All of us have to step up our game and work together to put an end to this before we lose the species forever."
Poached ivory may have financed the recent Somali terrorist attack on Kenya's Westgate mall, Garber said: "That issue is being looked into."
This first U.S. government destruction of illegal ivory was orchestrated as part of a broader campaign including increased funding to fight poaching and crackdowns on consumers. President Obama in July launched a task force. Diplomats have engaged governments in China, Vietnam and Thailand.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the dismantling of the Xaysavang Network, a Laos-based criminal operation that that "facilitates the killing of endangered elephants, rhinos and other species for products such as ivory."
The State Department said the group has affiliates in South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and China. Profits from illegal activities by this group and others, the department said, funds other illicit activities such as narcotics, arms and human trafficking.
Consumer demand for ivory objects is blamed for a surge in killing African elephants. Expanding wealthy classes in East Asia covet ivory items, many of them carved in Chinese government-backed factories.
At least 25,000 elephants were illegally killed in 2012, and even more this year, according to the 178-nation UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
That's the most since CITES banned ivory commerce in 1989. The ban was relaxed in 1997 to let southern African nations with elephants cull herds and sell ivory. CITES allowed ivory sell-offs by governments in 2008 and 2010.
The global population of elephants, estimated at around 600,000 in 1989 is estimated by CITES at 472,000 today.
Assistant U.S. Interior Secretary Dan Ashe compared the intensifying slaughter of elephants today to mass killings of bison in the late 19th century that brought the species to near extinction.
"We have a moral obligation to respond," he told group of U.S. officials and global wildlife conservation leaders gathered at the Arsenal to witness the crush. "You have the chance to crush wildlife trafficking and save these magnificent creatures."
"Sex and the City" star Kristin Davis, a patron of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which has worked to raise orphans of slaughtered elephants in Africa, said the orphans themselves now are in jeopardy.
U.S. officials estimate elephants could go extinct in 8-10 years if the current rate of slaughter continues.
The soul of the human species is what is at stake if we allow elephants to go extinct," said "True Blood" actress Kristin Bauer van Straten, an ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Van Straten, 46, threw carvings her late father brought to the U.S. after his military service into the grinder for destruction Thursday. She urged other Americans who have heirloom ivory objects in their possession to destroy them, calling it an ethical choice.
"Are we playing more for the team of consumerism and things? Or are we playing for the team of life?" van Straten said.
U.S. officials are ramping up action because ivory smuggling funds crime and terrorism.
A Sept. 6 report from the Director of National Intelligence says demand for ivory and rhino horn so outpaces supply and is so lucrative that "criminal elements of all kinds, including some terrorist entities and rogue security personnel, often in collusion with government officials in source countries, are involved in poaching and movement of ivory and rhino horn across east, central and southern Africa."
The report echoed congressional testimony by then-Sen. John Kerry last year, before he replaced Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, about armed men crossing from Sudan into Central African Republic and from Somalia into Kenya to kill elephants and smuggle out ivory.
The crush Thursday was was highlighted at U.S. embassies abroad, where diplomats have worked to draw attention to the toughening U.S. approach to illicit wildlife trafficking.
"This material has no economic value because it is seized and forfeited material," said Robert Dreher, acting assistant U.S. Attorney General for the environment, pointing at the pile of ivory before it was loaded into the crusher, promising stronger prosecution of poaching and smuggling inside the U.S.
"The scale of this criminal activity demands a vigorous response," he said. "This is criminal activity that the U.S. will not tolerate."
Wildlife conservation leaders in Denver are calling on Congress to fund the African Elephant Conservation Act with $5 million a year for anti-poaching in Africa and to ban any import, export and interstate movement of ivory. Night vision gear will be an essential tool for African rangers because poachers work at night using sophisticated weapons, said Born Free U.S.A. vice president Adam Roberts.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have said a monument to slaughtered elephants, using the crushed ivory chips, is envisioned.
Some critics contend symbolic destruction of ivory might boost the value of illegal ivory, which a CITES study said sold for $8,185 per kilo in China. They argue U.S. officials should re-inject the ivory into the market to try to make it less lucrative.
But a widening movement of elephant supporters is pressing for total prohibition.
In June, Kristal Parks, director of Denver-based Pachyderm Power, staged a 10-day hunger strike outside China's embassy in Washington, D.C. She displayed signs - China! Elephants need your help - and sent letters to the ambassador inside.
"No amount of ivory will drive down the price because the lust for ivory is insatiable," said Parks, 63, who works several months a year in Kenya and was there during the mall attack.
"All ivory should be illegal," she said. Elephants are "profoundly noble and majestic in stature with a heightened awareness and sensitivity that dwarfs our own. I couldn't bear to live in a world without them."
http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_24518193/u-s-government-crushing-ivory-save-elephants-and
souldreamer7
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I very much adore & love Elephants :heart: :wub: Such gentle yet powerful animals.... They're apart of the ancients, grand & loyal.
MIST
Proud Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2011
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6egom_ADs9I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 2. His family spoke of a solemn procession of Elephants that defies human explanation.
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died? Known for his unique ability to calm traumatized elephants, Anthony had become a legend. He is the author of three books, Babylon Ark, detailing his efforts to rescue the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the Iraqi war, the forthcoming The Last Rhinos, and his bestselling The Elephant Whisperer.
There are two elephant herds at Thula Thula. According to his son Dylan, both arrived at the Anthony family compound shortly after Anthony’s death.“They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,” Dylan is quoted in various local news accounts. “The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush.”Elephants have long been known to mourn their dead. In India, baby elephants often are raised with a boy who will be their lifelong “mahout.” The pair develop legendary bonds – and it is not
uncommon for one to waste away without a will to live after the death of the other.
A line of elephants approaching the Anthony house, but these are wild elephants in the 21st century, not some Rudyard Kipling novel.The first herd to arrive at Thula Thula several years ago were violent. They hated humans.
Anthony found himself fighting a desperate battle for their survival and their trust, which he detailed in The Elephant Whisperer:“It was 4:45 a.m. and I was standing in front of Nana, an enraged wild elephant, pleading with her in desperation. Both our lives depended on it. The only thing separating us was an 8,000-volt electric fence that she was preparing to flatten and make her escape.“Nana, the matriarch of her herd, tensed her enormous frame and flared her ears.“’Don’t do it, Nana,’ I said, as calmly as I could. She stood there, motionless but tense. The rest of the herd froze.“’This is your home now,’ I continued. ‘Please don’t do it, girl.’I felt her eyes boring into me.
Anthony, Nana and calf “’They’ll kill you all if you break out. This is your home now. You have no need to run any more.’“Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation struck me,” Anthony writes. “Here I was in pitch darkness, talking to a wild female elephant with a baby, the most dangerous possible combination, as if we were having a friendly chat. But I meant every word. ‘You will all die if you go. Stay here. I will be here with you and it’s a good place.’“She took another step forward. I could see her tense up again, preparing to snap the electric wire and be out, the rest of the herd smashing after her in a flash.“I was in their path, and would only have seconds to scramble out of their way and climb the nearest tree. I wondered if I would be fast enough to avoid being trampled. Possibly not.“Then something happened between Nana and me, some tiny spark of recognition, flaring for the briefest of moments. Then it was gone. Nana turned and melted into the bush. The rest of the herd followed. I couldn’t explain what had happened between us, but it gave me the
first glimmer of hope since the elephants had first thundered into my life.”
Elephants gathering at the Anthony home It had all started several weeks earlier with a phone call from an elephant welfare organization. Would Anthony be interested in adopting a problem herd of wild elephants? They lived on a game reserve 600 miles away and were “troublesome,” recalled Anthony.“They had a tendency to break out of reserves and the owners wanted to get rid of them fast. If we didn’t take them, they would be shot.“The woman explained, ‘The matriarch is an amazing escape artist and has worked out how to break through electric fences. She just twists the wire around her tusks until it snaps, or takes the pain and smashes through.’“’Why me?’ I asked.“’I’ve heard you have a way with animals. You’re right for them. Or maybe they’re right for you.’”What followed was heart-breaking. One of the females and her baby were shot and killed in the round-up, trying to evade capture.
The French version of “The Elephant Whisperer”“When they arrived, they were thumping the inside of the trailer like a gigantic drum. We sedated them with a pole-sized syringe, and once they had calmed down, the door slid open and the matriarch emerged, followed by her baby bull, three females and an 11-year-old bull.”Last off was the 15-year-old son of the dead mother. “He stared at us,” writes Anthony, “flared his ears and with a trumpet of rage, charged, pulling up just short of the fence in front of us.“His mother and baby sister had been shot before his eyes, and here he was, just a teenager, defending his herd. David, my head ranger, named him Mnumzane, which in Zulu means ‘Sir.’ We christened the matriarch Nana, and the second female-in-command, the most feisty, Frankie, after my wife.“We had erected a giant enclosure within the reserve to keep them safe until they became calm enough to move out into the reserve proper.“Nana gathered her clan, loped up to the fence and stretched out her trunk, touching the electric wires. The 8,000-volt charge sent a jolt shuddering through her bulk. She backed off. Then, with her family in tow, she strode the entire perimeter of the enclosure, pointing her trunk at the wire to check for vibrations from the electric current.
“As I went to bed that night, I noticed the elephants lining up along the fence, facing out towards their former home. It looked ominous. I was woken several hours later by one of the reserve’s rangers, shouting, ‘The elephants have gone! They’ve broken out!’ The two adult elephants had worked as a team to fell a tree, smashing it onto the electric fence and then charging out of the enclosure.
“I scrambled together a search party and we raced to the border of the game reserve, but we were too late. The fence was down and the animals had broken out.
“They had somehow found the generator that powered the electric fence around the reserve. After trampling it like a tin can, they had pulled the concrete-embedded fence posts out of the ground like matchsticks, and headed north.”
The reserve staff chased them – but had competition.
“We met a group of locals carrying large caliber rifles, who claimed the elephants were ‘fair game’ now. On our radios we heard the wildlife authorities were issuing elephant rifles to staff. It was now a simple race against time.”
Anthony managed to get the herd back onto Thula Thula property, but problems had just begun:
“Their bid for freedom had, if anything, increased their resentment at being kept in captivity. Nana watched my every move, hostility seeping from every pore, her family behind her. There was no doubt that sooner or later they were going to make another break for freedom.
“Then, in a flash, came the answer. I would live with the herd. To save their lives, I would stay with them, feed them, talk to them. But, most importantly, be with them day and night. We all had to get to know each other.”
It worked, as the book describes in detail, notes the London Daily Mail newspaper.
Anthony was later offered another troubled elephant – one that was all alone because the rest of her herd had been shot or sold, and which feared humans. He had to start the process all over again.
And as his reputation spread, more “troublesome” elephants were brought to Thula Thula.
So, how after Anthony’s death, did the reserve’s elephants — grazing miles away in distant parts of the park — know?
“A good man died suddenly,” says Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., “and from miles and miles away, two herds of elephants, sensing that they had lost a beloved human friend, moved in a solemn, almost ‘funereal’ procession to make a call on the bereaved family at the deceased man’s home.”
“If there ever were a time, when we can truly sense the wondrous ‘interconnectedness of all beings,’ it is when we reflect on the elephants of Thula Thula. A man’s heart’s stops, and hundreds of elephants’ hearts are grieving. This man’s oh-so-abundantly loving heart offered healing to these elephants, and now, they came to pay loving homage to their friend.”
http://delightmakers.com/news/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer/
R.I.P. Lawrence Anthony
Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 2. His family spoke of a solemn procession of Elephants that defies human explanation.
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died? Known for his unique ability to calm traumatized elephants, Anthony had become a legend. He is the author of three books, Babylon Ark, detailing his efforts to rescue the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the Iraqi war, the forthcoming The Last Rhinos, and his bestselling The Elephant Whisperer.
There are two elephant herds at Thula Thula. According to his son Dylan, both arrived at the Anthony family compound shortly after Anthony’s death.“They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,” Dylan is quoted in various local news accounts. “The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush.”Elephants have long been known to mourn their dead. In India, baby elephants often are raised with a boy who will be their lifelong “mahout.” The pair develop legendary bonds – and it is not
uncommon for one to waste away without a will to live after the death of the other.
A line of elephants approaching the Anthony house, but these are wild elephants in the 21st century, not some Rudyard Kipling novel.The first herd to arrive at Thula Thula several years ago were violent. They hated humans.
Anthony found himself fighting a desperate battle for their survival and their trust, which he detailed in The Elephant Whisperer:“It was 4:45 a.m. and I was standing in front of Nana, an enraged wild elephant, pleading with her in desperation. Both our lives depended on it. The only thing separating us was an 8,000-volt electric fence that she was preparing to flatten and make her escape.“Nana, the matriarch of her herd, tensed her enormous frame and flared her ears.“’Don’t do it, Nana,’ I said, as calmly as I could. She stood there, motionless but tense. The rest of the herd froze.“’This is your home now,’ I continued. ‘Please don’t do it, girl.’I felt her eyes boring into me.
Anthony, Nana and calf “’They’ll kill you all if you break out. This is your home now. You have no need to run any more.’“Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation struck me,” Anthony writes. “Here I was in pitch darkness, talking to a wild female elephant with a baby, the most dangerous possible combination, as if we were having a friendly chat. But I meant every word. ‘You will all die if you go. Stay here. I will be here with you and it’s a good place.’“She took another step forward. I could see her tense up again, preparing to snap the electric wire and be out, the rest of the herd smashing after her in a flash.“I was in their path, and would only have seconds to scramble out of their way and climb the nearest tree. I wondered if I would be fast enough to avoid being trampled. Possibly not.“Then something happened between Nana and me, some tiny spark of recognition, flaring for the briefest of moments. Then it was gone. Nana turned and melted into the bush. The rest of the herd followed. I couldn’t explain what had happened between us, but it gave me the
first glimmer of hope since the elephants had first thundered into my life.”
Elephants gathering at the Anthony home It had all started several weeks earlier with a phone call from an elephant welfare organization. Would Anthony be interested in adopting a problem herd of wild elephants? They lived on a game reserve 600 miles away and were “troublesome,” recalled Anthony.“They had a tendency to break out of reserves and the owners wanted to get rid of them fast. If we didn’t take them, they would be shot.“The woman explained, ‘The matriarch is an amazing escape artist and has worked out how to break through electric fences. She just twists the wire around her tusks until it snaps, or takes the pain and smashes through.’“’Why me?’ I asked.“’I’ve heard you have a way with animals. You’re right for them. Or maybe they’re right for you.’”What followed was heart-breaking. One of the females and her baby were shot and killed in the round-up, trying to evade capture.
The French version of “The Elephant Whisperer”“When they arrived, they were thumping the inside of the trailer like a gigantic drum. We sedated them with a pole-sized syringe, and once they had calmed down, the door slid open and the matriarch emerged, followed by her baby bull, three females and an 11-year-old bull.”Last off was the 15-year-old son of the dead mother. “He stared at us,” writes Anthony, “flared his ears and with a trumpet of rage, charged, pulling up just short of the fence in front of us.“His mother and baby sister had been shot before his eyes, and here he was, just a teenager, defending his herd. David, my head ranger, named him Mnumzane, which in Zulu means ‘Sir.’ We christened the matriarch Nana, and the second female-in-command, the most feisty, Frankie, after my wife.“We had erected a giant enclosure within the reserve to keep them safe until they became calm enough to move out into the reserve proper.“Nana gathered her clan, loped up to the fence and stretched out her trunk, touching the electric wires. The 8,000-volt charge sent a jolt shuddering through her bulk. She backed off. Then, with her family in tow, she strode the entire perimeter of the enclosure, pointing her trunk at the wire to check for vibrations from the electric current.
“As I went to bed that night, I noticed the elephants lining up along the fence, facing out towards their former home. It looked ominous. I was woken several hours later by one of the reserve’s rangers, shouting, ‘The elephants have gone! They’ve broken out!’ The two adult elephants had worked as a team to fell a tree, smashing it onto the electric fence and then charging out of the enclosure.
“I scrambled together a search party and we raced to the border of the game reserve, but we were too late. The fence was down and the animals had broken out.
“They had somehow found the generator that powered the electric fence around the reserve. After trampling it like a tin can, they had pulled the concrete-embedded fence posts out of the ground like matchsticks, and headed north.”
The reserve staff chased them – but had competition.
“We met a group of locals carrying large caliber rifles, who claimed the elephants were ‘fair game’ now. On our radios we heard the wildlife authorities were issuing elephant rifles to staff. It was now a simple race against time.”
Anthony managed to get the herd back onto Thula Thula property, but problems had just begun:
“Their bid for freedom had, if anything, increased their resentment at being kept in captivity. Nana watched my every move, hostility seeping from every pore, her family behind her. There was no doubt that sooner or later they were going to make another break for freedom.
“Then, in a flash, came the answer. I would live with the herd. To save their lives, I would stay with them, feed them, talk to them. But, most importantly, be with them day and night. We all had to get to know each other.”
It worked, as the book describes in detail, notes the London Daily Mail newspaper.
Anthony was later offered another troubled elephant – one that was all alone because the rest of her herd had been shot or sold, and which feared humans. He had to start the process all over again.
And as his reputation spread, more “troublesome” elephants were brought to Thula Thula.
So, how after Anthony’s death, did the reserve’s elephants — grazing miles away in distant parts of the park — know?
“A good man died suddenly,” says Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., “and from miles and miles away, two herds of elephants, sensing that they had lost a beloved human friend, moved in a solemn, almost ‘funereal’ procession to make a call on the bereaved family at the deceased man’s home.”
“If there ever were a time, when we can truly sense the wondrous ‘interconnectedness of all beings,’ it is when we reflect on the elephants of Thula Thula. A man’s heart’s stops, and hundreds of elephants’ hearts are grieving. This man’s oh-so-abundantly loving heart offered healing to these elephants, and now, they came to pay loving homage to their friend.”
http://delightmakers.com/news/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer/
R.I.P. Lawrence Anthony
souldreamer7
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LONG LIVE ELEPHANTS
MIST
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An Apology to Elephants 2013
Why we shouldn´t go to circuses and zoo with elephants
[video=youtube;L0Dq6T6fYj8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Dq6T6fYj8[/video]
Elephants have been used and mistreated for too long,it´s time to stop.
Why we shouldn´t go to circuses and zoo with elephants
[video=youtube;L0Dq6T6fYj8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Dq6T6fYj8[/video]
Elephants have been used and mistreated for too long,it´s time to stop.
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MIST
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http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/bob-ba...oo-for-not-sending-elephants-sooner-1.1506034
I understand there was a long fight before the zoo agreed to move the elephants.
I wonder what they talk about
One of them seems to be suspicious about the environment
I understand there was a long fight before the zoo agreed to move the elephants.
I wonder what they talk about
One of them seems to be suspicious about the environment
MIST
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Hong Kong Gives Swift Kick to Ivory Traders
Earlier this month, the Chinese government destroyed more than six tons of confiscated ivory held in government stockpiles, signaling the new resolve of the People’s Republic of China to crack down on the illegal ivory trade and to reduce ivory consumption. On January 23, the Hong Kong government’s Endangered Species Advisory Committee (ESAC) of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) decided that it will destroy 28 tons of ivory stockpiles from past seizures—the largest cache of seized ivory to be destroyed to date, anywhere in the world. This action signals that the fight against the ivory trade is global, and it’s finding increasing favor in critical parts of Asia, among consumers and government officials.
More than 46,000 supporters of our global affiliate, Humane Society International, responded to our call to support the Hong Kong ivory destruction. HSI president and CEO Dr. Andrew Rowan wrote to the ESAC, laying out reasons in support of the destruction. HSI has met and communicated with AFCD and ESAC as well as collaborated closely with advocates of Hong Kong for Elephants. This campaign, coordinated with the work of local advocates during the past year, helped produce the government’s January 23 decision.
Elephant poaching has reached an unprecedented level. Last year, poachers massacred at least 35,000 African elephants. With less than half a million elephants left in the wild in Africa, if this killing rate persists, African elephants could be extinct in two decades. Poachers poisoned or shot elephants with machine guns, and hacked off the tusks of elephants while the animals were still alive. This slaughter of elephants, for jewelry, trinkets, or statuettes—conducted in many cases by the Janjaweed, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and Al-Shabaab, and other terrorist groups—is unconscionable, and it is robbing African nations of the value that live elephants would bring to these nations in the form of wildlife tourism for decades.
Reducing consumer demand for ivory reduces the incentive for poachers to massacre elephants and for traffickers to engage in illegal ivory trade. Destroying stockpiles of seized ivory, as the recent examples of the U.S. and China have demonstrated, is a great way to raise awareness about the elephant poaching crisis and reminds current and potential buyers to eschew ivory. So many people don’t connect their purchase of ivory with the epidemic of poaching, and we are reminding people that you can draw a straight line from the purchase of this product to the killing of elephants in their native habitats.
HSI will continue our public education programs with local partner groups in China and Hong Kong on elephant protection as well as work in concert with relevant government officials and agencies to implement stronger laws to reduce ivory consumption. Here in the U.S., as the second largest market in the world for ivory, there is work to be done. HSUS and HSI are working with lawmakers in Hawaii and New York to ban the sale of ivory to reduce the U.S. prominent role in the cruel ivory trade. We’re likely to expand that effort to other states, toward the goal of creating no safe haven in any part of the world for this blood trade in ivory
http://www.hsi.org/news/news/2014/0...news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wildlife14
Earlier this month, the Chinese government destroyed more than six tons of confiscated ivory held in government stockpiles, signaling the new resolve of the People’s Republic of China to crack down on the illegal ivory trade and to reduce ivory consumption. On January 23, the Hong Kong government’s Endangered Species Advisory Committee (ESAC) of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) decided that it will destroy 28 tons of ivory stockpiles from past seizures—the largest cache of seized ivory to be destroyed to date, anywhere in the world. This action signals that the fight against the ivory trade is global, and it’s finding increasing favor in critical parts of Asia, among consumers and government officials.
More than 46,000 supporters of our global affiliate, Humane Society International, responded to our call to support the Hong Kong ivory destruction. HSI president and CEO Dr. Andrew Rowan wrote to the ESAC, laying out reasons in support of the destruction. HSI has met and communicated with AFCD and ESAC as well as collaborated closely with advocates of Hong Kong for Elephants. This campaign, coordinated with the work of local advocates during the past year, helped produce the government’s January 23 decision.
Elephant poaching has reached an unprecedented level. Last year, poachers massacred at least 35,000 African elephants. With less than half a million elephants left in the wild in Africa, if this killing rate persists, African elephants could be extinct in two decades. Poachers poisoned or shot elephants with machine guns, and hacked off the tusks of elephants while the animals were still alive. This slaughter of elephants, for jewelry, trinkets, or statuettes—conducted in many cases by the Janjaweed, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and Al-Shabaab, and other terrorist groups—is unconscionable, and it is robbing African nations of the value that live elephants would bring to these nations in the form of wildlife tourism for decades.
Reducing consumer demand for ivory reduces the incentive for poachers to massacre elephants and for traffickers to engage in illegal ivory trade. Destroying stockpiles of seized ivory, as the recent examples of the U.S. and China have demonstrated, is a great way to raise awareness about the elephant poaching crisis and reminds current and potential buyers to eschew ivory. So many people don’t connect their purchase of ivory with the epidemic of poaching, and we are reminding people that you can draw a straight line from the purchase of this product to the killing of elephants in their native habitats.
HSI will continue our public education programs with local partner groups in China and Hong Kong on elephant protection as well as work in concert with relevant government officials and agencies to implement stronger laws to reduce ivory consumption. Here in the U.S., as the second largest market in the world for ivory, there is work to be done. HSUS and HSI are working with lawmakers in Hawaii and New York to ban the sale of ivory to reduce the U.S. prominent role in the cruel ivory trade. We’re likely to expand that effort to other states, toward the goal of creating no safe haven in any part of the world for this blood trade in ivory
http://www.hsi.org/news/news/2014/0...news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wildlife14
souldreamer7
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Ohhhhh.. :heart: Oh my goodness! Thanks for posting. Animals they are so very precious! Tissue...
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After 37 Years, Mila the Elephant Meets Another of Her Kind
The dream of a former caretaker at the Franklin Zoo in New Zealand is finally being realized with the sweet introduction of two elephants, Mila and Mary.
Mila, who is now 41, has spent almost her entire life alone. She was born in Namibia in 1973 and, like many others who find themselves in captivity, was taken from her home and her family shortly after.
Mary is the first elephant Mila has seen in 37 years.
The two meet through a barrier at the San Diego Zoo for the first time.
[video=youtube_share;9Nr98Q0P12U]http://youtu.be/9Nr98Q0P12U[/video]
Mila and Mary’s introduction is as heartwarming as they come, and clearly part of an effort to do what’s best for Mila at this point. However, a more important part of her story is how she got here in the first place and why she spent so much time alone.
After being torn from her family, Mila was moved to a zoo in Honolulu where she was reportedly bullied by other elephants. When she was 4-years-old, Mila was bought by trainer Tony Ratcliffe and flown to New Zealand to join the Whirling Brothers Circus. There she was known as Jumbo and was taught tricks, with the use of a bullhook, that she would be forced to perform for crowds for more than 30 years.
During that time, she spent long periods shackled to a short chain in her trailer where she was observed swaying back and forth, which is a stereotypical behavior of an elephant who is suffering from psychological distress that has never been observed in the wild.
Mila‘s former life in the circus as Jumbo.
[video=youtube_share;aNz7Tvf_tO0]http://youtu.be/aNz7Tvf_tO0[/video]
For decades she was kept alone, deprived of space, enrichment and the simple companionship of even a single other elephant while she was exploited in the circus.
In 2009, after extensive lobbying by SAFE, Mila was retired and released from the Loritz Circus, which had bought her from Ratcliffe, and sent to the Franklin Zoo, which took on sole responsibility for her care. There, she was able to play in the mud and learned to make her own decisions, while her confidence and health improved.
Tragedy, however, was soon to follow poor Mila. On April 25, 2012, she was involved in the crushing death of Helen Schofield, a veterinarian and operator of the zoo, who had bonded with her and wanted to help her move to a sanctuary in the U.S. where she could live out her days with other elephants.
No one’s sure what happened in Mila’s head the day she grabbed Schofield with her trunk. Some reportedly believe she finally snapped after spending all those years alone in the circus, while a few witnesses speculate she was frightened and acting protectively after being shocked by an electric fence.
While there was some debate about what to do with Mila following the incident, plans to have her moved to the U.S. progressed. In honor of Schofield’s dream of seeing Mila reunited with other elephants, the zoo’s staff and supporters raised $1.5 million to have her transported from New Zealand to the San Diego Zoo in November. She spent the holiday season in quarantine before being introduced to Mary, the herd’s matriarch, this month.
Although some of her advocates are disappointed she ended up at a zoo and not a sanctuary, they are pleased that her days as a performer are over and that she is at least being cared for in the company of her own kind.
While Mila and Mary’s bond grows and she’s introduced to other elephants in California, similar efforts are currently underway to help other elephants who have been left alone, including Tania, who is being kept in solitary at a zoo in Romania, and Lucky, who is being kept alone at the San Antonio Zoo by officials who arrogantly refuse to even acknowledge that might not be best for her.
Hopefully, Mila’s story will serve as a reminder about avoiding establishments that keep these giants in captivity, especially as performers, in addition to raising awareness about the decisions we’re making for those we insist on keeping captive: who comes, who goes, who’s bred, who lives and who dies
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/after-3...-meets-another-of-her-kind.html#ixzz2uVgavCZA
The dream of a former caretaker at the Franklin Zoo in New Zealand is finally being realized with the sweet introduction of two elephants, Mila and Mary.
Mila, who is now 41, has spent almost her entire life alone. She was born in Namibia in 1973 and, like many others who find themselves in captivity, was taken from her home and her family shortly after.
Mary is the first elephant Mila has seen in 37 years.
The two meet through a barrier at the San Diego Zoo for the first time.
[video=youtube_share;9Nr98Q0P12U]http://youtu.be/9Nr98Q0P12U[/video]
Mila and Mary’s introduction is as heartwarming as they come, and clearly part of an effort to do what’s best for Mila at this point. However, a more important part of her story is how she got here in the first place and why she spent so much time alone.
After being torn from her family, Mila was moved to a zoo in Honolulu where she was reportedly bullied by other elephants. When she was 4-years-old, Mila was bought by trainer Tony Ratcliffe and flown to New Zealand to join the Whirling Brothers Circus. There she was known as Jumbo and was taught tricks, with the use of a bullhook, that she would be forced to perform for crowds for more than 30 years.
During that time, she spent long periods shackled to a short chain in her trailer where she was observed swaying back and forth, which is a stereotypical behavior of an elephant who is suffering from psychological distress that has never been observed in the wild.
Mila‘s former life in the circus as Jumbo.
[video=youtube_share;aNz7Tvf_tO0]http://youtu.be/aNz7Tvf_tO0[/video]
For decades she was kept alone, deprived of space, enrichment and the simple companionship of even a single other elephant while she was exploited in the circus.
In 2009, after extensive lobbying by SAFE, Mila was retired and released from the Loritz Circus, which had bought her from Ratcliffe, and sent to the Franklin Zoo, which took on sole responsibility for her care. There, she was able to play in the mud and learned to make her own decisions, while her confidence and health improved.
Tragedy, however, was soon to follow poor Mila. On April 25, 2012, she was involved in the crushing death of Helen Schofield, a veterinarian and operator of the zoo, who had bonded with her and wanted to help her move to a sanctuary in the U.S. where she could live out her days with other elephants.
No one’s sure what happened in Mila’s head the day she grabbed Schofield with her trunk. Some reportedly believe she finally snapped after spending all those years alone in the circus, while a few witnesses speculate she was frightened and acting protectively after being shocked by an electric fence.
While there was some debate about what to do with Mila following the incident, plans to have her moved to the U.S. progressed. In honor of Schofield’s dream of seeing Mila reunited with other elephants, the zoo’s staff and supporters raised $1.5 million to have her transported from New Zealand to the San Diego Zoo in November. She spent the holiday season in quarantine before being introduced to Mary, the herd’s matriarch, this month.
Although some of her advocates are disappointed she ended up at a zoo and not a sanctuary, they are pleased that her days as a performer are over and that she is at least being cared for in the company of her own kind.
While Mila and Mary’s bond grows and she’s introduced to other elephants in California, similar efforts are currently underway to help other elephants who have been left alone, including Tania, who is being kept in solitary at a zoo in Romania, and Lucky, who is being kept alone at the San Antonio Zoo by officials who arrogantly refuse to even acknowledge that might not be best for her.
Hopefully, Mila’s story will serve as a reminder about avoiding establishments that keep these giants in captivity, especially as performers, in addition to raising awareness about the decisions we’re making for those we insist on keeping captive: who comes, who goes, who’s bred, who lives and who dies
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/after-3...-meets-another-of-her-kind.html#ixzz2uVgavCZA
MIST
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On International Women's Day is a good time to post this about a very special woman,
Pat Derby was the first to champion the cause of performing wild animals,
and she put her heart and soul into their rescue, care and protection.
She was full of dreams, but unlike many people, she realized hers with a vengeance!
Pat's cherished dream of creating a spacious refuge where performing animals could express their wild
natures in an enriching, natural habitat became what is now ARK 2000 in San Andreas, Calif. - a thriving
2,300-acre sanctuary where we currently care for 11 elephants, 21 tigers, 4 lions, 7 bears and one black leopard.
No one but Pat could conceive of and realize an event as spectacular as "Circus PAWS," which debuted in Hollywood, Calif., in 2012.
The circus used only human performers to entertain and to teach young and old alike that wild animals just don't belong in circuses.
Pat fearlessly advocated for captive wildlife and performing animals.
Together, she and Ed set the pace for the legislative work that we continue today.
Always at the forefront, they inspired and passed milestone legislation in California, and stormed the halls in Washington, D.C., bringing the suffering of elephants in circuses and traveling shows to light with moving testimony before members of Congress.
You can read more here http://www.pawsweb.org/
and she put her heart and soul into their rescue, care and protection.
She was full of dreams, but unlike many people, she realized hers with a vengeance!
Pat's cherished dream of creating a spacious refuge where performing animals could express their wild
natures in an enriching, natural habitat became what is now ARK 2000 in San Andreas, Calif. - a thriving
2,300-acre sanctuary where we currently care for 11 elephants, 21 tigers, 4 lions, 7 bears and one black leopard.
No one but Pat could conceive of and realize an event as spectacular as "Circus PAWS," which debuted in Hollywood, Calif., in 2012.
The circus used only human performers to entertain and to teach young and old alike that wild animals just don't belong in circuses.
Pat fearlessly advocated for captive wildlife and performing animals.
Together, she and Ed set the pace for the legislative work that we continue today.
Always at the forefront, they inspired and passed milestone legislation in California, and stormed the halls in Washington, D.C., bringing the suffering of elephants in circuses and traveling shows to light with moving testimony before members of Congress.
You can read more here http://www.pawsweb.org/
MIST
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Surprise! Elephants Have Been Listening to and Judging Us By Our Voices
We already know African elephants are extremely intelligent, but new research has demonstrated they’re even more sophisticated than we thought and have learned to differentiate between different languages, ages and genders among humans and determine who poses a threat to them.
Researchers Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex recorded the voices of two different ethnic groups of people: the Maasai, who are herders who frequently have conflicts with elephants, and the Kamba, who rarely encounter them, saying “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming.”
They then played the recordings to elephants at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. While the researchers don’t believe elephants understood the specific words being spoken, they found elephants could easily distinguish between the two groups and between people within those groups.
The results, which were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that elephants mostly ignored women and children from the Maasai, who were unlikely to cause them harm, along with Kamba men. However, when they heard the sound of Maasai men, they got defensive, huddled and sniffed the air to try and detect threats.
Even when the recordings were changed to give men and women the same pitch, elephants could still tell them apart.
According to a statement from the university, the ability to discriminate from real and perceived threats, particularly when it comes to humans, can impact their future survival by helping them avoid interruptions and unnecessary stress. Because we don’t all pose a threat to elephants, their ability to recognize voices gives them an advantage, especially if they can’t immediately see who is there.
A separate study of elephants in Kenya, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, Save the Elephants, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, found that elephants in turn have a specific alarm call for humans.
In this case, when resting elephants were played recordings of the voices of local tribesmen, they reacted by making a low rumbling alarm call and running away. When other elephants were played recordings of the alarm calls, they reacted similarly.
Lucy King, a wildlife biologist with the University of Oxford, explained that the differences in alarm calls are the “equivalent to a change in vowel sounds in English words, such as the distinction between sounds of “boo” versus “bee.”
This study built on previous work that showed elephants have a specific alarm call for bees. Even though the alarm calls might sound the same to us, they’re making sounds at frequencies we can’t hear that change depending on how serious the threat is. Their reaction to humans resulted in different actions. The alarm call for humans didn’t result in them shaking their heads, like they would if they heard the alarm for bees.
Not only do these studies show that elephants continue to surpass our limited understanding of how sensitive, social and intelligent they are, but they could lead to a stronger understanding of how to reduce our conflicts with them and further conservation efforts. In some places, farmers have already taken advantage of elephants’ natural fear of bees by placing hives near their fences.
[video=youtube_share;rn3vUHFGv4U]http://youtu.be/rn3vUHFGv4U[/video]
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/surpris...d-judging-us-by-our-voices.html#ixzz2vyFLaZed
We already know African elephants are extremely intelligent, but new research has demonstrated they’re even more sophisticated than we thought and have learned to differentiate between different languages, ages and genders among humans and determine who poses a threat to them.
Researchers Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex recorded the voices of two different ethnic groups of people: the Maasai, who are herders who frequently have conflicts with elephants, and the Kamba, who rarely encounter them, saying “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming.”
They then played the recordings to elephants at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. While the researchers don’t believe elephants understood the specific words being spoken, they found elephants could easily distinguish between the two groups and between people within those groups.
The results, which were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that elephants mostly ignored women and children from the Maasai, who were unlikely to cause them harm, along with Kamba men. However, when they heard the sound of Maasai men, they got defensive, huddled and sniffed the air to try and detect threats.
Even when the recordings were changed to give men and women the same pitch, elephants could still tell them apart.
According to a statement from the university, the ability to discriminate from real and perceived threats, particularly when it comes to humans, can impact their future survival by helping them avoid interruptions and unnecessary stress. Because we don’t all pose a threat to elephants, their ability to recognize voices gives them an advantage, especially if they can’t immediately see who is there.
A separate study of elephants in Kenya, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, Save the Elephants, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, found that elephants in turn have a specific alarm call for humans.
In this case, when resting elephants were played recordings of the voices of local tribesmen, they reacted by making a low rumbling alarm call and running away. When other elephants were played recordings of the alarm calls, they reacted similarly.
Lucy King, a wildlife biologist with the University of Oxford, explained that the differences in alarm calls are the “equivalent to a change in vowel sounds in English words, such as the distinction between sounds of “boo” versus “bee.”
This study built on previous work that showed elephants have a specific alarm call for bees. Even though the alarm calls might sound the same to us, they’re making sounds at frequencies we can’t hear that change depending on how serious the threat is. Their reaction to humans resulted in different actions. The alarm call for humans didn’t result in them shaking their heads, like they would if they heard the alarm for bees.
Not only do these studies show that elephants continue to surpass our limited understanding of how sensitive, social and intelligent they are, but they could lead to a stronger understanding of how to reduce our conflicts with them and further conservation efforts. In some places, farmers have already taken advantage of elephants’ natural fear of bees by placing hives near their fences.
[video=youtube_share;rn3vUHFGv4U]http://youtu.be/rn3vUHFGv4U[/video]
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/surpris...d-judging-us-by-our-voices.html#ixzz2vyFLaZed
MIST
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Elephant Escapes Poachers Twice, Seeks Out Treatment
In the sprawling expanse of Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park, an elephant named Mshale has been fighting for his life. After taking a total of four arrows in two known poaching attempts, this animal has beaten the odds again and again. Why are poachers so determined to destroy this creature? His ivory tusks, which clock in at more than 100 pounds and are worth around $35,000 on the black market. This market wants to pack his ivory into containers, ship it halfway across the globe and carve it into little trinkets for people to wear as status symbols.
Mshale, now around 40 years old, has been roaming around the northern area of Tsavo East for some time. At the Ithumba Orphans Facility, where he visited often for clean drinking water and the company of other elephants, this large bull was well known to workers. That sense of familiarity might have saved his life in July of 2012 when poachers targeted Mshale and lodged a poison arrow into him. However, before it could take effect, the elephant lumbered to the Ithumba stockades where vets from David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) administered treatment. The arrow was laced with Akokanthera toxin, derived from the unripe fruit of a tree native to the region.
After a short recovery, Mshale made his way back into Tsavo’s wilderness. The DSWT and KWS teamed up with their anti-poaching squads and tried to keep ahead of Mshale’s movements. It wasn’t until March of this year, while doing a flyby of more than 500 elephants, that they saw Mshale again. This time he was badly limping with a wound in his back visible from the air. They set down the craft to find two other large bull elephants guarding him.
Rob Brandford relayed the scene. “He had two large and deep spear wounds which had to be cleaned. One had passed right through his ear deep into his neck; the other into his back.”
The poison spears had taken their toll. When the vet team was finally able to get Mshale sedated for treatment, they realized the wound on his rump had caused a festering abscess the size of a basketball. Pounds of dead tissue had to be cut away before the wound could be cleaned, and many working on the bull wondered if he’d ever be able to walk again.
When Mshale began to stir, they quickly treated the animal with strong antibiotic injections and packed the wound with clay, to seal it from further infection. Within minutes, to the surprise of everybody on staff, Mshale was soon back on his feet. It was said he stared at those who had treated him for a moment, before turning around and hobbling back into the African bush.
In the end, the DSWT and KWS vets have pulled four spears from Mshale in a period of less than two years. His tusks are prized objects, and demand for ivory in China and Southeast Asia has made such poaching endeavors, sadly, commonplace. Poachers, who generally work in groups of about four, use silent methods in Tsavo, such as poison arrows and traps. In other parts of Africa, guns, helicopters, and even GPS tracking methods have been used to decimate entire herds.
Kenya’s ports (many of which have been financed by Chinese investment) and busy, chaotic, international airport, have made Kenya an ideal location for the shipment of black market goods. And although last year KWS successfully seized more than 8 tons of ivory, by the time they reach it, it’s still too late for the elephant.
“We must recognize the importance of education and awareness campaigns, people need to know the truth about ivory to be encouraged not to buy it and instead to see the true beauty of ivory which is only seen on live elephants,” said Rob Brandford. Anti-poaching measures, as well as search and seizure of exports, further training and pay raises for KWS staff must be improved around Kenya to help slow the trade of ivory. However, the sad reality remains, that until consumers stop purchasing it, the poachers will continue to stalk Mshale, and elephants just like him, around Africa’s many national parks.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/elephant-escapes-poachers-twice-seeks-out-treatment.html#ixzz2wReTOxMR
In the sprawling expanse of Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park, an elephant named Mshale has been fighting for his life. After taking a total of four arrows in two known poaching attempts, this animal has beaten the odds again and again. Why are poachers so determined to destroy this creature? His ivory tusks, which clock in at more than 100 pounds and are worth around $35,000 on the black market. This market wants to pack his ivory into containers, ship it halfway across the globe and carve it into little trinkets for people to wear as status symbols.
Mshale, now around 40 years old, has been roaming around the northern area of Tsavo East for some time. At the Ithumba Orphans Facility, where he visited often for clean drinking water and the company of other elephants, this large bull was well known to workers. That sense of familiarity might have saved his life in July of 2012 when poachers targeted Mshale and lodged a poison arrow into him. However, before it could take effect, the elephant lumbered to the Ithumba stockades where vets from David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) administered treatment. The arrow was laced with Akokanthera toxin, derived from the unripe fruit of a tree native to the region.
After a short recovery, Mshale made his way back into Tsavo’s wilderness. The DSWT and KWS teamed up with their anti-poaching squads and tried to keep ahead of Mshale’s movements. It wasn’t until March of this year, while doing a flyby of more than 500 elephants, that they saw Mshale again. This time he was badly limping with a wound in his back visible from the air. They set down the craft to find two other large bull elephants guarding him.
Rob Brandford relayed the scene. “He had two large and deep spear wounds which had to be cleaned. One had passed right through his ear deep into his neck; the other into his back.”
The poison spears had taken their toll. When the vet team was finally able to get Mshale sedated for treatment, they realized the wound on his rump had caused a festering abscess the size of a basketball. Pounds of dead tissue had to be cut away before the wound could be cleaned, and many working on the bull wondered if he’d ever be able to walk again.
When Mshale began to stir, they quickly treated the animal with strong antibiotic injections and packed the wound with clay, to seal it from further infection. Within minutes, to the surprise of everybody on staff, Mshale was soon back on his feet. It was said he stared at those who had treated him for a moment, before turning around and hobbling back into the African bush.
In the end, the DSWT and KWS vets have pulled four spears from Mshale in a period of less than two years. His tusks are prized objects, and demand for ivory in China and Southeast Asia has made such poaching endeavors, sadly, commonplace. Poachers, who generally work in groups of about four, use silent methods in Tsavo, such as poison arrows and traps. In other parts of Africa, guns, helicopters, and even GPS tracking methods have been used to decimate entire herds.
Kenya’s ports (many of which have been financed by Chinese investment) and busy, chaotic, international airport, have made Kenya an ideal location for the shipment of black market goods. And although last year KWS successfully seized more than 8 tons of ivory, by the time they reach it, it’s still too late for the elephant.
“We must recognize the importance of education and awareness campaigns, people need to know the truth about ivory to be encouraged not to buy it and instead to see the true beauty of ivory which is only seen on live elephants,” said Rob Brandford. Anti-poaching measures, as well as search and seizure of exports, further training and pay raises for KWS staff must be improved around Kenya to help slow the trade of ivory. However, the sad reality remains, that until consumers stop purchasing it, the poachers will continue to stalk Mshale, and elephants just like him, around Africa’s many national parks.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/elephant-escapes-poachers-twice-seeks-out-treatment.html#ixzz2wReTOxMR
MIST
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A babyelephant rescue
[video=youtube_share;aIiaxDcWwvQ]http://youtu.be/aIiaxDcWwvQ[/video]
We received a call early in the morning of November 8th about a tiny elephant calf that had been rescued within the West Gate Community Conservancy having been robbed of his family by the flood waters of the Ewaso Niro river. Early that same morning a community guard named 'Hospitali' happened upon this tiny calf grappling in the fast flowing flood waters, obviously having been washed, tumbled and bumped down river by the raging torrent.
'Hospitali' pulled the calf to the safety of dry land, and once the tiny baby had regained his strength, walked the calf the ½ kilometer to Sasaab Lodge where 'Hospitali' works. Ali and Tony Allport, the managers of Sasaab Lodge, contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service Senior Warden for the district reporting the plight of the tiny calf. Locating the calf's herd in this vast area, with no idea of how far downstream he had even been swept was clearly not an option, and so it was decided that he required the support of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
[video=youtube_share;aIiaxDcWwvQ]http://youtu.be/aIiaxDcWwvQ[/video]
We received a call early in the morning of November 8th about a tiny elephant calf that had been rescued within the West Gate Community Conservancy having been robbed of his family by the flood waters of the Ewaso Niro river. Early that same morning a community guard named 'Hospitali' happened upon this tiny calf grappling in the fast flowing flood waters, obviously having been washed, tumbled and bumped down river by the raging torrent.
'Hospitali' pulled the calf to the safety of dry land, and once the tiny baby had regained his strength, walked the calf the ½ kilometer to Sasaab Lodge where 'Hospitali' works. Ali and Tony Allport, the managers of Sasaab Lodge, contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service Senior Warden for the district reporting the plight of the tiny calf. Locating the calf's herd in this vast area, with no idea of how far downstream he had even been swept was clearly not an option, and so it was decided that he required the support of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
MIST
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[video=youtube_share;3Kzapw5qUoU]http://youtu.be/3Kzapw5qUoU[/video]
Humans hurt this young bull, but there were other humans who helped him.
It wasn´t only the rescue team who helped him, there are donators too who make it possible to help.
Humans hurt this young bull, but there were other humans who helped him.
It wasn´t only the rescue team who helped him, there are donators too who make it possible to help.
MIST
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I´ve posted earlier about 3 elephants who arrived to a sanctuary from a zoo in Toronto.
Here are later videos when they feel more at home
Iringa
[video=youtube_share;zfalxHmV_z0]http://youtu.be/zfalxHmV_z0[/video]
Toka
[video=youtube_share;0DZ2bAfHG9w]http://youtu.be/0DZ2bAfHG9w[/video]
Thika
[video=youtube_share;_F4IqslyfIs]http://youtu.be/_F4IqslyfIs[/video]
Here are later videos when they feel more at home
Iringa
[video=youtube_share;zfalxHmV_z0]http://youtu.be/zfalxHmV_z0[/video]
Toka
[video=youtube_share;0DZ2bAfHG9w]http://youtu.be/0DZ2bAfHG9w[/video]
Thika
[video=youtube_share;_F4IqslyfIs]http://youtu.be/_F4IqslyfIs[/video]
MIST
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Raju the Elephant Cries Tears of Joy While Being Rescued From 50 Years of Captivity
While we’re still mourning the loss of majestic Satao, in India, an emaciated begging elephant named Raju is giving the world something to smile about.
Raju was enslaved and used by a drug dealer for 50 years of his life. Piercing metal spikes penetrated his elephant flesh and shackled him for those 50 years. But Raju has gotten a second chance. His weeping tears during his rescue are giving the world a glimmer of hope.
Raju‘s 50 Years of Abuse
Raju never had a normal life. As reported in The Independent, Raju’s life consisted of frequent beatings and intentional starvation to control him. The poor elephant often had to resort to consuming paper and plastic to fill up his large belly.
He was plucked from the wild by poachers as a baby. The calf’s life was riddled with many different owners — possibly, as many as 27 — who probably weren’t too concerned with his welfare.
The last owner was one of the worst. The drug dealer exploited Raju daily by parading him around for tourists in the streets of Allahabad. He also preyed on religious pilgrims claiming that Raju would bless them for a price. The elephant’s tail was practically hairless since his owner would rip his hair and market it a type of good luck charm.
Raju never had a home, or anything close to the bond of a herd. Even during India’s blazing summers, he lived chained outside with no shelter. It’s a miracle that he survived so long.
[video=youtube_share;Y9Qm3512Jkg]http://youtu.be/Y9Qm3512Jkg[/video]
Raju‘s Teary Rescue
He probably wouldn’t have made it much longer without the help of Wildlife SOS charity.
The starving and aging elephant lived in constant pain. Imagine what having spikes penetrating your flesh every second would feel like for 50 years? Raju had abscesses, wounds (from the spikes and the spear that was used to dominate him) and chronic arthritis. Every step Raju took was accompanied by oozing pus from his wounds as the spikes dug deeper into his flesh.
Raju also had a type of pain that we may not scientifically understand — a broken spirit.
The elephant was very distrusting of humans because he mostly knew human brutality. His rescuers worked tirelessly to gain his trust. Fruit and positive encouragement eventually got him into the van destined for an elephant sanctuary and a life of freedom.
As reported in Mirror Online, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, explained that the drug dealer vehemently tried to stop the rescue operation; he put even more chains on Raju, he tried to block them from reaching Raju and he tried to get the bull to charge his rescuers with verbal commands. But Wildlife SOS rescuers were determined to save the elephant.
Satyanarayan describes the beautiful moment: “We stood our ground and refused to back down – and as we did so, tears began to roll down Raju’s face. Some no doubt were due to the pain being inflicted by the chains, but he also seemed to sense that change was coming. It was as if he felt hope for the first time in a very long time.”
We’ll never be sure what exactly Raju felt. I’m sure that he felt something. I’m not trying to solely anthropomorphize Raju. According to PBS, elephants lead rich emotional lives. There are numerous anecdotes documenting elephant joy, love, grief, rage, stress, compassion and altruism.
Raju’s first steps as a free elephant were on the American Independence Day holiday. The exhausted and teary-eyed team worked for 45 minutes to remove every spike chain. Raju was then taken to a pen to receive medical care, but he will join two other sanctuary elephants, who are also victims of human brutality, soon.
[video=youtube_share;dudRNRt--QY]http://youtu.be/dudRNRt--QY[/video]
Elephant Cruelty in India
Raju is one of the lucky ones. Indian elephants are the victims of overwhelming cruelty. As reported in USA Today, not even Paul McCartney’s starpower has saved Sunder, an abused 14-year-old elephant. In 2012, McCartney shared the elephant’s predicament, and the Indian government agreed to release Sunder to the wild. Fast-forward to 2014, news broke that a local politician took the elephant to his home and shackled him to a shed instead, much like Raju.
As Sunder’s story highlights, Indian authorities aren’t supporting elephant welfare efforts, and, sometimes, they contribute to elephant cruelty.
Help Animals India covers the extent of this cruelty. In India, an estimated 4,000 captive elephants endure lives of poor housing, undernourishment and starvation, water scarcity, over and under physical activity, punishment-based training that beats them into submission and a life of loneliness.
Raju’s drug dealing owner might have promoted the elephant as lucky and blessed, but Raju truly is. He is one of 4,000 elephants. Fortunately, Raju’s abscesses, wounds, long nails, overgrown footpads, arthritis and constant pain can be treated, or, at best, managed. His spirit may take some time, but, to me, elephants are capable of more love, compassion and forgiveness than most people.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/raju-th...from-50-years-of-captivity.html#ixzz37f5Bygit
[video=youtube_share;pC0iOqaAAAQ]http://youtu.be/pC0iOqaAAAQ[/video]
While we’re still mourning the loss of majestic Satao, in India, an emaciated begging elephant named Raju is giving the world something to smile about.
Raju was enslaved and used by a drug dealer for 50 years of his life. Piercing metal spikes penetrated his elephant flesh and shackled him for those 50 years. But Raju has gotten a second chance. His weeping tears during his rescue are giving the world a glimmer of hope.
Raju‘s 50 Years of Abuse
Raju never had a normal life. As reported in The Independent, Raju’s life consisted of frequent beatings and intentional starvation to control him. The poor elephant often had to resort to consuming paper and plastic to fill up his large belly.
He was plucked from the wild by poachers as a baby. The calf’s life was riddled with many different owners — possibly, as many as 27 — who probably weren’t too concerned with his welfare.
The last owner was one of the worst. The drug dealer exploited Raju daily by parading him around for tourists in the streets of Allahabad. He also preyed on religious pilgrims claiming that Raju would bless them for a price. The elephant’s tail was practically hairless since his owner would rip his hair and market it a type of good luck charm.
Raju never had a home, or anything close to the bond of a herd. Even during India’s blazing summers, he lived chained outside with no shelter. It’s a miracle that he survived so long.
[video=youtube_share;Y9Qm3512Jkg]http://youtu.be/Y9Qm3512Jkg[/video]
Raju‘s Teary Rescue
He probably wouldn’t have made it much longer without the help of Wildlife SOS charity.
The starving and aging elephant lived in constant pain. Imagine what having spikes penetrating your flesh every second would feel like for 50 years? Raju had abscesses, wounds (from the spikes and the spear that was used to dominate him) and chronic arthritis. Every step Raju took was accompanied by oozing pus from his wounds as the spikes dug deeper into his flesh.
Raju also had a type of pain that we may not scientifically understand — a broken spirit.
The elephant was very distrusting of humans because he mostly knew human brutality. His rescuers worked tirelessly to gain his trust. Fruit and positive encouragement eventually got him into the van destined for an elephant sanctuary and a life of freedom.
As reported in Mirror Online, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, explained that the drug dealer vehemently tried to stop the rescue operation; he put even more chains on Raju, he tried to block them from reaching Raju and he tried to get the bull to charge his rescuers with verbal commands. But Wildlife SOS rescuers were determined to save the elephant.
Satyanarayan describes the beautiful moment: “We stood our ground and refused to back down – and as we did so, tears began to roll down Raju’s face. Some no doubt were due to the pain being inflicted by the chains, but he also seemed to sense that change was coming. It was as if he felt hope for the first time in a very long time.”
We’ll never be sure what exactly Raju felt. I’m sure that he felt something. I’m not trying to solely anthropomorphize Raju. According to PBS, elephants lead rich emotional lives. There are numerous anecdotes documenting elephant joy, love, grief, rage, stress, compassion and altruism.
Raju’s first steps as a free elephant were on the American Independence Day holiday. The exhausted and teary-eyed team worked for 45 minutes to remove every spike chain. Raju was then taken to a pen to receive medical care, but he will join two other sanctuary elephants, who are also victims of human brutality, soon.
[video=youtube_share;dudRNRt--QY]http://youtu.be/dudRNRt--QY[/video]
Elephant Cruelty in India
Raju is one of the lucky ones. Indian elephants are the victims of overwhelming cruelty. As reported in USA Today, not even Paul McCartney’s starpower has saved Sunder, an abused 14-year-old elephant. In 2012, McCartney shared the elephant’s predicament, and the Indian government agreed to release Sunder to the wild. Fast-forward to 2014, news broke that a local politician took the elephant to his home and shackled him to a shed instead, much like Raju.
As Sunder’s story highlights, Indian authorities aren’t supporting elephant welfare efforts, and, sometimes, they contribute to elephant cruelty.
Help Animals India covers the extent of this cruelty. In India, an estimated 4,000 captive elephants endure lives of poor housing, undernourishment and starvation, water scarcity, over and under physical activity, punishment-based training that beats them into submission and a life of loneliness.
Raju’s drug dealing owner might have promoted the elephant as lucky and blessed, but Raju truly is. He is one of 4,000 elephants. Fortunately, Raju’s abscesses, wounds, long nails, overgrown footpads, arthritis and constant pain can be treated, or, at best, managed. His spirit may take some time, but, to me, elephants are capable of more love, compassion and forgiveness than most people.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/raju-th...from-50-years-of-captivity.html#ixzz37f5Bygit
[video=youtube_share;pC0iOqaAAAQ]http://youtu.be/pC0iOqaAAAQ[/video]
MIST
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Elephant Tourism in Thailand Is Fueling a Deadly Black Market in Baby Pachyderms
A report finds that poachers are killing adult elephants in neighboring Burma to capture their offspring.
Millions of people travel to Thailand each year, and many visit one of the country’s many elephant tourist camps, where they ride and pose with the pachyderms. But few probably bother to think about how the animals got there. If they did, they might make other plans.
A new report from U.K.-based wildlife monitoring group Traffic found that rising demand by tourists to commune with Asian elephants is fueling a black market in wild-caught animals.
“The capture of wild elephants for Thailand’s tourism industry poses a serious threat to the future survival of the country’s wild population,” the report said.
Over the past 75 years, the Asian elephant population has declined by up to 50 percent, mostly because of habitat loss and deforestation. “But poaching for the trade in live elephants and their ivory is recognized as another important factor,” the report said.
Thailand is one of 13 Asian nations that trade in elephants to satisfy a growing tourism market. Nearly 1,700 elephants are housed at more than 100 tourist camps. Over a two-year period ending in March 2013, about 80 wild elephants were captured for illegal sale to the Thai tourism industry, according to the report.
Researchers investigated 108 elephant tourist camps, government facilities, and hotels that keep elephants and conducted informal interviews with elephant handlers and owners about the trade.
For instance, the Surin Elephant Festival, billed as the world’s largest animal show, attracts tourists each November to its elephant roundup. The roundup includes a parade of animals marching toward a fresh-fruit “elephant breakfast,” followed by elephant talent shows, demonstrations of elephant capture and training techniques, a soccer game, and a tug-of-war.
Many camps claim to be conservation centers. “The kindest thing that ethical, elephant-loving tourists can do is to visit a camp and enjoy elephants,” according to the website of the government-owned Thai Elephant Conservation Center. “Without work in tourism, elephant owners will have no means to care for their animals.”
Of the 53 elephants in the study whose origin was known, 92 percent were captured in neighboring Burma and smuggled into Thailand.
Wild elephants in Burma are usually snared in pit traps, with domestic elephants driving their wild cousins into harm’s way. Infants are the most valuable and currently fetch up to $33,000 each, a 600 percent increase since 1999. But to capture them, some adults must be eliminated first.
“It was reported that automatic weapons are increasingly being used to kill protective members of the herd,” the report said, “although it was not possible...to verify such statements.” Infants are “mentally broken and prepared for training.”
The Thai government has cracked down recently on illegal trafficking. “Based on research,” the report said, “no indication was received of elephant trade along the border after June 2012.”
That doesn’t mean the practice has stopped.
“The recent clampdown was successful in halting the live elephant trafficking temporarily, at least,” Traffic spokesperson Richard Thomas said in an email. “But unless urgent changes are made to outdated legislation and better systems are introduced to document the origin of elephants...things could quickly revert to how they were.”
Because of the trade’s clandestine nature, the exact number of contraband elephants is unknown. Several studies estimated that 50 to 100 wild elephants are smuggled from Burma to Thailand every year. Another found that 240 elephants were smuggled through a single border crossing over an 18-month period.
So what can be done?
related
Mourning Mountain Bull: Poachers Slay Fabled Elephant in KenyaThe new report recommended that Interpol and other groups support government enforcement efforts, and that local laws be changed to ensure that elephants are registered shortly after birth.
Thai authorities should also encourage tourists to report poor conditions, treatment, or care of elephants used in the industry, according to the report.
“I’ve seen considerable concern expressed over the treatment of animals before they ever reach the parks and during the process when they are mentally broken after being captured from the wild,” Thomas said. “By all accounts, this involves severe beating of the animals.”
“There are perfectly legitimate camp owners,” he added. “But if you’re not sure that the place you’re visiting is legitimate or is caring for the animals they’ve acquired, don’t spend your money there.”http://www.takepart.com/article/201...derms?cmpid=tpanimals-eml-2014-08-02-elephant
A report finds that poachers are killing adult elephants in neighboring Burma to capture their offspring.
Millions of people travel to Thailand each year, and many visit one of the country’s many elephant tourist camps, where they ride and pose with the pachyderms. But few probably bother to think about how the animals got there. If they did, they might make other plans.
A new report from U.K.-based wildlife monitoring group Traffic found that rising demand by tourists to commune with Asian elephants is fueling a black market in wild-caught animals.
“The capture of wild elephants for Thailand’s tourism industry poses a serious threat to the future survival of the country’s wild population,” the report said.
Over the past 75 years, the Asian elephant population has declined by up to 50 percent, mostly because of habitat loss and deforestation. “But poaching for the trade in live elephants and their ivory is recognized as another important factor,” the report said.
Thailand is one of 13 Asian nations that trade in elephants to satisfy a growing tourism market. Nearly 1,700 elephants are housed at more than 100 tourist camps. Over a two-year period ending in March 2013, about 80 wild elephants were captured for illegal sale to the Thai tourism industry, according to the report.
Researchers investigated 108 elephant tourist camps, government facilities, and hotels that keep elephants and conducted informal interviews with elephant handlers and owners about the trade.
For instance, the Surin Elephant Festival, billed as the world’s largest animal show, attracts tourists each November to its elephant roundup. The roundup includes a parade of animals marching toward a fresh-fruit “elephant breakfast,” followed by elephant talent shows, demonstrations of elephant capture and training techniques, a soccer game, and a tug-of-war.
Many camps claim to be conservation centers. “The kindest thing that ethical, elephant-loving tourists can do is to visit a camp and enjoy elephants,” according to the website of the government-owned Thai Elephant Conservation Center. “Without work in tourism, elephant owners will have no means to care for their animals.”
Of the 53 elephants in the study whose origin was known, 92 percent were captured in neighboring Burma and smuggled into Thailand.
Wild elephants in Burma are usually snared in pit traps, with domestic elephants driving their wild cousins into harm’s way. Infants are the most valuable and currently fetch up to $33,000 each, a 600 percent increase since 1999. But to capture them, some adults must be eliminated first.
“It was reported that automatic weapons are increasingly being used to kill protective members of the herd,” the report said, “although it was not possible...to verify such statements.” Infants are “mentally broken and prepared for training.”
The Thai government has cracked down recently on illegal trafficking. “Based on research,” the report said, “no indication was received of elephant trade along the border after June 2012.”
That doesn’t mean the practice has stopped.
“The recent clampdown was successful in halting the live elephant trafficking temporarily, at least,” Traffic spokesperson Richard Thomas said in an email. “But unless urgent changes are made to outdated legislation and better systems are introduced to document the origin of elephants...things could quickly revert to how they were.”
Because of the trade’s clandestine nature, the exact number of contraband elephants is unknown. Several studies estimated that 50 to 100 wild elephants are smuggled from Burma to Thailand every year. Another found that 240 elephants were smuggled through a single border crossing over an 18-month period.
So what can be done?
related
Mourning Mountain Bull: Poachers Slay Fabled Elephant in KenyaThe new report recommended that Interpol and other groups support government enforcement efforts, and that local laws be changed to ensure that elephants are registered shortly after birth.
Thai authorities should also encourage tourists to report poor conditions, treatment, or care of elephants used in the industry, according to the report.
“I’ve seen considerable concern expressed over the treatment of animals before they ever reach the parks and during the process when they are mentally broken after being captured from the wild,” Thomas said. “By all accounts, this involves severe beating of the animals.”
“There are perfectly legitimate camp owners,” he added. “But if you’re not sure that the place you’re visiting is legitimate or is caring for the animals they’ve acquired, don’t spend your money there.”http://www.takepart.com/article/201...derms?cmpid=tpanimals-eml-2014-08-02-elephant
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Celebrate World Elephant Day With 5 Great Organizations Working to Save Them
August 12 is World Elephant Day, which means it’s a great time to recognize the many ways elephants are important.
After all, elephants are known as a “keystone species,” meaning that plants, other animals and even ecosystems depend on them. Elephants help plants by spreading their seeds in their droppings. Even their footprints matter — when it rains, those huge prints become water troughs for other animals to drink from.
Highly emotional beings, elephants grieve for their dead. They’re smart and expressive. Finally, of course, elephants are beautiful, majestic giants. We love them. We need to show them how much we love them by doing something meaningful to help them survive.
Estimates say an elephant is killed every 15 minutes. That adds up to a sobering 96 elephants every day or about 36,000 animals every year. If this pace doesn’t stop, we risk extinction of the elephant in the wild by 2025. No one wants a world without elephants a mere 10 years from now.
To help you celebrate these magnificent animals, we’d like to introduce you to 5 organizations devoted to researching and protecting elephants.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT)
The DSWT, founded in 1977, is active on many fronts in the fight to save elephants from extinction. One of its most notable efforts is the Orphan’s Project, which rescues and rehabilitates elephants and rhinos orphaned by the illegal poaching industry.
So far the project has successfully hand-raised more than 150 baby elephants. Even better, it has been able to reintegrate these orphaned calves back into wild herds.
The DSWT also sponsors the iWorry campaign, which works to raise awareness of the illegal ivory trade. iWorry urges world governments to focus more resources and energy on this problem, getting its message out by sharing evidence of poaching via social media, press releases and the annual International March for the Elephants each October. This year’s march will occur in cities around the world on Oct. 4.
Save the Elephants
Save the Elephants (STE) describes its mission in this way: “[T]o secure a future for elephants and to sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live; to promote man’s delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species.”
It strives to achieve this mission by seeking out opportunities to fund activities that reduce demand for ivory, fight international ivory trafficking and curtail elephant poaching.
STE’s particular specialty is GMS collaring and tracking of elephants. It works actively to improve tracking technology to enable conservationists to keep tabs on how quickly elephants are moving and where vulnerable elephants are at any given time.
In addition, STE’s “Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants” program enables them to provide helpful data about poaching hotspots as well as safe zones.
The Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
Most elephant lovers despise circuses and any other venue in which they are held captive and forced to “perform” for human entertainment. The Performing Animal Welfare Society hates that, too. Fortunately, they do something about it.
PAWS rescues abandoned, “abused, neglected, retired and needy captive wildlife through intervention and legislation designed to stop the problem by prohibiting indiscriminate breeding of exotic animals for the pet industry and the use of wild animals in entertainment.”
The elephants and other rescued performers live in PAWS’ sanctuaries in enclosures designed to mimic their natural habitats. There are even specially designed enclosures geared to the needs of elderly, injured and arthritic animals. The animals are able to roam freely, their lives of misery and confinement behind them.
Six African and five Asian elephants currently live at PAWS’ ARK 2000 sanctuary in San Andreas, Ca., along with tigers, lions, bears and a black leopard.
Elephants Without Borders
Some countries in Africa have an abundance of elephants, while others are seeing shocking declines in numbers. Elephants Without Borders (EWB), based in Botswana, believes that elephant conservation efforts need to look past individual country borders and focus broadly on what’s happening across the African continent.
In EWB’s own words:
At EWB, we believe elephants are of considerable economic, ecological, cultural and aesthetic value to many people in the world and are one of Africa’s most valuable wildlife species. They are the flagships, providing motivation for raising awareness, stimulating action, encouraging funding for conservation efforts, and generating opportunities to reconsider the boundaries between conservation and rural development. Our vision, to open borders for Africa’s wildlife through education and research will help ensure future generations share their lives with these great giants.
EWB conducts research on the ground and in the air into elephant migratory patterns, home ranges, population dynamics and use of habitat. Among other things, this information and the models derived therefrom help African wildlife managers identify problems and assist with conflict resolution.
Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation (EARS)
Founded in Hong Kong in 2010, EARS promotes awareness of the issues affecting the Asian elephant. Among its efforts, EARS educates Asian tourists on what it calls the “dark side of elephant tourism” — the innumerable camps throughout Thailand that force hundreds of elephants to perform, give rides and even beg for money on the street.
In particular, EARS is concerned about trekking camps, in which hard chairs are tied to the backs of elephants so they can give rides to tourists. Some of these camps maintain 80 or more elephants for this purpose. It can be an unhappy life.
Says EARS:
Many trekking camps over work their elephants, leave the heavy chairs on their backs all day, load heavier than acceptable and do not offer enough food or water. There is also no enrichment for the elephants or freedom for them to behave naturally and roam in a forest environment when they are not working.
EARS believes responsible elephant tourism can help to save the elephants throughout Asia but ONLY if camps maintain the highest level of elephant care, food requirements, hygiene and environmental enrichment.
EARS believes tourists in Thailand can influence change for abused captive elephants if they will provide feedback to EARS on the conditions they witness in these trekking camps.
Want to let the world know you’re celebrating World Elephant Day? Wear something grey on Aug 12. Better yet, offer your financial and social media support to one of these great organizations or any of the many others doing important work on behalf of these lovely creatures.
The ellies need us — now.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/celebra...tions-working-to-save-them.html#ixzz3ABWv1Nrt
August 12 is World Elephant Day, which means it’s a great time to recognize the many ways elephants are important.
After all, elephants are known as a “keystone species,” meaning that plants, other animals and even ecosystems depend on them. Elephants help plants by spreading their seeds in their droppings. Even their footprints matter — when it rains, those huge prints become water troughs for other animals to drink from.
Highly emotional beings, elephants grieve for their dead. They’re smart and expressive. Finally, of course, elephants are beautiful, majestic giants. We love them. We need to show them how much we love them by doing something meaningful to help them survive.
Estimates say an elephant is killed every 15 minutes. That adds up to a sobering 96 elephants every day or about 36,000 animals every year. If this pace doesn’t stop, we risk extinction of the elephant in the wild by 2025. No one wants a world without elephants a mere 10 years from now.
To help you celebrate these magnificent animals, we’d like to introduce you to 5 organizations devoted to researching and protecting elephants.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT)
The DSWT, founded in 1977, is active on many fronts in the fight to save elephants from extinction. One of its most notable efforts is the Orphan’s Project, which rescues and rehabilitates elephants and rhinos orphaned by the illegal poaching industry.
So far the project has successfully hand-raised more than 150 baby elephants. Even better, it has been able to reintegrate these orphaned calves back into wild herds.
The DSWT also sponsors the iWorry campaign, which works to raise awareness of the illegal ivory trade. iWorry urges world governments to focus more resources and energy on this problem, getting its message out by sharing evidence of poaching via social media, press releases and the annual International March for the Elephants each October. This year’s march will occur in cities around the world on Oct. 4.
Save the Elephants
Save the Elephants (STE) describes its mission in this way: “[T]o secure a future for elephants and to sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live; to promote man’s delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species.”
It strives to achieve this mission by seeking out opportunities to fund activities that reduce demand for ivory, fight international ivory trafficking and curtail elephant poaching.
STE’s particular specialty is GMS collaring and tracking of elephants. It works actively to improve tracking technology to enable conservationists to keep tabs on how quickly elephants are moving and where vulnerable elephants are at any given time.
In addition, STE’s “Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants” program enables them to provide helpful data about poaching hotspots as well as safe zones.
The Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
Most elephant lovers despise circuses and any other venue in which they are held captive and forced to “perform” for human entertainment. The Performing Animal Welfare Society hates that, too. Fortunately, they do something about it.
PAWS rescues abandoned, “abused, neglected, retired and needy captive wildlife through intervention and legislation designed to stop the problem by prohibiting indiscriminate breeding of exotic animals for the pet industry and the use of wild animals in entertainment.”
The elephants and other rescued performers live in PAWS’ sanctuaries in enclosures designed to mimic their natural habitats. There are even specially designed enclosures geared to the needs of elderly, injured and arthritic animals. The animals are able to roam freely, their lives of misery and confinement behind them.
Six African and five Asian elephants currently live at PAWS’ ARK 2000 sanctuary in San Andreas, Ca., along with tigers, lions, bears and a black leopard.
Elephants Without Borders
Some countries in Africa have an abundance of elephants, while others are seeing shocking declines in numbers. Elephants Without Borders (EWB), based in Botswana, believes that elephant conservation efforts need to look past individual country borders and focus broadly on what’s happening across the African continent.
In EWB’s own words:
At EWB, we believe elephants are of considerable economic, ecological, cultural and aesthetic value to many people in the world and are one of Africa’s most valuable wildlife species. They are the flagships, providing motivation for raising awareness, stimulating action, encouraging funding for conservation efforts, and generating opportunities to reconsider the boundaries between conservation and rural development. Our vision, to open borders for Africa’s wildlife through education and research will help ensure future generations share their lives with these great giants.
EWB conducts research on the ground and in the air into elephant migratory patterns, home ranges, population dynamics and use of habitat. Among other things, this information and the models derived therefrom help African wildlife managers identify problems and assist with conflict resolution.
Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation (EARS)
Founded in Hong Kong in 2010, EARS promotes awareness of the issues affecting the Asian elephant. Among its efforts, EARS educates Asian tourists on what it calls the “dark side of elephant tourism” — the innumerable camps throughout Thailand that force hundreds of elephants to perform, give rides and even beg for money on the street.
In particular, EARS is concerned about trekking camps, in which hard chairs are tied to the backs of elephants so they can give rides to tourists. Some of these camps maintain 80 or more elephants for this purpose. It can be an unhappy life.
Says EARS:
Many trekking camps over work their elephants, leave the heavy chairs on their backs all day, load heavier than acceptable and do not offer enough food or water. There is also no enrichment for the elephants or freedom for them to behave naturally and roam in a forest environment when they are not working.
EARS believes responsible elephant tourism can help to save the elephants throughout Asia but ONLY if camps maintain the highest level of elephant care, food requirements, hygiene and environmental enrichment.
EARS believes tourists in Thailand can influence change for abused captive elephants if they will provide feedback to EARS on the conditions they witness in these trekking camps.
Want to let the world know you’re celebrating World Elephant Day? Wear something grey on Aug 12. Better yet, offer your financial and social media support to one of these great organizations or any of the many others doing important work on behalf of these lovely creatures.
The ellies need us — now.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/celebra...tions-working-to-save-them.html#ixzz3ABWv1Nrt
BTW, re Raju, the old owner wants him back and is taking court action, so Wildlife SOS that rescued him is asking for donations to fight to keep him in their sanctuary. He was severely emaciated and in poor health and they said it would take years for him to recover, so there is no way he should EVER go back to the owner who abused him!!! Hope the Indian courts see it that way too. There is also a petition to block this attempt to get him back on Change.org.