Why elephants?

Poaching has got out of control, despite a ban on the international trade in ivory. Elephants are being poached in large numbers and tens of thousands are killed every year for their ivory tusks.

About Elephants

Elephants are highly intelligent, highly sophisticated, long lived animals, as emotional as ourselves. A calf’s very existence depends upon its mother’s milk for the first two years of life. They have giant memories and only thrive if happy.

Poaching

Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its tusks! Despite a ban on international trade in ivory being put in place by CITES in 1989, domestic markets remain legal in many parts of the world. Elephant poaching has rapidly escalated across much of Africa following a one-off ‘legal’ sale of ivory in 2008, reigniting the market and demand for ivory, particularly across Asia.

In an effort to do more to protect elephants from slaughter, Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently promised to stop the commercial trade in ivory in his country, and Hong Kong will also do so in the year 2020.

America has a near total ban on the ivory trade. In the spring of 2019 the UK will announce one of the strictest near total bans on the Ivory trade.

In the last 10 years, as many as 1,000 Wildlife Rangers have been killed in the line of duty, protecting the world’s wildlife from poachers, so these changes towards the demand for ivory cannot come soon enough.

There are elephant orphanages in Africa as the result of this slaughter.

For more information or to adopt an elephant, click the following links:

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation - DSWF

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is a highly effective wildlife conservation charity (1108693) funding key front line

projects across Africa and Asia, which are working to secure a future for endangered species - including elephants.

Among the projects funded by DSWF is the Elephant Orphanage Project in Zambia, which rescues and rehabilitates stricken elephants, which are often the innocent victims of poaching.

For over 30 years the Foundation has worked to Fight wildlife crime, Protect endangered species and Engage

with communities on the ground, to inspire them to conserve their local wildlife.

DSWF have granted more than £12.3 million to direct conservation support since the foundation

started in 1984 in their mission to turn the tide on extinction.

For more information visit www.davidshepherd.org

The Elephant Orphanage Project- EOP

The Elephant Orphanage Project is a project of Game Rangers International, established by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation in close collaboration with the Zambia Wildlife Authority and IFAW.

Poaching for ivory has reached epidemic proportions in Southern Africa. Wildlife-human conflicts and accidents have caused an additional number of tragic deaths. Baby elephants are often the indirect victims of such cruel circumstances. Without the essential natal care and nutrient rich milk from their mothers, orphaned baby elephants are left to perish. Even if they survive, they have ongoing problems foraging for food and socialising with others of their kind without the sufficient parental modelling. They can suffer from a condition similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in humans, often exhibiting extreme behavioural problems and having trouble reintegrating into a new herd.

All profits from these books go to the EOP