Since our last newsletter, our petition has gained close to 11,000 more signatures! Thanks to all of you who helped make this possible. We appreciate your support and ask that you continue to share our petition and write your MPs to ask the government to ban the elephant ivory trade in Canada. Positive talks continue between our Ivory-Free Canada coalition and the Minister of Environment. Let’s get this done. Change.org/IvoryFreeCanada

Education Update

Volunteers in Action!

May 22 was BiodiversityDay. We were fortunate to have two grade 10 students from FleetwoodParkSecondary School deliver our Biodiversity Presentation to their fellow classmates. We thank Rasudev and Clement for doing a superb job at bringing awareness to the critical role elephants play in supporting their ecological habitats and maintaining biodiversity.

As they presented to students in a math class, they created an equation to calculate the weight of an elephant: Weight = -1010 + 0.036 (L x G), where L is the body length and G is the chest girth.

We thank them again for their volunteer support and love of elephants! Please watch their presentation here.

The BackyardBio 2021 event that ran for the month of May, building up to the International Day of Biodiversity on May 22, was a total success! Elephanatics was pleased to play a big part in promoting the event to school districts in Vancouver and around the world by creating this flyer. So many wonderful connections were built between schools across the globe and students can’t wait for next year to do it all over again!

Check out the results here.

We have created a teacher survey for educators who use our education lesson plans! “Elephanatics’ Teacher Survey: Please take a minute to let us know how you are using our lessons/resources and what resources you’d like to see. Survey participants are eligible for a monthly drawing for Elephanatics swag.” Watch for more interesting lesson plans to be added shortly!

Update: Canadian Corp Drilling for Oil in Africa

ReconAfrica is a Canadian company currently drilling for oil and gas in an area of over 35,000 square kilometres in Namibia. The drill site is near the Okavango Delta – a vast river delta watershed and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of Africa’s last great natural sanctuaries. It’s home to much wildlife, including hippos, elephants, crocodiles, lions, leopards, giraffes, and rhinos.

We are greatly concerned about the ecological, environmental, and human rights issues being infringed upon. We know the Namibian drill site overlaps an elephant migration corridor between two national parks. On top of this, ReconAfrica will carry out a seismic survey at a second site in Botswana, on the other side of the migration route.

Biologists say the seismic survey’s sound waves might negatively affect elephants, which communicate via low-frequency seismic waves “heard” through their sensitive feet.

ReconAfrica’s headquarters were in Vancouver, BC, Canada, but have since moved to Alberta, Canada. Elephanatics is supporting international efforts to curtail the drilling by bringing awareness to the issue. You can read more about the drilling from The Guardian here.

Please read the Elephanatics letter to the Canadian government about ReconAfrica here.

There are 14 elephants on the move in China! The group left a wildlife reserve in the southwest of Yunnan province more than a year ago and has trekked 500 kilometres (300 miles) north to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming.

Perhaps they are staging their own march in protest against habitat loss, poaching and unethical treatment? What do you think?

Watch video below for some endearing moments as they travel.

Don’t forget to check out Elephanatics’ online shop for clothing items and a variety of other goods for summer, b-days, baby showers, Xmas presents, or any occasion! 100% of the profit of your purchase goes directly to saving elephants.

https://teespring.com/stores/elephanatics-bc

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Stay safe until next time.

The Elephanatics Team