Tag: elephant conservation

"Elephanatics Foundation - Free elephant conservation lesson plans, toolkits for teachers, and persuasive essay resources."

Elephanatics presents – Ivory Is For Elephants – elephants and their importance to the global community and environment

Published on by elephanatic
"Elephanatics Foundation - Free elephant conservation lesson plans, toolkits for teachers, and persuasive essay resources."
The numbers are staggering as we learn that humanity is responsible for a decrease in animal populations worldwide of 68% in the past 50 years.  At a time when more than 1 million animals are at risk of extinction, the links between human health and the health of the planet couldn’t be clearer, as evidenced by our current pandemic. Seventy percent of emerging viral diseases are caused by human/wildlife interface. The biggest issues facing the global community today are losses to biodiversity. Loss of wildlife affects ecosystems we all rely on to keep us healthy. Learn more about how elephants help preserve our natural world and why poaching, human-elephant conflict, and illegal trade is related to our own survival.
Tune in and get inspired to save elephants!
Speakers – Dr. Rene Beyers, PhD / Conservationist / African Elephant Advisor, Elephanatics
Melanie Reding, Educator / Curriculum Developer, Elephanatics
* Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants is an online educational program that aims to inspire the next generation of scientists, explorers and conservationists by bringing science, exploration, adventure and conservation live into classrooms through virtual speakers and field trips with leading experts across the globe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-5-R616REU

Elephanatics Donates to 3 Asian Elephant Sanctuaries amid COVID-19

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Elephanatics is excited to announce that it will be assisting three Asian elephant sanctuaries in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many sanctuaries are struggling to feed their elephants due to the shortage of tourists and volunteers. We have carefully chosen three to receive CAD$2,000 each:

Kulen Elephant Forest – Cambodia
MandaLao Elephant Conservation – Laos
Wildlife Friends Foundation – Thailand

We have waited for over a year for an appropriate rescue opportunity to arise. The chances of one during the epidemic are even slimmer. We decided the donations many of you kindly gave, should go to several elephants which do in fact need rescuing in this time of peril. We are essentially helping three sanctuaries and I suspect most of you would agree this is the right thing to do at this time.

There will be future opportunities to rescue an elephant from the tourist industry.

Watch for upcoming posts about each sanctuary in the next few days. We thank you again for your kind donations and wish you all to stay safe.

Elephanatics Donates to DART Wildlife Conservation

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We are pleased to send money to www.dartwildlife.org who do outstanding conservation work in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. The funds raised at our annual Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, last September, 2017, will go to purchase a new dart delivery system including transmitter darts that will enable conservationists to dart and locate immobilized elephants at night. Their Elephant Protection Project is expected to commence in February to coincide with the peak crop-raiding season and the time when most elephants are persecuted or killed.
We thank all the people who donated their money and time to come to our event. Your funds will be put to great use towards purchasing this essential equipment required to help combat the ongoing poaching crisis and human-elephant conflict._DSC4366

Press Release: Local Elephant Organization Urges Canadian Government to Step Up Efforts to Protect African Elephants

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Elephanatics BC, a Vancouver-based elephant advocacy organization, is hosting its 4th Annual Global Walk for Elephants and Rhinos on September 30. The walk is part of the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos – the world’s largest grassroots wildlife movement with more than 120 cities participating worldwide.

The goal of this initiative is to demand that all governments take action to stop the poaching of elephants and end the illegal trade in ivory.

Every day around 100 elephants in Africa are brutally killed for their tusks. That equates to one elephant every 15 minutes. Poaching has reached unprecedented levels, causing both conservationists and scientists to estimate the extinction of elephants in the wild within 10 – 20 years.

The Canadian government’s track record in protecting elephants is lackluster at best. At the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, Canada was one of only four countries to vote against all countries closing their domestic ivory trade. At the 2016 Conference of the Parties to CITES, Canada voted against moving all African elephants to Appendix I to give them the highest level of protection.

In recent years, Canada has been the sole country to issue blanket reservations on all new CITES listings, and has failed to lift those reservations in a timely manner. These inexplicable positions put the Canadian government at odds with the growing international movement to save the African elephant from extinction.

Elephanatics BC has brought together a coalition of Canadian and international animal advocacy groups, to urge the government of Canada to fully protect African elephants. The organizations include BC SPCA, Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, Born Free, Zoocheck Canada, Animal Justice, WildlifeDirect and World Elephant Day Society. They have agreed to sign Elephanatic’s letter to the Canadian government and those attending the Global Walk for Elephants can sign a similar petition to be delivered with the letter.

The focus of the walk in Vancouver is to strongly urge the Canadian and provincial governments to:

  1. Make all import and domestic trade of elephant ivory illegal in Canada, as per Mike Farnworth’s (Solicitor General NDP) private member’s bill M 234 – Banning the Sale of Ivory and Rhinoceros Horns Act, 2016.
  2. Vote to move all elephants in all range countries to Appendix I, at all future opportunities.
  3. Update domestic legislation to facilitate timely compliance with Canada’s international obligations under CITES.

Sheryl Fink, IFAW’s Director of Wildlife Campaigns in Canada said, “It is extremely disappointing that Canada is not living up to our international obligations and it is setting a terrible example for other countries around the world. I would like to see the Liberal government live up to their commitment to provide greater protection for endangered species.” 

Event Details:

 4th Annual Global Walk for Elephants and Rhinos

Saturday, September 30 – 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm

Creekside Park (behind Science World)

http://covapp.vancouver.ca/parkfinder/parkdetail.aspx?inparkid=15

The event includes: music; elephant face painting and henna tattoos; an elephant market including t-shirts, artwork and jewelry; selfies with a life-size elephant; learning how you can help elephants; and a walk around the False Creek seawall.

 Elephanatics is a Vancouver, registered non-profit organization founded in May 2013.     It is run exclusively by volunteers who aim to help the long-term survival of African and Asian elephants through conservation, education and action. Elephanatics first introduced the city to the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (GMFER) in October 2014 and has hosted the annual free event ever since. This year, the event will not be a march, but a -walk.

The Global March for Elephants and Rhinos is a registered, non-profit organization in the United States. It is a global movement demanding an end to ivory and rhino horn trade. The first march took place in 2013.

For more information, please contact:

 Tessa Vanderkop

Director of Strategic Relationships & Advocacy

Elephanatics

tvanderkop@gmail.com

604.789.8886

 

Websites:       http://www.elephanatics.org  and  http://www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org

Event pages: http://www.facebook.com/events/815113295321897 and http://www.facebook.com/march4elephants

Twitter:           @ElephanaticsBC  and  @EleRhinoMarch
Instagram:      March4ElephantsBC  and  GMFER2017

 

 

 

 

Global Walk for Elephants |Vancouver 2017

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Hi everyone and especially Vancouverites,

Elephanatics is once again hosting the Global Walk for Elephants and Rhinos on September 30th | 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm at Creekside Park |1455 Quebec Street | Vancouver.

Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. Every 8 hours a rhino is poached for its horn. Conservationists estimate that elephants will be extinct in the wild within 10 to 20 years. Several species of rhino have already become extinct. Closing loopholes in global markets and decreasing demand for ivory and rhino horn is essential if these species are to survive.

Advocacy

The focus for this year’s event is on advocacy. Many people ask what Canadians have to do with African elephants. Well, it turns out quite a bit.

Canada was one of only four countries that voted against all countries closing their domestic ivory trade during the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress. At the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, Canada voted against moving all African elephants to Appendix I to provide them the highest level of protection. In recent years, Canada has been the sole country to issue blanket reservations on all new CITES listings, and has failed to lift those reservations in a timely manner. These inexplicable positions put the Canadian government at odds with a growing international movement to save the African elephant from extinction.

Find out how you can become involved in saving one of the world’s most iconic, essential and beautiful species at the Global Walk for Elephants event.

While we take what we do seriously, we also like to have some fun so there will be face-painting, henna tattoos, music, cool people who like to make a difference and some awesome t-shirts for sale to help raise money for frontline conservation work in Africa.

T-shirts for this year’s march.
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Posters! – Please share:)
gmfer-2017

Marchers toolkit 2017

Thanks and we hope to see you there!