Tag: feature

🚨 Give Wildlife Crime the Severity It Deserves 🚨

Published on by elephanatic

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is the principal global treaty for fighting international crime networks. Yet, despite transnational wildlife crime generating US$199 billion annually, it remains largely absent from binding global enforcement frameworks. It’s time Canada leads the global effort to establish a dedicated UNTOC Wildlife Crime Protocol and treat trafficking as a serious organized crime.

Click above to open our official UNTOC action letter in a new secure window.

Why Canada Must Act Now

Wildlife crime is no longer just a “poaching” problem—it is a global security threat. 🌎🛡️

Currently, trafficking is often treated as a minor regulatory offense. This allows organized crime syndicates to exploit Canada’s borders with low risk and high reward.

  • The UNTOC Protocol would force a global shift, requiring countries to treat wildlife trafficking with the same legal severity as human or drug trafficking.
  • 🤝 International Cooperation: It would provide law enforcement with better tools for cross-border investigations and intelligence sharing.
  • 📉 Economic Impact: By shutting down a US$199 billion illegal industry, we protect global ecosystems and national economies.

A Powerful Global Collaboration

Elephanatics and World Elephant Day have united to demand real structural change. Both  organizations are dedicated to conservation, education, and advocacy to ensure a safer world for elephants and all threatened species.
Advocating for the UNTOC Protocol is a pivotal moment in our joint mission to alter global law. ⚖️🌿
Currently, existing international agreements cover less than 1% of the world’s species. This leaves millions of animals and plants completely unprotected from heavily armed, highly funded criminal networks.
We cannot do this alone. As we launch this campaign ahead of World Elephant Day, your voice is the most powerful tool we have to ensure Canada leads the way in supporting this vital treaty. 🗣️💪

Thank you for standing with us. Every email sent is a step toward justice.

Take the Mission into the Classroom 🍎📚

Are you an educator or parent? Download our free UNTOC Elephant Education Kit. This comprehensive resource is designed for secondary students to explore the complexities of transnational wildlife crime and the importance of global advocacy. 🏫📖

 

Elephanatics Foundation - Fighting elephant poaching and transnational wildlife crime through the UNTOC Protocol

🐘 Elephanatics | November 2025 Newsletter

Published on by elephanatic

November: The Global Battle for Elephants is On!

 Support Through Giving Tuesday December 2nd

"Elephanatics Foundation - Free elephant conservation lesson plans, toolkits for teachers, and persuasive essay resources."Photo credit – Francine Lebel-Carruthers

Greetings from the herd at Elephanatics!

For over a decade, we at Elephanatics Foundation have been powering bold elephant advocacy across Canada and Africa. Our mission is clear and drives everything we do: educate, conserve, and take action for elephants and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Why Elephants Matter

How We Take Action: From Savanna to Policy Table

  • Frontline Conservation: Our sustained partnership with the Mara Elephant Project  (MEP) in Kenya connects your support to life-saving work, including funding anti-poaching patrols, utilizing GPS collars for real-time tracking, and implementing human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies.
  • Historic Policy Win: We lead influential policy campaigns — for example, the Ivory-Free Canada coalition that successfully implemented a historic ban on the elephant ivory trade in Canada in November 2023. Read more here
  • Public Awareness: We provide educational resources and raise public awareness, making elephant protection a cause people can engage with, not just observe. Find resources here
  • Fundraising & Amplification: We actively fundraise for specific, high-impact conservation needs (like our World elephant Day support for MEP’s Loita Forest project). Critically, for Giving Tuesday on December 2nd, we will amplify MEP’s urgent field work across our channels, encouraging our supporters to donate directly here to their frontline efforts.

What’s Coming Up: CITES CoP20

From November 24 to December 5, 2025, representatives from 185 countries will gather in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 20th meeting of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Elephanatics Foundation has submitted a position letter to Canada’s Scientific Management Authority outlining opposition arguments to Proposals by African countries wanting to reopen the ivory trade. The cost to elephants for any renewed trade would be catastrophic, as a legal market would inevitably provide cover for illegal poaching, creating a devastating surge in demand that would once again drive elephant populations toward extinction.

Ongoing Policy Work

We continue to work in collaboration with other global NGOs, sending letters to MPs and Federal Ministers regarding the urgent need for an additional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.The 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is scheduled to take place in October 2026 in Vienna, Austria. We will continue to advocate on this critical topic more aggressively.

A Final Call to Action

Elephanatics Foundation is turning the tide for elephants — from classrooms in Canada and the US to the savannas of Africa — by merging education with on-the-ground conservation and policy power. With the global spotlight shifting to the critical negotiations at CITES CoP20 this November, the time to support organizations working against the reopening of the ivory trade is critical. This makes Giving Tuesday (December 2nd) an excellent time to provide the vital funds these organizations need to continue their advocacy work and protect the future of the species. Donate directly to MEP’s frontline efforts here.

Thank You

We thank you for being a committed Elephanatics follower. Whether through sharing our posts or donating on Giving Tuesday, December 2nd, you are a vital partner in our fight to secure a future free of the ivory trade. We are deeply grateful for your continued advocacy and support.

🐘 The Elephanatics Team 

Don’t forget to follow us on our other social media platforms: https://linktr.ee/elephanatics

 

Help Support Elephants

Published on by elephanatic

It’s #WorldElephantDay August 12th!

DONATE TODAY * Donations to Elephanatics will be sent to SEEDBALLS Kenya to purchase seedballs for @MaraElephantProject in the Maasai Mara, Kenya.

We Are Excited!

Elephanatics has recently partnered with SEEDBALLS Kenya!

SEEDBALLS Kenya is an African based organization that has pioneered a method of mass producing seedballs for low cost and efficient reintroduction of trees and grass species into degraded areas in Africa.

What is a seedball? A Seedball is simply that – a seed inside of a ball of charcoal dust mixed with some nutritious binders. SEEDBALLS Kenya focuses on helping reduce the cost of planting various useful indigenous plant species (mostly trees and grass) in Kenya. The biochar coating of the ball helps protect the seed within from predators such as birds, rodents and insects and extremes of temperature until the rains arrive! Once soaked, the seedball helps retain and prolong a moist environment around the seed to encourage germination. Seedballs are a nature-based solution to biodiversity and ecosystem loss.

Human activity is degrading ecosystems and driving biodiversity loss faster than ever before. The speed at which species are disappearing is at least 100 times higher than the natural rate of extinction. If we don’t stop this, at the current rate it will take millions of years for diversity to be restored to pre industrial levels. Africa is suffering from an unprecedented decline in biodiversity due to extensive agricultural practices, population growth, illicit wildlife trafficking, development, and more. In the last forty years, elephant habitat has decreased by nearly two thirds largely due to human activities.

We are happy to promote the outstanding work SEEDBALLS Kenya does in assisting with restoring and reforesting areas of Africa hardest hit by habitat destruction.

Please join us this World Elephant Day and Donate to Propagate! 

For more information on SEEDBALLS Kenya go to: https://www.seedballskenya.com/seedballs

DONATE TODAY * Donations to Elephanatics will be sent to SEEDBALLS Kenya to purchase seedballs for @MaraElephantProject in the Maasai Mara, Kenya.