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POOR TANIA THE ELEPHANT LIVING ALONE FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS ON CONCRETE IN ROMANIA
The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria requires that zoos house female elephants in groups, but Tania, a 37-year-old female elephant remains in alone insolitary confinement at the Targu-Mures Zoo in Romania. She is reportedly forced to live indoors in a tiny barren cell standing on concrete, often in her own urine and feces.
Captured from the wild in the 1970s, Tania was sent to a zoo in France where she lived alone for more than 20 years,- and more recently was transfered from an Italian zoo last September to Targu-Mures Zoo in Romania. Female elephants are profoundly social and need natural social groupings.The unnatural conditions of zoos causes psychological distress; and Tania repeatedly rocks and sways, a coping mechanism elepants exhibit indicating they are in distress. Additionally, standing in one spot on concrete leads to chronic foot infections- a leading cause of death in elephants. Tell the Targu-Mures Zoo in Romania to stop depriving Tania of her most basic needs- room to move around and the company of other elephants. Slaughtered for ivory, their habitat burned to the ground and trapped from the wild to feed a growing tourist industry, Asian elephants could become extinct within one lifetime.
Gentle Giants is a compelling 45 minute documentary about the tragic lives that all too many captive Asian elephants have to endure. Join our young friend, 11 year old Zacchari 'Tonnam' Bellas, as he acquires a great education while volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand and at the elephant village of Ban Ta Klang in Surin. Suitable for audiences over 9 years of age and packed with animation and fun, Gentle Giants is very educational and illustrates the challenges that both elephantsface. The film is due to be released later this year. Please continue to check this website for further information www.elephantnewsonline.com ELEPHANTS ABUSED IN THAILAND FOR TOURIST INDUSTRY
Elephants playing football, elephants with hoops, elephants painting - these kind of shows are often visited by tourists in Thailand. But many people don't see the abuse that the animals suffer - until now.
This video (click the picture above), taken by a tourist at the Namuang Safari Park in Ko Samui, shows the horrific treatment elephants must endure for the sake of 'entertainment'. The shock of the crowd as the trainer smashes his metal bull-hook into the elephant's head is clearly heard. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Elephants are not 'domesticated', meaning that before they can perform in this kind of show, they must be 'broken'. The 'Phajaan', or 'Crush' is a horrific ritual that is carried out on every baby elephant before it is trained for shows or elephant trekking. The elephant is meant to be revered by the Thai people, but these shows are a sign of disrespect and should be stopped. Tourists will always wish to see elephants, but it must be done in a way that does not involved the Phajaan or abusive treatment. Please sign my petition to ask the Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand to stop the abuse of performing elephants in shows. If enough people sign, we can show that as tourists we will not visit these shows and trade will suffer if the abuse is not stopped. We call on the Tourism Authority of Thailand to:
This petition was created by the www.RIGHT-tourism.org campaign, run by Care for the Wild International to try and help tourists be animal-friendly. |
BABY ELEPHANT BEING KILLED FOR PALM OIL PROFITS
Elephants, as well as orangutans and other forest animals, are being slaughtered mercilessly for the palm oil industry. Please click on this link to sign a petition to stop the deforestation and horrific slaughter caused by the palm oil industry, and please share this petition with others (aiming for one million signatures!)
And please check the labels on food and other products you buy, for palm oil (often mislabelled just labelled as "vegetable oil"). We need to insist on Government's enforcing correct labelling so we can make compassionate, ethical choices when we buy products. DISTRAUGHT ELEPHANT FAMILIES AS ZIMBABWE TRAPS BABY ELEPHANTS TO SELL TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS!!
36 baby elephants were recently rounded up in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park for sale to private zoos and circuses abroad. Their chances of survival without their mothers are very slim. Please speak out against this cruel trade and call for the elephants to be returned to their herds.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) reported the capture of dozens of elephant calves for sale to global buyers to raise funds for Hwange National Park.
Zimbabwe’s government argues that the sale of live animals is legal and that it complies with relevant international agreements. However, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) only permits such transactions if they are sustainable and humane and adequate housing and care is guaranteed at the animal’s destination. It is our view that trade with elephant calves is inherently cruel to both the calves torn from their families and the remaining herd. The young elephants, who are completely dependent on their mothers for their physical and psychological well-being, are deeply traumatized by the separation and the stress of being transported over long distances. In many cases, they do not survive the experience – according to media reports, one of the recently captured calves has already died. In their new “homes”, they face a lifetime of unrelenting boredom and sensory deprivation in cages and concrete enclosures, as well as abuse at the hands of their trainers. Few of the elephants even reach adulthood: of four calves that Zimbabwe exported to China in 2012, only one survives. Please sign this petition to the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that the captured elephants remain in the country and are returned to their herds under the supervision of conservation organizations. Thank you for helping put an end to this barbaric trade! Above: A dedicated human carer, helping to comfort and protect one of the many orphaned baby elephants. These poor babies are often so traumatized having lost their mother and witnessing the mama's cruel slaughter, the baby needs constant reassurance and love, hence their human carer must sleep next to their baby charges at night, to help reduce the baby's night terrors.
. "SACRED ELEPHANTS"
The shape of an African elephant's ear
Is the shape of Africa. The shape of an Indian elephant's ear Is the shape of India... As if nature had kept an ear to the ground When listening to the elephant's territorial requests. The Romans believed the elephant was a religious animal; Pliny observed it worshipping the sun and stars, And purifying itself at the new moon, Bathing in the river, and invoking the heavens." In the last decade Six out of ten elephants in Africa Have been massacred; And the entire population may soon be shovelled contemptuously Into the realm of mythology. In the mind's eye of a child An elephant Should now be more accurately depicted As a mutilated corpse. - Excerpt from the poem - "Sacred Elephant" by Heathcote Williams |
HOW TO STOP IVORY POACHING & RESULTING ELEPHANT MASSACRES
How can People Help Elephants from Being Poached? Several things can be done by people to stop elephants from being poached. You can support a ban on all ivory trade and not buy products with ivory in them. Also, you need to stay informed and know what is happening because knowledge is power. Sign any petition that will help stop the ivory trade. Let’s look closely at the things that people can do to help elephants from being poached:
* Support all bans on ivory trading * Do not buy items with ivory * Stay informed about ivory trading Stop Ivory Trading The ban on ivory trade that was put in place in 1989 was not a total ban, just a restriction. There were exceptions made to the ban and now elephants are being killed faster than ever. In 1989 the rate of killing was 7.4% of the population and now it is 8%. The ban is not working. To top it off, the United States has the second largest demand for ivory. The British not-for-profit organization Care for the Wild International, reports that China is the biggest marketplace for illegal ivory, and the United States is second. It only stands to reason that if there were no market for the ivory, the poaching would be impacted. Hundred of elephants have been killed in Kenya’s national parks in the past few years. The demand for ivory is rising and the slaughter will continue until the ivory trade is banned all over the world. The price of a kilogram of ivory on the black market can be as much as $3,000s while on the legal market it is about $880 (2005 estimates). Currently, the population of African elephants is estimated to be 470,000. It was 1.2 million in 1979. Avoid Buying Ivory The second way people can help elephants from being poached is simple: do not buy any products that have even a little ivory in them. This sounds easy enough, and it is. If no one bought, then the poachers won’t be able to sell. Part of this problem is the exceptions to the ban. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) allowed limited legal sales of ivory because they were told that it was necessary for economic reasons and to reduce animal population. These were not the facts, because the money from legal sales does not help the people living in these countries. In spite of the facts, CITES still allows limited trade and the elephant population is diminishing faster than ever. So, become a label reader and ask questions, especially if you are traveling around the world. For more information, check out the World Wildlife Fund's Buyer Beware campaign. Support Anti-Poaching Activities One interesting thing that is being done to help stop elephants from being poached is DNA testing. When an illegal shipment is seized, the DNA tests will pinpoint where the ivory came from. This is important because most, if not all, of the illegal poaching is funded by large crime syndicates. There are a few other ways to help elephants not be poached and to thrive. One is to support sanctuaries and wildlife preserves that are trying to replenish the population of elephants. You can also support programs like Elephant Care International's Adopt a Village. Here you can help communities share their environment with elephants. There are many organizations dedicated to helping the plight of elephants and other wildlife, like the World Wildlife Fund and the World Land Trust, just to name a couple. You could also donate money to elephant and conservation research. Elephants could be extinct by 2020 if something isn’t done. Stay informed, get, mad, and spread the word. The Internet is a powerful informational tool. If the word gets out about how wrong it is to poach or purchase poached ivory, maybe this poaching will cease, or at least slow down to a crawl. (Article courtesy of http://answers.yourdictionary.com/answers/animal-life/help-elephants-from-being-poached.html) The Re-Introduction of the Ivory Trade - Signing the Death Warrant for All Elephants
In 2009, the ivory trade was once again, made legal. (Entry from www.rhinos-irf.org blog 17-Nov-09 )
"Kenya: Row Over New Move to Allow Ivory Trade" Nairobi
Kenya is opposing a move by Tanzania to reintroduce the sale of ivory, saying it will increase elephant poaching in the region. The Kenya Wildlife Service says Tanzania is taking advantage of a "malicious loophole" and proposing the sale of ivory during an international moratorium. "We are convinced Tanzania has contravened the spirit of the (moratorium) agreement and Kenya is totally opposed to their proposal to sell ivory," said Mr Patrick Omondi, a KWS senior assistant director. However, Tanzania's director of Wildlife Erasmus Tarimo disagrees and says they are following the agreements currently in place. "We're doing what is best for our elephant population," he said in a phone interview, adding that revenues from the sale would go towards elephant conservation. Ivory trade has been closely regulated since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species imposed a worldwide ban in 1989. The number of African elephants had dropped from 1.3 million in 1973 to less than 500,000, due mainly to poaching, when the ban was put in place. Kenya has about 35,000 elephants. Tanzania's proposal to down-list the African elephant from Appendix I (facing extinction) to Appendix II (less threatened) is joined by Zambia which has submitted a similar proposal of their own. Kenya is not alone in the opposition to this sale. Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Mali, Rwanda, and the Republic of Congo are co-sponsors of the proposal on behalf of 21 other nations that support it, said Mr Omondi. What concerns the KWS is not just that Tanzania will be selling instead of burning their stockpiles, but that they did not consult Kenya in spite of shared elephant populations." http://www.rhinos-irf.org/en/art/806/ Young elephants usually suckle their mother until four, and stay with mother until about fifteen years.
Elephants hit puberty at about sixteen, go bald at approximately 30 and live until about seventy years of age. An adult elephant needs to drink 225 litres of water daily and eat approximately 120 kilograms of plant food. Elephants are extremely intelligent animals and have memories that span many years. They display signs of grief, joy, anger and play, and also exhibit behaviour that reveals a concept of death and loss. Do you think that what we humans do to elephants is tantamount to slavery?
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Baby Elephant Chained and Tormented by Angry Mob
(Sadly, this baby is now dead. He died a few days after this photograph was taken. The following information was originally posted along with petitions, to try to help save this innocent, terrified baby, but this situation did not have a happy ending. This article has been kept on site to remind us of the importance of protecting these beautiful animals, why the trade in ivory needs to be banned, why the palm oil industry needs to be scrutinized and policed, and that we all need to do what we can to protect elephant habitats, and food sources, and keep the remainder of wild elephants free and safe.) Poor tiny baby! The terrible fate of Raja the baby elephant, chained and held hostage by an angry mob: An image that will haunt you and a story that will enrage you. In this shocking expose the Duchess of Cornwall's brother reveals how baby elephant Raja was shockingly mistreated as he was kept captive in Sumatra. Following the deforestation of the land to produce palm oil, elephants have been forced to live with humans, destroying farms, flattening houses and sometimes killing people. Villagers took Raja, and demanded compensation after his elephant family ruined crops in the area. (Article and petitions courtesy of Andres.Grijalva.Vi) In all the 30 years I have been working in Asian elephant conservation, I thought I had seen it all – blatant corruption, the rape and total disregard of our beautiful planet and sickening wildlife atrocities, to name but a few. All due to the most dangerous animal of all: homo sapiens. Not much shocks me any more, but something happened in recent weeks that shook me to the core when the charity Elephant Family and the Ecologist Film Unit set out to document the environmental genocide that is out of control on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Sumatra is special to me because I spent a lot of time there on expeditions when I was younger. It was a paradise – vast pristine forests, intact coral reefs and abundant wildlife. All this has changed now and their elephants are the most endangered on the planet. In a single generation, the population has been cut in half, with countless other animals disappearing at breakneck speed. During the filming, a helpless, emaciated baby male elephant called Raja, who was barely a year old, was found in a village, shackled with heavy chains to a tree. He had been taken hostage by the villagers, who were demanding compensation from the Sumatran government for the damage his family had done to their crops. Can you believe that we are now living in a world where people are actually holding baby elephants to ransom? It is almost unthinkable. But just look at the photographs – look at Raja, as he strains against his chains, waving his little trunk for food and reassurance. He is bellowing in desperation for his mother. I have heard that sound of distressed calves many times in my life. It never fails to haunt me. But it is his eyes that haunt me more than anything – pleading for help – innocent, desperate and helpless. A war is being waged across Asia. In the face of relentless deforestation, elephants are being forced out of their natural habitats and they have no choice but to share their living space with humans. As the elephants’ forest home is destroyed, stressed and starving herds flee from the chainsaws straight into villages. They demolish everything in sight, trampling crops, flattening houses and often killing people. Frankly, you really cannot blame the villagers for taking such drastic steps in the sheer desperation to survive and feed their own families. Capturing a baby elephant and holding it to ransom is grisly and depressing, but it is reality as humans and elephants fight for space. People need to know why this is happening. They need to understand what is driving this madness. The cause is an innocently named product called palm oil. It’s a constituent part of almost everything that we use and consume – biscuits, margarine, ice cream, soap, shampoo. The list is endless. And the blame lies firmly with the greed of the large corporations in the East that produce it as a cash crop to fuel the insatiable consumerism of the Western world. The thirst for palm oil is apparently unquenchable and its cultivation is ripping out the last great rainforests. Although forest destruction and its lethal impact on endangered species are plain to see, palm oil is practically an invisible ingredient, listed under the generic term ‘vegetable oil’. April, Duta Palma, Sinar Mas and Sime Darby may not be household names, but these are just some of the companies producing palm oil in Indonesia and selling it on to the market for about £500 per ton. L’Occitane, Ferrero, Cadbury, Ginster’s pasties, Clover margarine, Pringles, Kellogg’s, Haribo, Nestlé and Mars are just a few of the more familiar names of those that use palm oil. All the major supermarkets use palm oil in their own-brand products. Some are better than others in getting palm oil from responsible sources, but the point is that it is everywhere and in everything. It is a silent assassin. Not until 2014 will there be a legal requirement for manufacturers to label palm oil on their products. And, to make matters worse, the only certification body to monitor the production of so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil is immensely flawed. Consumer industries are hiding behind a fallacy. The verdant rainforest of Aceh in North Sumatra is one of the largest left in South-East Asia. It is the only place in the world where elephants, tigers, orangutans and rhinos all still live together – a real life Jungle Book. But, right now, the Aceh government is close to adopting a plan that would see hundreds of thousands of hectares of this forest opened up for the cultivation of palm oil. This ironically titled ‘Spatial Plan’ is nothing more than a deforestation plan – an extinction plan, seeking to legitimise the illegal felling that is already happening. They will become unrelenting and vast areas of land will flood. Wildlife will be forced into ever greater conflict with people, and elephants like Raja won’t stand a chance. Sadly for him, it is too late. He died alone, still chained to that tree, though Elephant Family worked tirelessly for a week to negotiate his release. Already we’ve discovered that another calf, this one just a month old, has been captured and held to ransom by local farmers. Everyone is working around the clock to make sure that this little calf survives. I am doubtful. But in the grander scheme of things there is hope. If there wasn’t hope, I would have packed up my bags a long time ago. If we can protect these forests and stop the new plan in Aceh from going ahead, then we’re taking a giant step in the right direction. Hundreds of supporters have already written to the Aceh government urging them to stop destroying their forests. But we need help. We need everyone to write. Increased knowledge of palm oil and compulsory labelling will finally allow shoppers to make informed choices about what they buy. We need to push food manufacturers and retailers to support a transformation of the industry towards genuine sustainable palm oil, and we need to do it quickly. The most useful thing we can do to help is educate ourselves and avoid buying products that contain palm oil whilst urging companies to stop destroying the rain forests. More information about palm oil and the products to avoid: http://a-z-animals.com/palm-oil/products/ You will also find more ways to help at: http://www.elephantfamily.org/ Read the full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2351609/The-terrible-fate-Raja-baby-elephant-chained-held-hostage-angry-mob-An-image-haunt-story-enrage-you.html#ixzz2XeMYaH00 |
Internet company, GoDaddy is still suffering a massive backlash over GoDaddy's CEO boasting about his killing an elephant. He video taped and uploaded the clip showing him shooting the elephant, but the youtube clip was later removed to try to reduce the business fallout. CEO Bob Parsons, later tried to justify his barbaric actions, stating he had paid for the appropriate license to kill the elephant and his elephant kill was to help protect village crops. However, when we see him in this photo, showing off his kill, there is nothing altruistic about it. He wanted to kill an elephant and he paid for the "privilege" to take this magnificent animal's life. Those who value elephant welfare, who have found out about this horrific slaughter by GoDaddy's CEO, have closed their GoDaddy accounts, and as more people find out, the justifiable backlash will continue. More info here and here
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