Save the Elephants

Founded 1993
Founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Type Non-profit organization
Focus Wildlife conservation
Location
  • Kenya
  • Kenya, Africa
Area served
Kenya, Mali, Gabon, Congo South Africa
Staff
14[1]
Slogan To protect, preserve, research, educate and develop man's relationship.[2]
Website savetheelephants.org

Save the Elephants (STE) is a UK registered charity based in Kenya founded in September 1993 by Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Save the Elephants works to sustain elephant populations and preserve the habitats in which elephants are found, while at the same time fostering a heightened appreciation and visibility for elephants and their often fragile existence. The organization uses a four pillar approach to fulfill its mission statement, combining habitat protection, research, grass roots organization and involvement,[2] and through disseminating information through television,[3] films, publications[4] and new media sources.

Save the Elephants has been instrumental in helping to revitalize African elephant populations, while at the same time, increasing awareness in the many issues which threaten to erode elephant populations and the habitats in which they live.[5] Iain Douglas Hamilton has played an integral role in stopping the illegal ivory trade throughout the world, while at the same time raising the profile of elephant conservation and awareness.[6]

Projects

Primarily based in Samburu National Reserve in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Save the Elephants carries out rigorous studies of elephants, including elephant collaring and more recently, sophisticated elephant tracking techniques.

Protection

STE works on three fronts to stop the killing of elephants: anti-poaching, and enhancing anti-poaching efforts of others through our GPS tracking; antitrafficking, through initiatives to disrupt criminal networks and ensure enforcement; and demand reduction, by sharing awareness of the impacts of buying ivory with the top consumer nations.

Research

Save the Elephants conducts vital Research on elephant behaviour and ecology and pioneered GPS radio tracking in Africa to provide fresh insight into the secret life of elephants. After over 15 years of intensive monitoring the elephants of Samburu are one of the world’s best-studied populations. The organisation also assists in implementing a UN-level programme to monitor the illegal killing of elephants and solid scientific data has helped shift international policy towards a future for the species.

Awareness

Elephants are intelligent creatures with complex levels of consciousness and STE intends to bring this to the world’s attention. They disseminate this locally and internationally through films, publications, a computerised elephant library, a news service, social networks and the website. They involve local people in research and education to develop a conservation ethic based on local knowledge and elephant needs, and recognize that the best potential ambassadors for elephants are the people with whom they share their land.

Human Elephant Conflict

Beyond the current poaching crisis lies a deeper threat to the future of elephants. The human footprint is rapidly expanding across Africa but elephants need large ranges to survive. By understanding elephant needs and movements through GPS tracking research Save the Elephants is working to preserve vital migration corridors and ensure an elephant-friendly landscape. Where people and elephants already collide, the Elephants and Bees project is proof that win-win solutions exist.

Press Releases

In tandem with their endeavor to disseminate information to the wider public, Save The Elephants comes out with press statements on various key elephant issues or debates and also whenever a scientific publication on our work is published. Through these press releases, STE is able to highlight and summarise key points of matters in the elephant world.

Recent Press Releases

SHARP FALL IN THE PRICES OF ELEPHANT TUSKS IN CHINA

THE WIRED WILDERNESS: GOOGLE BRINGS SAMBURU TO THE WORLD

HONG KONG’S IVORY MORE ITEMS FOR SALE THAN IN ANY OTHER CITY IN THE WORLD

AS CONSUMER AWARENESS OF IVORY AND RHINO HORN TRADE’S IMPACT GROWS IN CHINA, GOVERNMENT MOVES TO CURB IVORY MARKETS

Ivory Ella

Main article: Ivory Ella

News service

Since 2000, Save the Elephants has been running the world's only free email elephant news service dedicated to disseminating daily news stories, publications and resources on both the Asian and African elephants. This service is run by researcher Melissa Groo, based in the United States. Between the African and Asian news services the email list has grown to over 1000 members worldwide including scientists, students, conservationists, policy makers, park managers and zookeepers.

Films

Save the Elephants has been featured in numerous film, television and print articles, including National Geographic.[5] The BBC Natural History Unit series The Secret Life of Elephants, screened in 2009, featured Iain and his work.[7]


Save the Elephants has teamed up with Google Earth Outreach to efficiently track and protect herds of African Elephants from poachers. This partnership has given them the ability to monitor migration movements and notify the Kenyan Wildlife Service if anything seems to have gone awry.[8] Save the elephants is also partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Network[9]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.