What about elephants

MIST · Jul 3, 2011

Have we lost their trust?

There are about 50,000 Asian elephants left on earth today. Hence is 40 000 wild and 10 000 domestic.
• There were more than 10 million elephants in Africa 100 years ago.
• There were 1.3 million African elephants 1979th Today they are less than 600 000.
• Between 1979 and 1989 the thief was shot eight elephants in hours due. ivory.
• It is impossible to remove an ivory without killing the elephant, there is only 1 / 3 of ivory that is visible.
• The member countries of CITES banned the ivory trade in 1989 and prices went down.
• Some countries complained then that they have too many elephants destroying their forest. Depend more on the elephants are trapped in small pockets of forest separated without hiking opportunities between them.
• Together, African countries have stored more than 700 tonnes of ivory since 1989.
• When the ivory trade is legal, prices and vulnerable elephant populations are threatened.
• At the CITES meeting in Zimbabwe in June 1997 nedlistades elephant populations in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to "app.II", which meant that these countries were allowed limited (quota) ivory exports. The consequences were that poaching increased.
• At the CITES meeting in Nairobi in June 1999 nonhazardous elephant populations once again to "app.I", which means that the elephants are once again protected

There were questions again 2010 to allow limited ivory export but the answer was no
http://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-interests/-links-ivory-a-poaching.html

Poaching is still a big threat but if people who live where there are elephants get help to get better lifes then I think it will help.

Michael wrote about elephants in dancing the dream;
"The great males fall first ,so that their tusk canbemade into trinkets.Then the females fall, so that men can have trophies.The babies run screaming from the smell of their mothers blood,but it does them no good to run from the guns.Silently with no one to nurse them they will die too and all their bones bleach in the sun"

There are actually some people elephants can trust.
They devote their lives to help these babies.

Applehead Ale · Jul 3, 2011

It's just so sad! The numbers are just horrible, unbeliavable how it went down so fast in such a short period of time, since 1979 the half of the population was killed! Just embarrasing, Im ashamed of human race sometimes. Well, more than sometimes lol.

But as you say at the end, there are still people who care and actually DO something to take care of them.

MJTKOP-NYTRAM · Jul 3, 2011

There are 400 female elephants on a nature reserve in India, but thanks for ivory, only four adult males.
We can't allow the elephants to disappear just because of your want of ivory.

Visit my blog,, http://mjtkop-nytram.blogspot.com/2011/06/every-piece-of-ivory-is-dead-elephant.html

It's time for the world to prioritize elephants over ivory.
Heal the world by signing this petition,, End all international trade in ivory!!

Rhilo · Jul 4, 2011

I have such love for these gentle giants. The future scares me

xthunderx2 · Jul 4, 2011

Applehead Ale said:
It's just so sad! The numbers are just horrible, unbeliavable how it went down so fast in such a short period of time, since 1979 the half of the population was killed! Just embarrasing, Im ashamed of human race sometimes. Well, more than sometimes lol.

But as you say at the end, there are still people who care and actually DO something to take care of them.

this^^^!!!

MIST · Jul 4, 2011

I´m a member in "försvara elefanterna"(defend the elephants.)
I guess it depends on earth song and dancing the dream..
There are no elephants to defend in Sweden but they support elephantprojects in other countries.
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/raiseorphan.htm

Elephants are so loving and caring.
I´ve read about Mweiga,she came to the shelter when she was a baby.
Many elephants babies don´t survive, but she did-although she was weaker than other elephants.
They had to give her specialfood to get stronger from ,the other elephants understood the situation and held her company when she was eating without trying to get it for themselves.
Mweiga was staying with the youngest elephants, the older elephants were outside.
When they walked out Mweiga couldn´t go as fast as the others, but there were always an elephant with her to keep her company and keeper.
Keepers saw how the Matriarch in the herd could walk slower so Mweiga shouldn´t come to far behind.
They thought she had a weak heart and one day she fell down dead.
There was a young bull with her and he was screaming and became very sad.
The elephants lost someone dear for them that day and they showed it.

Travis · Jul 4, 2011

As awful as this is to say, it's true, mankind will see to the destruction of this earth. We're worse than any plague. Again, I know that's awful to say but that's how I see it. We use, abuse, consume, are over populated and don't give enough back and are destroying this planet in the process.

Arklove · Jul 5, 2011

Travis said:
As awful as this is to say, it's true, mankind will see to the destruction of this earth. We're worse than any plague. Again, I know that's awful to say but that's how I see it. We use, abuse, consume, are over populated and don't give enough back and are destroying this planet in the process.

^This...You're absolutely right...As Michael said, it starts with us....We've ruined this planet...It's up to us to save it...No one else will do it...

Krshna28 · Jul 5, 2011

Elephants are beautiful creatures..............

I think that poachers should be treated and convicted as murderers!!!!!

Ashtanga · Jul 6, 2011

Krshna28 said:
Elephants are beautiful creatures..............

I think that poachers should be treated and convicted as murderers!!!!!

:agree:

And speaking of elephants... does anyone know what happened and where is the elephant that Liz Taylor gave it to Michael?

[youtube]aeJptI02SwM[/youtube]

:heart:

MIST · Mar 25, 2012

I just saw this video.It´s terrible how the elephants are treated at the circus

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fDnm0K7L5Q8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MIST · May 10, 2012

MIST · May 27, 2012

Elephants remember.Old friends met after they were separated for more than 20 years
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lF8em4uPdCg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
They got 7 years together but Jenny got sick and they didn´t know how to make her healthy again.
Jenny knew she was going to die and the other elephants knew too.
It´s sad but the story of the elephants behavior when Jenny passed is beautiful

" With Mama Shirley at her side, Jenny led her family over every hill and through every pasture, savoring the sights, sounds, and smell of the world she so loved; this was Jenny's sanctuary and she immersed herself in it from the very day that she arrived until the moment of her death.

Last week Jenny could no longer engage in her normal foraging and migrating activity. She chose a beautiful forested wash area to lie down and rest until her time came to leave this world. Shirley, the closest thing to a mother that Jenny had known, stood protectively at Jenny's side, day and night, helping her to rise when Jenny shifted her weight to lie on her other side. Flanked by Bunny and Tarra, they all seemed to know a serious change was occurring.

On the day before her passing, Jenny engaged her sisters in the most profound chorus of rumbling as Carol and Scott stood witness and caressed Jenny, allowing the vibrations to penetrate our very souls. Everyone had accepted that Jenny was leaving and it was obvious that this group song was an important part of Jenny's dying process, a process that excluded no one and drew her loved ones to a most intimate space with her. The joy-filled singing lasted for three hours. With each exhalation came a most relaxed and familiar rumble which drew Jenny's family deeper and deeper into the ritual, with Bunny adding a crescendo trumpet and Tarra chirping her excitement. Still, Jenny did not pass but spent yet another blissful night with her family near by, caregivers included.

On Tuesday morning Jenny's breathing became labored, but at no time did she exhibit the struggle one might expect from a dying individual. Jenny was relaxed in her process, and when she appeared to be a little uncomfortable her caregivers offered homeopathic remedies which allowed her to relax deeper into her process. Once her death was accepted as imminent, every effort was made to assist dear Jenny to move naturally and peacefully towards the other side, neither hurrying the process, nor impeding it. Jenny made her transition beautifully. In a blessing to herself and her family, her final days, hours and minutes were filled with joy and love, and her passing was in the arms of all who loved her so dearly.

In honor of Jenny we will play to our hearts content, sing unabashed to the open skies and live each day with a joy that Jenny taught us. We will not focus on sorrow, only thankfulness for the gift of having known Jenny."
http://www.elephants.com/jenny/jennyLast.php

Krshna28 · Jun 8, 2012

I'm afraid the only way to stop this is to show no mercy to anyone connected to this evil trade!!!!

MIST · Jun 10, 2012

We can take a pledge to never buy things with ivory, not in drugs either.
We can boycott circuses with animals and we can boycott zoo.

"Tembo's toenails are split. Sunda has sores on her feet that never go away and her joints ache. These elephants are weary to the bone as they uncontrollably and neurotically weave back and forth.
All day, people shuffle past. No one stops for long. Sunda and Tembo have seen a million faces.

Cameras flash and flash again. Few realize Sunda's and Tembo's plight – the pain and suffering they are forced to endure week after week, month after month, year after year.
This scenario repeats itself every day in dozens of zoos.

What outrages me most is that it is not ignorance that perpetuates this horrific cruelty, but the purposeful neglect and inaction by zoo administrators, veterinarians and politicians, who for the sake of the almighty dollar, force this lifetime of pain, suffering, and premature death on these gentle giants.

However, I am pleased to report that despite the intransigence and greed of the zoo industry, progress is being made since IDA kicked off our campaign on behalf of captive elephants"

"After nearly 40 frozen winters together, you would think 50-year-old Asian Sunda could find solace with African cage-mate Tembo. But that's not the case. In fact, the zoo's own records show that these mismatched elephants just don't get along. In zoos elephants never get to choose their companions. So they can be condemned to live with an elephant with whom they are utterly incompatible – for life. To add insult to injury, at the Topeka Zoo the elephants are confined as many as 18 hours daily in a space the size of a public bathroom stall to you or me, with ungiving concrete floors that wreak havoc on their feet."

http://ida.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=23521.0&printer_friendly=1

MIST · Sep 13, 2012

"Three years ago, a conservation group, the Hanoi office of Britain’s Fauna and Flora International (FFI), warned that Vietnam’s remaining elephants — only numbering 150, according to some estimates — were in danger of becoming extinct. In 1990, there were about 1,500 to 2,000 elephants.

Now there may be only a few dozen.

Poachers have slaughtered and are slaughtering Vietnam’s elephants to the point that extinction seems not a possibility, but inevitable. In 2009, FFI representative Frank Momberg spoke to CBS News about undertaking a feasibility study to create an elephant training center in the central Vietnamese province of Daklak, where the majority of Vietnam’s domestic elephants were living.

But now, in September of 2012, Mark McDonald says in the New York Times that “life conservation groups have essentially thrown in the towel” about saving Vietnam’s elephants, who were still roaming the country’s jungles and forests just a generation ago:

A minuscule and poorly funded Elephant Conservation Center is located in a national park in Dak Lak Province, in south-central Vietnam, and it has been sheltering a herd of 29 elephants. But two weeks ago, a pair of elephants from that group were found slaughtered in a forest, including the herd’s only remaining male, whose head, trunk and tusks were severed.

Without an adult male, Vietnamese forestry officials said, the herd is no longer “sustainable.” The park’s interim director said elephant poaching has now become “rampant,” with six males from the herd having been killed this year.

Economic development that has encroached on the elephants’ habitat since the early 1990s is just as much a culprit. Rice farms, coffee and rubber plantations, factories, dams, roads: these have all arisen in places where elephants once roamed. Forests of mahogany, teak and ironwood that stood for centuries have been chopped down and sent overseas.

Will No One Save Vietnam’s Elephants?

McDonald recalls a 1999 conversation with Momberg in which he said that “local authorities are making decisions about development without any environmental concern.” His statement has been cruelly borne out by events.

In 2006, the Vietnamese government adopted an “urgent action plan” to protect elephants. But it has not been implemented.

McDonald uses phrases like “bleak” and “nothing short of disastrous” to describe efforts to protect elephants. A 1993 effort to relocate 13 elephants from their habitat in southern Vietnam — which was to be turned into industrial farms — resulted in all but one of the elephants dying. The last one was sent to the Saigon Zoo.

With their habitats stripped away and food supplies depleted, it hardly seems surprising that elephants — highly intelligent and social animals — have responded. McDonald describes hungry, “marauding” elephants leaving the forests and tearing apart farmers’ crops of potatoes and sugar cane, sometimes trampling people in the process. Villagers have dug deep trenches to trap elephants or sought to fight them off with “homemade shotguns and flame-throwers.”

Demand For Ivory in China Responsible For the Slaughter of the World’s Elephants

The rise of the middle class in China has created a seemingly insatiable demand for ivory, to turn into statues, jewelry, chopsticks. A pound of ivory can be sold for $1,000 in Beijing. As Robert Hormats, a senior U.S. State Department official simply states, “China is the epicenter of demand. Without the demand from China, this would all but dry up.”

The illegal market for ivory is fueling what Care2′s Judy Molland described as a sickening slaughter of elephants worldwide.

On a far more hopeful note, Flora and Faura’s Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group has discovered a “remote wildlife Eden in the Cardamom Mountains.” Elephants, serow (an antelope with goat-like attributes) and gaur (a huge species of forest cattle) have been caught on camera at a salt lick; a marbled cat, wild dog and the rarely seen spotted linsang have also been spotted in the surrounding forest.

Cambodia’s economy is still developing. Let us hope that the country’s government will not make the tragic mistakes that Vietnam has and promote economic development that can still ensure sustainable use of natural resources and, most of all, work to protect elephants."

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/only-a-few-dozen-elephants-left-in-vietnam-video.html#ixzz26NnK9Hgj

MIST · Sep 24, 2012

Juliette´s journey
http://youtu.be/E096-_XnvEE

"So the elephants march on, and every tread beats out words in the dust: "Watch, learn, love. Watch, learn, love." Michael Jackspn

MJsBollywoodGirl7 · Sep 26, 2012

I wish I could be helping those people who want to help save the elephants. It is just so very upsetting with what is happening to them. My latest issue of my National Geographic magazine for October 2012. Mentions it right on their cover. It says 25000 elephants was killed last year alone. I was angry when I saw this. Especially since elephants are one of my most favorite animals. And it says right in the article that in the first half of this year. 6 park rangers died protecting Kenya's elephants. And rangers has killed 23 poachers. I am so glad to hear that poachers are being killed for wanting to kill the elephants. I just wish it was like that in all the countries that has elephants in the wild. Where people would want to kill elephants. Especially for their ivory. But I am at least glad that Kenya is doing something to help save the elephants. And I just wish that the illegal ivory trade would come to a complete permanent stop as well. I just don't understand the purpose of turning an elephant's ivory in to works of art or something like that. Why can't they do that on canvas or clay instead? Especially clay where you can make all kinds of things out of clay. I should know since my one subject in my 10th grade year of high school was pottery class.

MIST · Oct 22, 2012

MIST · Oct 23, 2012

This time it´s a happy video. mother and child united again
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MIST · Oct 28, 2012

Elephant personalities revealed by scientists
Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found.

With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow plodding gait, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy creatures.
But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size.
In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are prevalent with a herd – the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues and the reliable plodders.
Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and are almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists.

“Each individual in a group has a very different personality type,” said Professor Phyllis Lee, a behavioural psychologist at University of Stirling and chair of the scientific advisory committee for the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
“We found that these personalities have a key role in how successful the family is and how they cope with threats and adversity like starvation or drought.
“It is the ability to influence others and sustain friendships are important to an elephant group, while in other animals it is often aggression or dominance.”

Professor Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family – famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009.
Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analysed them for 26 types of behaviour and found four personality traits tended to come to the fore.

The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. The researchers, whose work is published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked for those elephants that tended to influence the movements and direction of the group.
They also looked for the elephants that produced the most deep calls known as “let’s go” rumbles, which the animals use when started to move as a herd.

Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader.
Professor Lee said: “This is something that is particularly unusual in animals. Normally dominance is the main element in leadership in dogs, macaques, chimpanzees and many more. What we find in elephants is it more about their ability to get agreement.
“Leadership is not equal to power or assertion in elephants, but illustrates the respect accorded to individuals as a function of their problem-solving ability and their social permissiveness.”

Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders.
The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this trait through out her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age.
Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, caressed and rubbed against others more than the others.
Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats. Echo and her youngest daughter Ebony seemed to be the most reliable.

Professor Lee said that elephants with these traits tended to be the most socially integrated in the group while those who tended to be less reliable and pushy were more likely to split from the herd.
She said that less integrated elephants also tended to produce fewer calves, suggesting that personality could determine reproductive success.

The researchers now hope to study other elephant groups and male elephants to see if any other personality characteristics emerge.
Professor Lee said: “We have only looked at one elephant group so we intend to look at other elephant groups that are less successful to see if there are other personalities that are causing this. We really don’t know much about the personality types in males yet either.
“Males develop strong friendships and older males tend to mentor younger ones, who follow them and learn from them.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9638340/Elephant-personalities-revealed-by-scientists.html

MIST · Dec 17, 2012

The $19 billion global black market in wildlife is not only threatening the survival of elephants hunted and other endangered species. It is threatening the very stability of governments, says a just-released study (pdf) by the conservation group WWF. Rebel groups are using funds from trafficking to purchase weapons and finance civil conflicts and even terrorist cells.

John Scanlon, secretary general of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), said that rebel groups are literally “cashing in” on world-wide demand for elephants, tigers and rhinoceros, whose body parts are in high demand in parts of Asia for use in traditional medicine. In northern Cameroon, Chad, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, 450 elephants were slaughtered last year and their ivory directly used to finance arms and bribe government officials. The number of rhinos killed for their horns (worth some $600,000) has risen from about 20 a year to an expected 600 this year.

The illegal sale of animals and plants is, says the study, the fourth largest kind of illegal trading in the world, after narcotics, counterfeiting of products and currency and the trafficking of people.

The study is based on interviews with 15 government officials and seven representatives of international organizations that deal with trafficking. But two government officials objected to answer questions about government corruption and Vietnam, which has become a central market for the illicit trade in rhino horns, refused to participate.

Organized Crime Has Entered the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Even more, the WWF report suggests that “power and sophisticated crime syndicates” are behind a huge rise in the illegal wildlife trade. The internet has also played a role as it has made illegal products available to many, many more while advanced technologies (helicopters, night vision goggles, automatic weapons) has meant that animals are more at the mercy of poachers than ever. Law enforcement and other current efforts to stop trafficking is simply inadequate, as WWF president Carter Roberts says in the Guardian:

It has been a failure. We are losing these populations in front of our eyes. It is being outgunned in terms of technology. It is being outgunned in terms of resources, and it is being outgunned, worst of all, in terms of organisation.

Just on Monday, Vietnam and South African signed an agreement to curb rhino poaching. But the U.S. bears a huge responsibility to take action as it is the second largest destination for smuggled goods made from endangered wildlife. Following the recognition that organized crime and “violent rebel groups” have entered the black market in wildlife trade, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has upgraded trafficking from a conservation issue to a national security threat in November.

The WWF study makes all too clearly how political conflicts put not only citizens but a country’s wildlife at risk. In a positive sign, Google has awarded WWF a $5 million grant for aerial drones to track poachers and endangered wildlife. But, as the Guardian observes, “the overwhelming takeaway from the report was the failure of political will in some countries to deal with trafficking.”

How can we create not only awareness but understanding about how governments around the world are letting their natural wealth — wildlife and plants unique to their countries alone — be hunted to elimination, with terrible long-term repercussions for economic stability and, ultimately, political security?

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/how-poaching-endangers-elephants-and-our-own-security.html#ixzz2FKfSKGyr

Agent M · Jan 22, 2013

MIST;3426266 said:
There are about 50,000 Asian elephants left on earth today. Hence is 40 000 wild and 10 000 domestic.
• There were more than 10 million elephants in Africa 100 years ago.
• There were 1.3 million African elephants 1979th Today they are less than 600 000.

Regarding the precipitous drop in the population, in the second paragraph of this article I found a rather alarming and astonishing statistic that sadly seems quite plausible:

African elephants ‘face extinction in 15 years’

The mighty African elephant may become extinct in just 15 years’ time due to the illegal ivory trade, unless steps are taken to arrest unrestricted poaching.

Poachers slaughter 104 elephants every day for their valuable tusks and the International Fund for Animal Welfare has warned that unless immediate action was taken, the animals would disappear from the wild within a generation, the Sunday Express reported.

In fact, conservationists are demanding an international crackdown on the ivory industry some 20 years after it was supposedly prohibited. The worldwide illegal trade in wildlife is third only to drugs and arms, and is worth an estimated £12.5 billion a year.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare is calling on the European Union and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to stop supporting occasional supervised ivory sales.

Instead, they are urged to back Kenya’s proposal to extend the current “resting period” on elephant and ivory decisions from nine to 20 years at the next CITES meeting in March 2010.

Robbie Marsland, Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: “Most people will be shocked to hear that, 20 years after the ban on the international ivory trade, elephants in Africa are still threatened by commercial poaching.

“The ivory trade must be banned once again, and comprehensively, if we want to prevent the extinction of elephants.”

Illegal ivory is now used as currency in East African conflicts in much the same way as “blood diamonds” were in civil wars across West Africa in the 1990s. The demand for ivory in the Far East, particularly China, has reached record levels, the newspaper said.

Chad’s Zakouma National Park had 3,885 elephants in 2005 but by 2009 the figure had plummeted to just 617. At least 11 rangers were killed by poachers there over the same period.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/en...-face-extinction-in-15-years/article35505.ece

Sadly, I think it's just a matter of time until the inevitable occurs as the forces working to conserve these magnificent creatures are overwhelmed by those working to exploit them.

Frankyboy5 · Jan 23, 2013

I think MJ also had another meaning to "have we lost their trust". We have in many cases...

I'm not sure how true they are but there are many stories out there of elephants killing humans for revenge, and even eating their corpses. They have quite an organized society and good memory as well, and they feel pain like if a loved one is killed...

jamba · Jan 23, 2013

"You'll do ANYTHING for MONEY'--the creed of too many humans

MIST · Mar 2, 2013

Posted: 28 February 2013
Across Africa, elephants are being slaughtered by poachers in record numbers -- and their tusks hacked off with chainsaws -- to make luxury items, statues and trinkets in Asia. But in days, Thailand will host a key global summit on illegal trade in endangered species, giving us a rare chance to stop this futile massacre.

Thailand is the world’s largest unregulated ivory market and a top driver of the illegal trade.They’ve been in the hot seat for years, yet so far little has been done to clamp down on their role in the elephant attack. But Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has just announced that she is considering a full ivory ban. That's why we started a global petition on the Avaaz site, to give this campaign the last push it needs to win.

 This is the best chance we’ve had in years to have a meaningful victory for Africa’s elephants -- we just need to put people power behind it. Join me now to stop the bloody ivory trade. Sign the urgent petition and share it with everyone.

- Leonardo DiCaprio

http://avaaz.org/en/save_the_elephants/?leo

MIST · Mar 10, 2013

"With support from WWF Board Member Leonardo DiCaprio, the campaigning group Avaaz.org and all of you, we helped secure a commitment from Thailand's prime minister to end the trade of ivory in Thailand.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra stood before a crowded hall of delegates attending an international wildlife trade meeting and told the world that she would take steps to end the ivory trade in her country. This commitment would close a major global loophole that contributes to tens of thousands of elephant deaths every year.

It was a decision that did not come easily, and would not have happened if not for you. You were part of a 1.4 million-strong petition urging her to stand up for elephants and ban Thai ivory trade.

This is an enormous step forward in the fight to stop wildlife crime.

WWF will continue to work to ensure that today's promise becomes a reality. We are urging the Thai government to provide a detailed timeline outlining the steps they will take to follow through on this pledge.

I urge you to take a moment to read more at worldwildlife.org about the historic decision that you helped to make happen."

MIST · Jun 15, 2013

Big celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton and Blink-182's Mark Hoppus took to Twitter to fight for a great cause.

They began tweeting on behalf of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), hoping to make them "fan favorite" for the Google Global Impact Award.

Guess what happened…
When you combine lots of celebs, with their millions of followers, you get the ZSL an over $700,000 grant from Google!!

That's right! They won!

The ZSL is going to install cameras with automated sensors near poaching hotspots at Tsavo National Park in Kenya.

This will literally save hundreds of animals because the high-tech cameras can even detect vehicles vibrations and triangulate the sound of gunshots!!

The director of fundraising for ZSL said:

"It’s fantastic to have won this important Google grant, and we couldn’t have done it without the overwhelming support from our VIP friends and the public. These life-saving cameras will help stop the slaughter of rhinos, elephants, and more, before it’s too late."

It's predicted that poaching will go down 50% at the park within the next two years because of the cameras!!

That's so incredible!! Way to go, Leo and friends!!

http://perezhilton.com/teddyhilton/...t-to-stop-poachers-google-global-impact-award

MIST · Jul 13, 2013

Calls for an investigation are mounting as a heart wrenching video gains attention online. It shows an aged circus elephant drowning in a river, while her owner’s brother jumps and cavorts on her as she helplessly flails under water and dies.

The ill-fated 48-year-old circus elephant, Madi, was a star attraction at Daniel Renz’s traveling show, Universal Circus Renz. The German circus was on tour in Estonia when this incident occurred in early June. Bystanders captured the entire event on video.

It’s clear from the footage that Madi was old and frail. According to animal rights activist group Pro Wildlife, Madi was too old and too frail to keep touring with this circus, a fact they reportedly told Renz previously.

Madi apparently had been taken to a river in the town of Narva, Estonia, for a bath. In the video, Madi at first appears to be enjoying the water, flipping it up across her back with her trunk. Her joy quickly evaporates, however, when she loses her footing and falls into the water onto her side.

The next few harrowing minutes of video show a man identified as Rene Renz, brother of owner Daniel Renz, immediately leaping upon Madi’s submerged body. He perches on her, alternately standing and jumping on Madi’s side. He even dives off her flank into the water and then climbs back on for more hijinks.

The man makes no obvious effort to help her regain her feet or to lift her head or trunk high enough to allow her to breathe. He makes no pleas for assistance. Indeed, it would appear that his sitting, standing and jumping on Madi likely made it impossible for her to right herself and stand up.

No help arrives, despite a number of people watching from the riverbank. Within minutes, Madi drifts further into deeper water and dies. A collection of bystanders pulls her body to shore, where the man identified as Renz leaps upon her yet again. Later, photos show that heavy machinery lifted her body into a dump truck and hauled Madi away.

Prior to Madi’s death, at least four complaints were filed asking Estonian officials to investigate allegations that she suffered from abuse and ill-treatment at the hands of the Renz circus. While the Renz circus was in the town of Talinn, protestors claimed Madi had been punched. During her stay in Talinn, Madi appeared “old and weary“ according to the director of the Talinn Zoo.

Other concerns may prompt investigation of this heartbreaking incident as well. There are reports that Madi was wild-born. Estonia and Germany are signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which would presumably make the Renz family’s use of a wild-born Indian elephant a violation of the CITES prohibition on using endangered or threatened species in circuses.

The Estonian press reports that veterinary officials conducted an inspection of Madi’s living conditions and health on May 17. They determined she was healthy and well fed, and there were no signs of physical abuse.

The veterinarian who examined Madi’s body determined she died of heart failure.

According to the Estonian press, a “61-year-old animal tamer” has been fined 400 euros (about $520) for “mistreatment.” At this point, local authorities are not pursuing criminal charges.

Other videos on YouTube show Madi during a Universal Circus Renz performance and interacting with the public at some sort of outdoor appearance. In this latter video, Madi very obviously does not want to be put back into the big truck used to haul her around.

Madi’s body was buried in a forest near a town called Auvere. So ended the sad life of an old and weary German circus elephant.

When the circus comes to town, remember Madi. It may be easy for some to dismiss this situation as having happened in Estonia, not the United States. But the plight of circus elephants is a worldwide embarrassment, even in the U.S.A. Be mindful of the entertainment you choose to support with your dollars.

Elephants can’t tell you how the circus treats them. In this case, though, the doomed Madi shows you. The video stands as a frank and sobering indictment of the “entertainers” who cared so little for this elephant that she was allowed to die slowly, choking in a river, while bystanders watched and laughed.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/heartbr...ile-caretaker-jumps-on-her.html#ixzz2YuV7L3iS

You can see the video in the link
Make a protest
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/220/...busing-an-elderly-elephant/?z00m=20593554#taf

MIST · Jul 19, 2013

July 18th, 2013 by Deborah Robinson

Long-suffering elephant Nosey is being forced to give rides at the Berlin Fair in Marne, Michigan this week from July 15 through the 20th.

IDA has informed the fair of exhibitor Hugo Liebel’s decades of documented abuse and neglect of Nosey, who he’s now calling Tiny. Now, the fair organizer needs to hear from you.

Liebel was recently fined as the result of USDA charges claiming more than 30 welfare violations for which Liebel had repeatedly been cited between 2007 and 2011. These included failure to provide adequate veterinary care as well as safe handling violations that put Nosey and the public at risk.

In April, Nosey was barred from entering Maine because a TB blood test showed that she carries the antibodies for the disease, and because Liebel had failed to do required follow-up testing.

And now the Berlin Fair is giving Liebel yet another chance to profit from his appalling treatment of Nosey. Nosey is constantly chained except when giving rides or performing unnatural tricks. Her terrible skin condition persists. Liebel’s mishandling presents a constant danger to Nosey and to the public. No fair should support an exhibitor with such a history of contempt for Nosey’s welfare or for laws intended to protect people and animals.

IDA and our members have worked tirelessly on behalf of Nosey for years, and she needs your help again.

Please send a brief, polite email today to:
info@BerlinFair.org, asking them to cancel elephant rides at the festival.

Please use your own words, considering the following suggested points:

•Liebel was recently fined for violations of federal animal welfare law including failure to provide Nosey with adequate veterinary care as well as safe handling violations that put Nosey and the public at risk.

•Liebel continues to mishandle Nosey and threaten her safety and that of fair goers.
•Elephants used for rides, like Nosey, spend their lives in chains and in the tight confinement of trucks and pens, constantly transported around the country.
•Elephants like Nosey are wild animals. Handlers control them through dominance with the bullhook, a steel-tipped weapon similar to a fireplace poker that is used to strike, stab, prod and intimidate elephants into obedience.
•Since 1990, there have been at least 13 deaths and 120 injuries in the U.S. attributed to elephants. Nosey herself has injured a handler.
And please leave polite comments on the fair’s Facebook page, as well.

As always, thank you for all you do for the elephants!

http://www.idausa.org/suffering-elephant-nosey-needs-your-help-today-2/

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