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There are several ways you can contribute to our mission—and the mission of those all over the world working to develop solutions to the crisis facing elephants and ensure their survival.
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Crisis Facing Elephants
Elephants are highly intelligent animals whose continued existence is threatened.
Loss of habitat, human-elephant conflict, and poaching for ivory and bushmeat are great threats to elephant populations. As of 2013, the Asian elephant population had experienced a 90 percent decline in the past 100 years and some experts suggest 95 percent of their original habitat has been lost over the same period. Estimates vary, but most agree that there has been a 75 percent decline in the elephant population in Africa. Today there are thought to be between 300,000 and 500,000 wild elephants in Africa and less than 60,000 wild elephants in Asia. Asian elephants are recognized as critically endangered and African elephants are recognized as endangered.
Since the third millennium BC, elephants have been held in captivity. They have been used as beasts of burden, tools of war, and objects of interest and curiosity. In 1796, an American merchant imported a young female Asian elephant for exhibit, the first in North America. Throughout the 1800s, the demand for elephants in exhibits and circuses increased significantly. Young elephants were being captured from the wild at an early age, separated from their family herds, and sold to a life of performance, travel, confined spaces, and exhibition.
By the late 20th century, research and observation led many to conclude that elephants are highly intelligent and emotionally complex animals whose needs are difficult to meet in captivity. In 1995, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee was founded as a refuge where captive elephants could safely live out their lives in a natural habitat setting in the company of other elephants.
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Your support allows us to provide elephants home, herd, rest, refuge, and individualized care for life.
I Pledge To Speak Out
You can Speak Out for elephants by sharing what you know with your friends and family, speaking up if you’re concerned for an animal’s welfare, asking your local officials to prevent permits to shows traveling with wild/exotic animals, and expressing your support for bills that protect wild/exotic animals.
I Pledge To Shop Smart
You can Shop Smart for elephants by not buying or trading ivory, purchasing sustainable paper and wood products, supporting certified-sustainable palm oil products, and drinking shade-grown coffee.
I Pledge To Go Green
You can Go Green for elephants by saying no to single-use plastics, replacing regular lightbulbs with compact fluorescents, refueling with a reusable coffee mug, choosing used, and unsubscribing from catalogs and junk mail.
I Pledge To Travel Responsibly
You can Travel Responsibly for elephants by looking for GFAS and/or AZA accreditations when planning a visit to a zoo, nature park, or sanctuary in the US, choosing ecotourism operations that support local elephant conservation projects, and not riding elephants.