Join PAWS in Celebrating World Elephant Day!
Saturday, August 12, is World Elephant Day
, a time to raise awareness about the decreasing number of Asian and African elephants in the wild and the plight of captive elephants exploited for entertainment and greed.
The eight Asian and African elephants we care for at PAWS' ARK 2000 sanctuary are living reminders of why these self-aware, highly intelligent, and emotionally complex animals so desperately need our respect and protection:
- Asian elephants Prince, Nicholas and Gypsy came to PAWS from circuses. As a calf, Nicholas was forced to perform tricks like riding a tricycle and walking a balance beam. Gypsy spent more than 20 years in the circus; she was traded between shows at least a half dozen times, and was chained for much of her life.
- African elephants Toka, Lulu, Maggie and Mara were born in the wild and brutally captured for display in zoos. Maggie was once the only elephant in Alaska! Thika was born in a cold-weather zoo. Sadly, zoos continue to import wild-caught African elephants and condemn them to lives in captivity.
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Mara by the African elephants' lake.
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Today these elephants traverse spacious habitats filled with trees, native vegetation, grass, and mud holes and pools for bathing and playing. Some lie down for naps on sunny hillsides. PAWS can never replicate the wild, but we can enrich their lives by providing more a dynamic natural environment and opportunities for them to 'just be elephants.'
Please make a donation today in honor of the elephants at PAWS - the only sanctuary to care for bull elephants! - and World Elephant Day.
It costs $70,000 per year to give just one healthy elephant a more fulfilled and natural life
. Your kind gift provides daily and veterinary care and proper nutrition, and supports PAWS' efforts to end the suffering of elephants in captivity.
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PAWS cares for two Asian bull elephants.
Prince (pictured) and Nicholas
are former circus elephants.
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You can make a difference for elephants on World Elephant Day and every day:
Educate others about the threats wild elephants face
, including habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, and poaching. Nearly 100 African elephants are slaughtered each day for their tusks, which are used for trinkets and status symbols. Never buy anything made of ivory!
Don't buy sham "conservation" claims
. Displaying elephants in captivity does not conserve them in their homelands. No elephant bred in captivity will be reintroduced to the wild. To save elephants we must protect them and their habitats so they can live free for generations to come.
Boycott circuses, elephant rides (including county fairs and Renaissance faires), or other "entertainment"
- at home and when traveling, including so-called "eco tours." Skip any film that uses live elephant "actors."
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper
, educating people about the need to protect elephants in captivity and the wild.
Pass a law in your city, county or state to end the use of elephants in entertainment.
For assistance, contact Catherine Doyle, PAWS' director of science, research and advocacy, at
[email protected]
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Make a donation to care for the elephants at PAWS!
