A TRIBUTE: World Elephant Day

Today, August 12, is World Elephant Day. It’s a day to celebrate the world’s largest land mammal. A day to share cute photographs of your favorite ellie. A day for telling stories of how you first fell in love with elephants.

Why? Because in telling stories and sharing memorable pictures, we raise awareness and engender care for these amazing animals that may otherwise be extinct in Africa within the next twelve years. There are roughly 600,000 African elephants and 30-50,000 Asian elephants in the wild. And some estimates are that one elephant is killed by poaching every 12 minutes. And what can we do to stop this? While there are a lot of real and practical things we can do (NEVER buy ivory, sign petitions to your government asking for stricter law enforcement for illegal ivory, sponsor an orphaned elephant, March for Elephants on October 4 to raise awareness about poaching, just to name a few!), WE BELIEVE ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IS TO SHARE YOUR STORY. 

On our facebook page, we asked for stories of how YOU fell in love with elephants.  These stories were so moving, we wanted to share them here. See how a simple story, just a few lines long, can help change the world.

Seeing one for the first time when I was around 9…and been in love ever since

I see them very close up at a Lodge in the Pillansberg Game Reserve, South Africa. Once you look into their eyes, you will love these intelligent and wonderful animals forever

Visiting Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand. Love at first sight.

I have never met a real elephant although I hope to next year in Kenya and then the next year in Thailand. But what led me to love them so much is just reading the stories about how loving they are, how the matriarch takes care of her family and how social they are even to the point of protecting other species in danger . As I have learned more about them I’ve fallen more in love with them each and every day. That’s why I can never , ever understand how someone could kill one ! It’s beyond my comprehension !

My cousin brought to me a yellow elephant plushie, when I was about a month old. Tuffi was (and still is!) the love of my life. The elephant love led to a ‘big’ problem of nearly 3,000 pieces of collectibles (but none with ivory! That was and IS strictly forbidden!). I have no children and cannot expect someone else to love my collection like this, so I wrote into my last will, that all pieces have to be auctioned and the funds go to an elephant organization, one day… far from now.
And I’ve fostered two, also give a monthly share to an elephant hospital.

A shaman lady from Kameroon recently told me, that - if I’m addiceted to elephants, that means I have been one in one of my former lifes or I owned one. And once fallen in love with an elephant, he’ll find me - wherever I may be!

How does one not fall in love with these beautiful creatures??

Through a friend, her birthday was yesterday. She was murdered in Philadelphia… She taught me and our circle of friends about the majestic power, wisdom, beauty and loyalty of elephants.

Falling in love with elies is the easiest thing you will ever do. Spend time in silence with the gentle giants.

It may sound silly but for me it was the movie Dumbo… oh how I cried every time I saw the caged mother rocking her baby thru the bars to the strains of “Baby Mine, (don’t you cry)”… it still can make this baby cry like, well, a baby! ~ I have never been to a Zoo or a Circus… there was always something un-natural about that habitat… and I never really understood why… until now… I am the loudest voice in the room and probably annoying beyond belief… but I will not stop… their story has to be told and we must protect them at all costs! ~ To quote John Kay who was probably quoting someone else… “Elephants are the keepers of ancient secrets, for they walked this earth when it was young” ~ I have never forgotten that and it still brings tears to my eyes.

When my Great Uncle passed away, I was asked if there was anything of his that I would like, as a keepsake. I was 11 at the time and I chose his two wooden elephants. My collection just grew from there. They are such beautiful, majestic animals, how could anyone not fall in love with them - just look into their soulful eyes

I am sure I saw elephants at the zoo when I was a little girl, but not until I noticed how bad the poaching is getting is when I realized how really beautiful they are and how much I fell in love with them especially the Orphans. They are the true souls of Love and Emotion. I am fostering an Orphan now and hope to foster more in the future.

When i still was a baby! Each afternoon, in a little province in France, there was on the radio the Babar’s story i heard it with my mother and i cried so much! I’am sixty now!!! And i still love Babar and all his world’s fellows!  And we went to Africa where we spent 25 years…But i never had the pleasure to meet an elephant, except from the plane where i saw them free in the savanna!

I fell in love with elephants because they are the most magnificent animals God ever let live on this earth.

So what’s YOUR story? What are you waiting for? Share it today!