Elephant Words

Earlier this month we posted an acronym for ELEPHANT on our Facebook page and invited you to share with us ONE WORD that describes ELEPHANT to you. Some of the responses are quoted below:

Gift

Breathtaking

Divine

Grateful

Heartstopping

Magnificent

Majestic

Happy

Magic

Awe

Impressive

God

Beautiful

Worthy

The world’s largest mammal holds a dear place in the hearts of many around the globe. It’s horrifying to think that in as little as one decade, this species that is HEARTSTOPPING, MAGNIFICENT, BEAUTIFUL may be EXTINCT. That’s a word I hope to never see next to the word ELEPHANT.

Last weekend I spent an amazing day with a group of people dedicated to saving elephants (I’ll be sharing a post about our 2015 plans this weekend). After the meeting, I was given this picture by a 8-year-old girl who created it at school. The project was to input words into a computer program and then pick a picture for the words to become. She decided to make an elephant and filled it with these words:

Some of the words are cute - FLOPPY, “RINKLEY” (how she spelled WRINKLY), GRAY, AFRICA, HOT, MUD…but the one that stood out to me? AFRAID. That she is afraid elephants may go extinct. That the elephants are afraid of poachers and hunters coming to destroy their families. That African countries are afraid of loosing a keystone species and source of income through eco-tourism. That countries are afraid of terrorists who generate a large source of income from the illegal ivory trade. FEAR is now a word associated with ELEPHANT to an 8-year-old. And this breaks my heart.

So what can be done? Is all hope gone? NEVER! John Lennon once said,

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.

That’s what Elephantopia is working for - to build a community of people around the world who care enough to do whatever it takes to save elephants. Want to get involved? Join the herd today! We are looking especially for the following volunteers (you can live anywhere!)

• Grant writer(s)

• Volunteers for our upcoming Houston events

• Financial supporters for Kavala 

• Volunteers to gather people together in your community for elephant education events

• Bloggers who want to share a story about elephants, elephant conservation, and more

• Teachers/Schools interested in being pen-pals with schools in Zambia

If you’re interested to get involved in any of those ways, please send us a note below!