This World Elephant Day let’s do our part to save elephants. These gentle, grey giants are increasingly under threat from the illegal ivory trade, human wildlife conflict and habitat loss. Let’s not forget what a privilege it is to share our planet with these almighty, intelligent and emotional beings.
Below are ten elephant conservation projects carefully selected and vetted by the Bodhi Tree Foundation’s The Power of Ten Program. Each of these projects tackles a different aspect of elephant conservation including poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, lack of rehabilitation and veterinary care. Many of these are in dire need of your support. No matter how large or small, 100% of your donation it will go to your organisation of choice.
Help us support anti-poaching efforts to help protect wildlife in the newly established Garingani Game Reserve in Mozambique. Support will help enlarge the anti-poaching team to 60 members, establish a canine unit to help track and discourage poachers, and better equip the team with high-tech equipment as well as field equipment to keep the area well-protected from the scourge of poaching. DONATE
Help us provide critical support in enhancing WCS anti-poaching efforts in the Game Reserves north of Ruaha National Parks. Funds will provide rangers with more mobility, in coordination with aerial support, to reach key patrol areas, with the provision of 4–5 Yamaha XTZ 125 motorbikes. These bikes, famed for their toughness and reliability, will significantly improve ranger deployment. DONATE
Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe is one of Africa’s largest elephant sanctuaries and one of the last strongholds in Africa for elephants to be truly wild. Today, the country suffers from lack of tourism and funding to protect its wildlife. Friends of Hwange Trust (FOH) has installed 7 solar pumps so far and plans to install another 6 over the next two years. These solar pumps effectively pump water from boreholes using solar energy. Help us fund one solar pump unit for them, which can provide water for 500–1000 elephants per day. DONATE
Help us fund the mobile elephant clinic based at BLES to provide veterinary care to approximately 65 captive elephants living in this remote region. The clinic would not only provide critical veterinary services but also be a training opportunity for veterinarians and students to show responsible humane husbandry. Funds from this grant to Veterinarians International would provide a year’s salary for a junior elephant clinician. DONATE
Help us assist with the care of two new dogs, trained by Working Dogs for Conservation, at South Luangwa Canine unit to provide critical anti-poaching work in the region. These dogs will allow SLCS to expand their anti-poaching work to search airports, planes, cities, border posts and people who may be trafficking contraband in their clothes. Support will help fund expansion of kennels, veterinary support, recruitment and handler training and food for the dogs over the next 12 months. DONATE
Uganda’s elephants are a small, recovering population. They are still extremely vulnerable to the threats of bush meat and ivory poaching, which have risen over recent years. Help us support UCF’s work recovering the elephant populations of Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Parks by building two frontline ranger posts: 1) Ayago Marine Ranger Station and Ranger Post, to be located at the confluence of the Ayago and Nile Rivers, in Murchison Falls National Park and 2) Point 38 Ranger Post, to be located in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. DONATE
Help us support the launch and construction of the Kafue Conservation Project’s new Marine Anti-Poaching Unit (MAPU) and a newly established Special Anti-Poaching Unit (SAPU) in response to a recent upsurge in poaching incidents. The new MAPU will specifically target poachers who use lakes and waterways to enter the area and poach elephants. Funding will provide much-needed equipment, rations and supplies to these teams. DONATE
Help us fund the building of two separate watering points dedicated to wildlife to eliminate the conflict between humans and elephants and thus the incentive for retaliatory killings. Complete funding for this Big Life Foundation project would build two dedicated watering points for elephants in the area and supply both with water for one year. DONATE
The PEACE community project is a six year old community-based project to decrease human-elephant conflict between the people and the extraordinary desert-dwelling elephants of Namibia by conquering people’s fears about elephants, shift attitudes, and gain empathy so the elephants and people can live amicably together. Help us support EHRA’s PEACE Project with much needed resources to expand its mission to reach as many people. Funds go towards fuel, salaries, and participant materials. EHRA’s goal is to hold approximately 24 field seminars throughout the region for up to 20 people and conduct field trips for participants to observe elephants to positively change their attitudes toward elephants. DONATE
Most elephant habitats and corridors throughout Asia have been fragmented into islands. Elephant populations struggle to find enough food and water in the habitat that is left and, as a result, more elephants are seeking food in villages causing human-elephant conflict. Help us fund aerial monitoring and field monitoring surveys, critical equipment and supplies for patrols and legal services to prosecute traffickers and illegal loggers in one of the last remaining intact elephant corridors in Asia. DONATE
Original article published SaveAfricasElephants.com