How  you  and everybody  can  help  to  save  elephants

- A  Collection  of  Ideas -

Please sign all petitions that demand measures to protect the elephants. And once you have signed, please forward the petition to others to sign, too. You  can find petitions of importantance for elephants  HERE.

Whenever you find demonstrations for elephants taking place in your area: Join in! And bring someone along! With your presence you urge governments and policy makers to become active. The more people take part in a demonstration, the more political weight they have. Each single person is important to achieve this weight! Every year the international demonstrations of the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (GMFER) are organized end of September or beginning of October. They are taking place in far more than a hundred places on earth.

Moreover, often there are demonstrations and events on World Elephant Day - which is 12th August -, or on any other day during the year.

Upcoming demonstrations can be looked up HERE.

You can also find important information on this website: www.march4elephantsandrhinos.

If you would like to organize a demonstration yourself, it would be even better! You can find information in the internet on how to organize and from which authority in your area to get a permission from. Such an event does not always have to be a big one. Few people may be enough if you want to distribute flyers, for example, or collect donations, or put up an info desk somewhere.

- Ask the ministry of the environment in your country

•  to support a complete international ban in ivory trade without any exceptions,
•  to introduce a national ban in ivory trade, too, for all sorts of ivory (new, old, antique, raw, carved, and of any size and weight),
•  to support an export ban of all kinds of ivory
•  to support a complete import ban for ivory, including a ban for hunting tropies.

- Ask China's ministry of the environment to close all loopholes in their national ivory market which shall be closed until the end of 2017.

- Ask Hong Kong's ministry of the environment to speed up the closing of their ivory market which is planned until the end of 2021 only.

- Ask the ministries of Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan to close down their national ivory markets, as these markets are big and very uncontrolled.

- Ask WWF who is the consultant of many governments, to support a complete and worldwide ban in ivory trade WITHOUT any exceptions. Every trade has to be stopped, and no form of ivory trade may ever be considered in the future.

There are only two options: Either we have elephants, or we have ivory trade. Having both is not possible.

1)  Inform your friends, family, and colleagues about the situation of elephants and their imminent extinction. It is important that more and more people get to know about these facts. Those who do not know anything will never have the chance to act. Knowing nothing means doing nothing.

2)  Spread the message by wearing a t-shirt, a bag, a cap with a corresponding slogan (e.g. 'Save the Elephants from Extinction!' or 'Stop the Ivory Trade!' or 'Ban all Ivory Trade!') or fix a relevant sticker on your car.

3)  Join groups or threads on social media (Facebook, Twitter a.s.o.) which are active for elephants or subscribe to pages and sites which supply information about the elephant situation - and spread these informations on social media.

Some examples for Facebook-groups/pages:

Elephant Warrior (LINK)

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (LINK)

A Facebook-page with beautiful elephant photos and videos:   Endearing Elephants

4) Distribute flyers with information on the situation of elephants. You can ask for flyers from every organization which supports elephants. You will get them free of charge. You can find some example organizations HERE.  Or you can simply use the flyers in the download below.

5)  Inform people by putting up an information desk on markets or similar suitable places and events. For information material you can contact organizations, as indicated above under 4), or use the flyer in the download below.

6)  Comment articles on nature/elephants/wildlife published in newspapers or journals and supply information about the elephant situation.

7)  Write letters to the editor of newspapers referring to the subject 'endangered elephants'.

8)  Ask broadcasting companies and TV stations to air more documentaries about the illegal wildlife trade and endangered animal species.

9)  Those who know celebrities or someone from the media, should try to convince him/her to campaign for the animals and their protection.

- write articles for magazines (company periodicals, association journals, school magazines)

- hold lectures

Take over voluntary work in an association that is concerned with elephants. (You can find some example organizations HERE.) NGOs often lack time and manpower. The range of activities is wide and diversified. Just ask!

1) Support an NGO financially which is occupied with the protection of elephants and their habitats. Donate for good elephant projects. You can find a selection of NGOs HERE.

2) Donating without own money: Collect donations for the support of NGOs which protect elephants, e.g. by organizing raffles, garage sales, donation parties and similar events.

Photo-tourism on game drives brings much needed money for wildlife into national parks. More rangers and antipoaching units can be paid so that the animals get better protection. The more photo tourists there are in an african country, the less hunting tourism and the less poaching will be there.

It should be a matter of course, but once again:

NEVER EVER BUY OR SELL IVORY!

Neither inland nor abroad nor buy 'antique' ivory objects. And never accept one as a gift as well.

Every purchase of ivory stimulates demand and thereby the killing of elephants.

Every piece of ivory however small it may be, means that an elephants has died for it.

Whoever it buys, keeps supplies coming and causes the killing of another elephant.

Buying ivory is like buying a bullet.

Do not display ivory which you might own from former times or generations! Put it out of eyeshot. Do not wear jewelry made of ivory. Owning ivory is nothing to be proud of. Ivory products in households are only the evidence of how elephants are pursued for their tusks by humans.

To dispose of your ivory the best way is to hand it over to an organization which will destroy it in a suitable way. For example, IFAW is collecting ivory objects for destruction. You can also ask the NGOs in the link HERE.