Sussexes share snaps for World Elephant Day

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared some pachyderm photos on their Instagram account on Monday in honour of World Elephant Day.

“Today is #WorldElephantDay and we are pleased to announce that since we followed our friends at Elephants Without Borders on Instagram in July, when we were celebrating the environment, you and our friend, The Ellen Fund, have spread the word and EWB have been able to protect 25 elephants by fitting them with satellite navigation collars,” the post begins.

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???????? Today is #WorldElephantDay and we are pleased to announce that since we followed our friends at @ElephantswithoutBorders (EWB) on Instagram in July, when we were celebrating the environment, you and our friend @TheEllenFund (@TheEllenShow) have spread the word and EWB have been able to help protect 25 elephants by fitting them with satellite navigation collars! These collars allow the team at EWB to track the elephants, as well as to learn their essential migratory patterns to keep their corridors safe and open so future generations of elephants can roam freely. In honour of this amazing support, EWB have named their most recently collared Elephant…ELLEN! We can’t wait to see where she will go! ? Two years ago on World Elephant Day, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Dr Chase to help in this conservation effort. Below, a few words from Mike and his partner Kelly at EWB: • ‘Today is a day to honor and celebrate the majestic elephant and to make a strong stand for conserving and protecting one of the world’s most beloved animals. elephants are intelligent, sentient beings capable of emotions from joy to grief. They are ‘environmental engineers,’ a key-stone umbrella species, and the fight to save them is in effect, a fight to save entire ecosystems and all wildlife. Today elephants are facing many challenges; habitat loss and competition for resources creates conflict with humans, climate change and fires destroy much needed resources and poaching for the demand of ivory makes elephants bigger targets than ever. African elephants are especially prone to human-wildlife conflict because of their large home ranges. Finding, preserving and creating elephant corridors is therefore of great importance in helping to maintain habitats suitable for movement and minimising human-elephant conflict. Corridors are a mitigation technique to better the livelihoods of local communities and the elephants themselves, by providing environment and ample space for wildlife to navigate from one habitat patch to another, without affecting the livelihoods of communities.’ • EWB – Dr Mike Chase, Ms Kelly Landen . ? by DOS © SussexRoyal Additional photos: EWB

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Aug 12, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

The photos were taken by Harry – with some supplied by Elephants Without Borders – during a trip to help support the charity’s founder, Dr Mike Chase, two years ago.

“These collars allow the team at Elephants Without Borders to track the elephants, as well as to learn their essential migratory patterns to keep their corridors safe and open so future generations of elephants can roam freely.”

According to Elephants Without Borders, corridors are “a mitigation technique to better the livelihoods of local communities and the elephants themselves, by providing environment and ample space for wildlife to navigate from one habitat patch to another, without affecting the livelihoods of communities.”

Harry and Meghan revealed that Elephants Without Borders also named their most recently collared elephant after Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian and talk-show host who launched The Ellen Fund to help save the elephants.

The Sussexes also shared the words of Dr Mike Chase and his partner, Kelly Landen, in honour of the day. The two are quoted as saying that “today is a day to honour and celebrate the majestic elephant and to make a strong stand for conserving and protecting one of the world’s most beloved animals.”

They caution that “elephants are facing many challenges” today, including “habitat loss and competition for resources” which creates conflicts with humans. Elephants also struggle against climate change and fires, which destroy “much-needed resources, and poaching for the demand of ivory makes elephants bigger targets than ever.”

World Elephant Day was launched on 12 August 2012 to draw attention to the plight of the Asian and African elephant.

“The escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity are just some of the threats to both African and Asian elephants. Working towards better protection for wild elephants, improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and trade of ivory, conserving elephant habitats, better treatment for captive elephants and, when appropriate, reintroducing captive elephants into natural, protected sanctuaries are the goals that numerous elephant conservation organizations are focusing on around the world,” reads the World Elephant Day website.

The organisers ask that on World Elephant Day, people use their platforms to express concerns, share knowledge “and support solutions for the better care of captive and wild elephants alike.”

World Elephant Day was started by Canadian advocate Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand, which is an initiative of Queen Sirikit of Thailand.