Elephant Voices

Greetings - we’re in California 17 to 29 October

elephantvoices — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:45:18 +0000

We hope to see some of you during our lecture and fundraising tour in California from 17 to 29 October. We’re having events in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and in San Francisco. Oakland Zoo is hosting a reception and lecture on 28 October.

You will find all relevant information about the tour, with links to invitations/flyers, here.

Best wishes, Petter

The Elephant Charter - visit and sign on!

elephantvoices — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:28:23 +0000

We are grateful if you are willing to spread the word about The Elephant Charter. The intention with the online Charter is to provide a set of guiding Principles, based on elephant biology, to form a touchstone for anyone needing to address elephant interests.

Buttressed by its Appendix, The Elephant Charter represents a consensus of the nature of elephants. It is intended to promote scientifically sound and ethical management and care of all elephants, providing guidance to law and policy makers, enforcement agencies and the courts, organizations, institutions and international bodies, as well as to managers of wild and captive elephants.

The Elephant Charter is independent of any particular group or institution. Rather, its force comes from the expertise and stature of the elephant biologists who are its signatories. Its authors, Joyce Poole, Cynthia Moss, Raman Sukumar, Andrea Turkalo and Katy Payne are eminent elephant field biologists representing the longest studied populations of African savannah, Asian and African forest elephants: the elephants of Amboseli, Mudumalai and Dzanga Bai. With four decades of groundbreaking research on wild elephants, together with the research of many colleagues, they are collectively in a position to speak with confidence about the interests of elephants wherever they may be.

On the site elephant biologists are invited to join as Signatories, and to take ownership of the sentiments reflected in The Elephant Charter and to uphold its Principles. So far close to 50 elephant biologists have signed on.

You will furthermore find an invitation to members of the public, who wish to make their voices heard, to add their names as Supporting Signatories.

The elephant in the well - Kibo and his new life

elephantvoices — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:05:23 +0000

In February we told the story about the baby elephant that fell into a man-made well west of Kilimanjaro, and how she ended up at the elephant orphanage at The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi.

You may read what we just posted on ElephantVoices, and see the video from the rescue either there or below. Sometimes a bad situation ends up ok - even though I’m sure Kibo is still missing his family!

ElephantVoices.org is back online - we hope you will visit!

elephantvoices — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:43:07 +0000

In todays newsletter, sent out to ElephantVoices friends and contacts around the world, we gave an introduction to the second generation ElephantVoices.org as well as touching on some of the issues that have occupied us over the last few months. Supported by programmers at Verviant.com in Nairobi, we have built a new cyber home. Our main purpose has been to develop an efficient, flexible and creative platform for the online sharing of information about elephants - their behavior, communication and interests.

We apologise for not being able to launch the news section and the Video Database at this stage. And you may find that some things don’t function as they should - please let us know! Our overall goal is to continue to expand and improve the site in the years to come.

We invite you to take a tour on ElephantVoices!

Best wishes, Petter and Joyce

Thank you!

elephantvoices — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:16:51 +0000

We’re very grateful for contributions from Alyne F., Gunn E., Anna M., Jeffrey H. and Michelle P. - your support is much appreciated! We hope you will visit ElephantVoices.org during next week!

Elephantvoices.org soon back online - Ringling case

elephantvoices — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:53:29 +0000

We have been quiet for a long time here on WildlifeDirect, mainly because we’re working so hard to get our new and substantially expanded www.elephantvoices.org back online. The new website is much more than a presentation of what we do - it is, and will increasingly be, a bank of information for anyone interested in elephants - their basic behavior, communication and welfare - in the wild and in captivity. As wild elephants are squeezed into smaller and smaller spaces there are a growing number of issues that affect their welfare and survival and we will be highlighting these. The website will be available in a week or so - we’ll inform you as soon as it goes online.

One of issues that has taken time and effort over many years, is Joyce’s participation as expert witness in the Ringling case. After 8 years of preparation (4 for Joyce) the case was finally heard in February. You will find a recent news update on KTNV ABC about the case here, and a link to Court Filings and Exhibits for the Ringling Bros. Elephant Abuse Case here. The verdict will be delivered by Judge Sullivan in a few weeks time.

Over the last four years we have also been working to convince the Norwegian government to ban the use of elephants in Norwegian circuses. One of three currently on the road, Circus Agora, decided to act before being told to and went animal-free this year. To show our support for the change we attended a performance when they were in town a couple of weeks ago. We were truly impressed by their program, and hope that more and more circuses around the world will follow suit. Circus Agora still has an elephant as a mascot - but this one has four legs and two bodies - one front and one back! Fair enough…

We wish all WD visitors and bloggers a great summer!

Joyce and Petter

Appeal for support related to our Sri Lanka project

elephantvoices — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:22:22 +0000

As we continue to plan for the next phase of our Minneriya-Kaudulla Elephant Project, we have been following the dramatic situation in Sri Lanka along with the rest of the world. We look forward to a peaceful future for all Sri Lankans!

It is more critical than ever to ensure the reduction of conflict between elephants and people - a goal at the core of our project. Marketing of beautiful Sri Lanka including Minneriya’s and Kaudulla’s elephants could in itself contribute toward a new era - from all perspectives sustainable tourism will be important for people AND for the conservation of wildlife.

Our Sri Lankan colleague, Manori Gunawardena, will be visiting us from 15th to 25 June. With new developments we have lots of planning issues to deal with as well as adding some 300 individual elephants into the project’s elephant ID database on our high-speed internet connection. Prior to Manori’s working visit with us, she will attend a GIS course at Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC to learn mapping techniques that are an integral part of the project. The cost for the course is covered by Smithsonian Institute.

The remainder of the budget for Manori’s travel from 30th May to 25 June is:

Flights: Colombo - UK - Washington - UK - Norway - Colombo, $1626
Lodging Washington: $1120
Visa UK and Norway, and airport transfer DC: $240

ElephantVoices is committed to cover the total cost of $2986, and in the current financial climate any contribution is highly welcome!

Cheers, Petter and Joyce

Matriarch and world renown Echo dies

elephantvoices — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:25:52 +0000

It is very sad that Echo, the Matriarch of our primary study group in Kenya, has died. She has been the leader of her family for over 36 years and through all of the research, books and media attention that has focused on her, she has become an icon for elephants. You can read the message from ATE Director Cynthia Moss here. Our thoughts are with Echo’s family - as this will be a disturbing time for them - with Cynthia, Soila, Norah, Katito and Robert in Amboseli, who have kept up with Echo’s daily life for so many years. All of us who knew Echo have been touched by her gentleness and wisdom, and many of us have sought solace in her presence during difficult times.

Echo has been mentioned in a few posts here on WildlifeDirect. Whenever we think of the Amboseli elephants, we think of Echo. During our field visit in December 2007 - January 2008 we did worry about Echo - since she looked thin and weak - and we are convinced that the ongoing drought has contributed to her demise.

We feel priviledged having been able to spend so much time with this gentle, caring, and wise elephant, who has been such an excellent leader for the EB family for decades.

Listen to the voice of Echo in a Let’s Go Call:

Echo and Emily Kate in January 2007

Thank you for your continued interest in the 1,500 elephants of Amboseli - Echo will live on as a symbol of them.

Kind wishes, Joyce and Petter

Mind and Movement: Meeting the interests of elephants

elephantvoices — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:06:47 +0000

Several WD visitors have asked us where they can get a copy of the book An Elephant In The Room: The Science and Well-Being of Elephants in Captivity. We do know that the book will be made available on amazon.com, but we are also aware that that may still take a bit of time. We will keep you updated. The opening chapter in the book, Mind and Movement: Meeting the interests of elephants, is written by ElephantVoices’ Joyce Poole and Petter Granli. You may open and download the chapter here (.pdf-file, 2,2 mb).

Cover photos by Petter Granli, ElephantVoices.

Elephant conference at PAWS, California, 24 to 26 April

elephantvoices — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:58:19 +0000

The Performing Animal Welfare Society’s (PAWS) 25th Anniversary Gala and Conference takes place at ARK2000 in San Andreas, California, from 24 to 26 April. Joyce is one of the keynote speakers, and will participate throughout the conference. Join leading wildlife and captive wildlife experts for an interactive full 3-Day Conference!