Sacred Elephants

Olivia Munn Gets Naked for Elephants in PETA's "Boycott the Circus" Campaign

If sex sells, can it also save elephants? PETA's famous "models in their own skins" marketing campaign is doing their part, as is television host and actress Olivia Munn (who audiences can see in Iron Man II, opening this weekend.)

Ms. Munn is painfully aware of how different her life as a Hollywood entertainer is from the lives of elephants entertaining in the circus. "They spend the rest of their lives performing silly, meaningless tricks out of constant fear of physical punishment, including beatings with bullhooks—sharp, metal-tipped implements that resemble fireplace pokers." Indeed. It's becoming well known that Ringling Brothers Circus beats animals. The video below is an interview with Olivia Munn after she saw some of the footage of abused circus elephants.

If you're reading via RSS or email, click here to watch the video.

Click through to the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website to read the rest of her interview. There's also a contest to win an autographed copy of her PETA ad. 

Sinya: Baby Elephant Orphan is Rescued

The team at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescued a new elephant on September 14th. Baby Sinya had the all-too-common misfortune of falling into a man-made well in the Amboseli region of Kenya. Sadly, she suffered from an overnight attack of hyenas nipping at her trunk before the rescue team could get to her, but they did manage to rescue the tiny babe and bring her back to the safe haven at the trust grounds.

There is a lovely photo-rich article of her rescue story online, including some beautiful photos of her with one of my favorite heroes, Amos. *Yay, Amos! Big hugs, soul brother! I'm so proud and happy to know you are doing this important work.*

After you read her story, please consider becoming a foster parent for little Sinya. She'll be needing food & medical assistance to repair her trunk. The minimum donation is only $50 a year, and the good people and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust will put it towards helping little Sinya and all the other orphans who have no elephant families--relying solely on the kindness of their human friends.

Click here to read more about Sinya's rescue.

Be Fashionable for Flora

I was browsing around the Ahali Elephants website, a philanthropic retailer that supports African elephant conservation, when I discovered the cutest t-shirts! They are a promotional item to raise funds for Flora, an African elephant rescued from a circus and transported to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennesse (which is one of my favorite organizations.)

Flora has already been rescued from the evil circus life and is retiring comfortably in the hills of Tennessee. However, elephant care is still an expensive rehabilitative endeavor, especially considering how much food they eat per day! The Ahili Elephants organization wants to secure enough funding to pay for Flora's lifetime care at the sanctuary, estimated at $200,000. They've raised half of that so far. For every t-shirt you buy off their website, 100% of the net profit ($10/shirt) will be donated to Flora's Endowment Fund.

I think the Free Flora t-shirts are (as they say here in California) "hella cute!" But if you'd rather skip the fashion statement and donate directly to Flora's fund, you can donate directly here. Personally, I was compelled to order the "Reach for the Stars" tank top you see in the above photo.

Oh, and in case you're wondering...the t-shirt manufacturer is Cafe Press, which is a print-to-order company. I've ordered their t-shirts before, and they're decent quality American-made bleached cotton fabric. Not organic or anything fancy, but they look nice and have designs that support artists and philanthropists that you might really like. I like elephant conservation, so I think they're great!

Join Me in Showing a Little Tiger Love

Help End the Tiger Trade!
The World Wildlife Foundation is working to protect tigers in Asia with a two-part philanthropy project. Part one is the photo mosaic, which will be presented to delegates from 171 countries at the June meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in the Netherlands. If you click through to their site, you can see the mosaic, and use the zoom to see the smiling faces of people who have already submitted their photos.

Mine's in there somewhere, contributing to the gold tones in the mosaic...

Photo ©2007 Jaya Savannah.

The second thing you can and should do (it's easy!) is to read up a bit on what China's been doing to turn a blind-eye to tiger poaching and the black market for tiger skins & parts, then send a letter to Chinese officials via the WWF Take Action online form letter service.

Please take a minute to join me in some cyber-philanthropy. It's really easy. Then also spread the word to others who you know will care about conserving these magnificent endangered creatures. Thank you.

My Little Sister & Her Adopted Elephant

My younger sister Erin will be 12 years old this month. She lives in another state, and I don't get to see her very often. When it's time for birthday and Christmas gifts, I don't always know what to get her.

Several years ago, I started a trend of buying her animal themed gifts. All children love animals, and I refuse to buy her the corporate branded toys and video games that are everywhere. Each year it's a different animal. Dolphins, gorillas, horses, penguins--I always choose one and buy her a stuffed toy and an educational book or DVD. Although I love elephants myself, I waited until she was old enough to really appreciate the gift of a foster baby elephant. The trust sends wonderfully-written monthly emails about the status of your adopted elephant, and I thought it would be even better if she was old enough to read the letters herself.

Last Spring, there was a new orphaned elephant at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust name Makena. When I was reading her rescue story, I learned that one of my foster babies, Lualeni had become protective of her adopted little sister. That's when I knew that Makena was the perfect baby to adopt for my sister's birthday. (The photo above is of Lualeni and little Makena.)

Recently, I was chatting with my dad's wife, who told me something my little sister had expressed: "Mom, I'm going to need to get a job. I have to support a baby elephant now!"

That is such unbearable cuteness that I can barely stand it. Me, too darlin'. Me too!

That endearing comment made it very obvious that I needed to renew her elephant fostering certificate for this year's birthday.

If you know an elephant lover, which includes ALL children, big & small, please consider the heart-warming gift of a foster baby elephant (or rhino.) It's only $50 per foster baby, and your money does so much good for the orphanage. Your gift recipient will really be touched as well. You can't help but melt when you read the keeper's diaries.

Click here to foster an orphaned elephant or rhino.

New Rescue Kilgoris Makes 13 at the Elephant Orphange

There is another new infant in residence at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust orphanage in Kenya. The 13 elephant babies make for a very full house! The keepers must really have their hands full. If you haven't adopted an elephant yet, now would be a really good time--surely their budget must be stretched to the maximum.

Baby boy Kilgoris is only a few weeks old. Apparently he got seperated from his family while crossing a river. It's so hard to keep up sometimes! Poor little tyke was swept away by powerful currents. He is now dependent on human kindness and the love of the other elephant orphans to replace his natal family.

You can read the complete story of Kilgoris' rescue here.

The Sheldrick website has magnificent photos of Kilgoris' rescue, but I'll add a couple from my collection that illustrate the airfield the story is talking about. It's not the type of asphalt-covered small airport like you'd see here in the United States.

Photo ©2005 Jaya Savannah.

This is a shot of the tiny dirt runway at Kichwa Tembo airstrip in the Maasai Mara. If you click on the photo, you can see a larger version by selecting "all sizes" at the top of the photo. Look closely, and you can see zebras grazing nearby! The conditions in which the Sheldrick team works are quite challenging. They've got to coordinate trucks and planes in remote areas so they can get the babies to the orphanage safely and quickly.

Photo ©2005 Jaya Savannah.

Asante sana, Sheldrick team! You're amazing!

Welcome Baby Kenze, the Newest Elephant Rescue

It's the first morning of the New Year, and I realized that I needed to check the balance on my donations for 2006. Several years ago, I committed to pledge at least 10% of my wages to philanthropy and have been blessed enough in my business that I've been able to do it. Looking at my records, I see that I was a fraction of a percent short of my goal, and rather than round up, I decided to make one more donation to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Photo copyright by Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

This new little boy, named Kenze after the village he was rescued near, is yet another victim of illegal ivory poaching in Kenya. The reason he's so emaciated is that he lived without his mother's milk for a long time. This little guy is about 2 years old, which is comparable to a 1 year old human baby. So even though these rescued orphans look pretty big and are strong enough to cause serious damage to a human, they are completely helpless and unable to survive on their own. Kenze was rescued from the brink of death, and I know from previous experience that his fate is still uncertain. What is certain is that my heroes at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust will do everything possible to nurse him back to physical and emotional health.

You can read about Kenze's rescue story in detail here.

If you'd like to also be a hero today, please consider donating $50 and become a foster parent of Kenze.

The Elephant Sanctuary Sells Holiday Cards

When I send holiday cards out, I try to find ones that are on recycled paper, have a charitable component, or something else with meaning besides the design and message. This year, I searched online through website after website for "elephant holiday cards."

After coming up empty handed, even on sites like Conservatree that has many "green" or philantrhopic card companies, but no elephants, it finally occurred to me that I should try going to an elephant organization that I know has an online store, such as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Success at last!

They have 4 styles of holiday cards with photos of elephants that have been rescued from various zoos and circuses. All the proceeds go directly to the charity, which is a wonderful organization that I've been enamoured with for some time. The cards are nice quality, too!

Happy Holidays! May peace be with you now--and always.
Love,
Jaya

The Elephant Sanctuary's Mission Statement:

The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation's largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants. It operates on 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee - 85 miles southwest of Nashville.

The Elephant Sanctuary exists for two reasons:

To provide a haven for old, sick or needy elephants in a setting of green pastures, old-growth forests, spring-fed ponds and a heated barn for cold winter nights.

To provide education about the crisis facing these social, sensitive, passionately intense, playful, complex, exceedingly intelligent and endangered creatures.

Sweet Little Lenana Needs a Mom

Whenever the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescues another wild elephant orphan, I'm both proud and deeply moved. But the story of baby Lenana's rescue really got to me, because it reminds me of my mom.

The letter I got from the elephant orphanage began, "we received news that a cow elephant had died on Ol Pejeta Ranch near Nanyuki, and with her was her milk dependent calf, who was desperately trying to awaken its dead mother."

Apparently, Lenana's mom had a serious illness that was undetected by people familiar with the comings and goings of the herd. She was terminally ill, and died as a result--leaving her 14 month old infant confused and scared. My own mother died six years ago this week. October always makes me feel those pangs of loss again. My mom was young, only 58 years old, and seemingly very healthy. Then she got sick one day. Within 3 weeks, she was dead. She had asymptomatic liver cancer. My brother and I suddenly found ourselves watching over her, trying to comfort her and each other as she was dying.

Lenana was rescued by my heroes at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. They flew her back to the orphanage, where they give lost little babies like Lenena a safe new home. I had the honor of meeting the keepers there last year, and learned how they give the little ones 24-hr care--even sleeping with them in their stalls. In the wild, a baby elephant would never be alone. So the keepers and other babies at the orphanage all circled round to love and protect our newcomer Lenana.

Read Lenana's complete rescue story by clicking here.

Copyright photo by Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

She's just a tiny infant, but Lenana looks really eager to communicate! She'll have to go through the grief process still--elephants are so incredibly sensitive and complex. But after she gets through the first fragile months of physical and emotional healing, I think she'll be one happy ellie!

The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust will do everything possible to help her grow up, and ultimately release her to roam the wilds of Tsavo in Kenya with the other rehabilitated rescues. To do that work, they need our financial support. I'm now one of Lenana's foster moms. If you'd like to join me in sponsoring her, click through here and Foster Lenana for as little as $50.

PS: Mom, I love you!