Save the Elephants is a UK registered charity based in Kenya founded in September 1993 by Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Save the Elephants works to sustain elephant populations and preserve the habitats in which elephants are found, while at the same time fostering a heightened appreciation and visibility for elephants and their often fragile existence. The organization uses a four pillar approach to fulfill its mission statement, combining habitat protection, research, grass roots organization and involvement, and through disseminating information through television, films, publications and new media sources. Save the Elephants has been instrumental in helping to revitalize African elephant populations, while at the same time, increasing awareness in the many issues which threaten to erode elephant populations and the habitats in which they live. Iain Douglas Hamilton has played an integral role in stopping the illegal ivory trade throughout the world, while at the same time raising the profile of elephant conservation and awareness.
Projects
Primarily based in Samburu National Reserve in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Save the Elephants carries out rigorous studies of elephants, including elephant collaring and more recently, sophisticated elephant tracking techniques.
STE works on three fronts to stop the killing of elephants: anti-poaching, and enhancing anti-poaching efforts of others through our GPS tracking; antitrafficking, through initiatives to disrupt criminal networks and ensure enforcement; and demand reduction, by sharing awareness of the impacts of buying ivory with the top consumer nations.
Save the Elephants conducts vital on elephant behaviour and ecology and pioneered GPS radio tracking in Africa to provide fresh insight into the secret life of elephants. After over 15 years of intensive monitoring the elephants of Samburu are one of the world's best-studied populations. The organisation also assists in implementing a UN-level programme to monitor the illegal killing of elephants and solid scientific data has helped shift international policy towards a future for the species.
Elephants are intelligent creatures with complex levels of consciousness and STE intends to bring this to the world's attention. They disseminate this locally and internationally through films, publications, a computerised elephant library, a news service, social networks and the website. They involve local people in research and education to develop a conservation ethic based on local knowledge and elephant needs, and recognize that the best potential ambassadors for elephants are the people with whom they share their land.
Beyond the current poaching crisis lies a deeper threat to the future of elephants. The human footprint is rapidly expanding across Africa but elephants need large ranges to survive. By understanding elephant needs and movements through GPS tracking research Save the Elephants is working to preserve vital migration corridors and ensure an elephant-friendly landscape. Where people and elephants already collide, the Elephants and Bees project is proof that win-win solutions exist.
Elephants and Bees
STE started a charity, Elephants and Bees, that uses african bees to reduce the problem of elephants destroying crops on small farms in Africa and Asia.
Ivory Ella
News service
Since 2000, Save the Elephants has been running the world's only free email dedicated to disseminating , publications and resources on both the Asian and African elephants. This service is run by researcher Melissa Groo, based in the United States. Between the African and Asian news services the email list has grown to over 1000 members worldwide including scientists, students, conservationists, policy makers, park managers and zookeepers.
Films
Save the Elephants has been featured in numerous film, television and print articles, including National Geographic. The BBC Natural History Unit series The Secret Life of Elephants, screened in 2009, featured Iain and his work. Save the Elephants has teamed up with Google Earth Outreach to efficiently track and protect herds of African Elephants from poachers. This partnership has given them the ability to monitor migration movements and notify the Kenyan Wildlife Service if anything seems to have gone awry. Save the elephants is also partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Network
