Save and Rescue an Asian Elephant Today

Hello Supporters, Donors and Friends,

Can you believe we're half way through the year? Well it's been rather fun and eventful over here in Asia. For this update, I decided to take a slightly different approach and do a bit of a deeper look back at exactly what we have achieved together, as well as give you a sneak peek into our latest milestones from the last three months!

We all know the global climate is serving up some unique financial challenges right now, creating a bit of a catch-22 for grassroots conservation. As life gets tougher for people, more communities are pushed into hardship, meaning the demand for our wildlife and human-elephant conflict work has skyrocketed just as general fundraising hits a quiet spell. Behind the scenes, we have done absolutely everything possible to strip our costs right back to the bare bones, so every single penny goes directly to the front lines.

But honestly? Our outlook remains fiercely positive, and that is entirely down to you! We deeply value every single person who reads these updates, shares our stories, or cheers us on. You are the absolute backbone of this mission.

15 Years of Big Ears and Grand Scale Impacts!

Looking back at where it all began, it is completely mind-blowing to realise we have been championing these gentle giants together for 15 years now! What started as a mission to fight the illegal street-begging trade and move tourism away from elephant-riding in Thailand has grown into an incredible legacy of major investments:

• The Ultimate Forest Retreat: We sponsored 3 elephants rescued from the harsh tourist streets, funding their return to a beautiful, rural forest where they have lived safely. Over a 13-year period, keeping these 3 beautiful "ellies" happy and healthy in the forest represented a fantastic $60,000 total investment into their freedom and survival!

• Top-Tier Rehabilitation: We covered the cost of delicious food and expert medical support for 15 rehabilitated elephants, ensuring they never have to face inhumane living conditions again.

• Expanding Our Footprint: After establishing a solid, permanent foundation of ethical tourism outreach and protection in Thailand, where our work remains highly active to this day, we officially expanded our footprint to Sri Lanka to help tackle the intense human-elephant conflict across Asia.

What We Have Done in the Last 3 Months!

We haven't been slowing down! Over the last quarter, our main focus has been heavily directed at the front lines of community safety and elephant conservation in our newly expanded territory in Sri Lanka, whilst keeping the wheels turning smoothly in Thailand:

• Massive Fencing Push: In just the last 6 months alone, we have funded around $20,000 in protective fencing in Sri Lanka! This is a huge milestone that keeps wild herds safely separated from community settlements.

• The Citrus Super-Weapon: Alongside physical fences, our flagship partnership with Project Orange is thriving. We have been actively distributing citrus fruit trees to local farmers. Elephants absolutely hate citrus, so these natural barriers keep wild elephants away from crops without the need for harmful deterrents, while giving local families an extra source of income from the fruit. Talk about a massive win-win!

The Catch: Turning Challenges into Big Dreams

While seeing these numbers and the massive scale of our impact is nothing short of spectacular, expanding our reach means our responsibilities have doubled. This brings us to our biggest hurdle right now: long-term planning.

Managing active, daily projects in Thailand whilst simultaneously building fences and deploying teams in Sri Lanka requires predictable funding. Right now, out of our amazing community of 1,602 supporters, we currently have just 1 single monthly donor on the books.

This means our work often has to be ad-hoc as we raise funds hard, deploy them immediately to the field, and then have to start fundraising from scratch all over again. We want to upgrade this into a smooth, sustainable program where we can plan our conservation work months in advance rather than reacting to crises, and we have a fun little dream to get us there.

Let's Dream Big For a Second!

Imagine if just 50% of our past donors felt able to set up a regular $5 (about £4) a month commitment. That would instantly create a roaring $4,000+ USD every single month!

With a regular heartbeat of funding like that, we could map out the next 15 years of elephant protection across both Thailand and Sri Lanka with total confidence. As the old saying goes, if you don't ask you don't get, so we are putting that big, positive dream out into the universe!

How to Be a Hero for Free!

We completely understand that everyone’s wallets are feeling the squeeze right now. If a monthly donation isn't in the cards for you, you can still be an absolute superstar. Please share our project link with your family, friends, or networks. Getting our work in front of fresh eyes around the world costs absolutely nothing and is incredibly valuable to us. Every single share really does count!

A Few Mind-Blowing Ellie Facts to Brighten Your Day!

• Did you know that elephants are the only mammals besides humans to have chins?

• Talk about a long wait... Elephants are pregnant for a whopping 22 months! That is longer than any other animal on the planet—nearly 2 full years!

• Why your support matters so much: Sadly, around 100 elephants are killed every single day for their ivory tusks. Your help keeps our teams active in protecting them from harm.

Save the Date: An Exciting Sign-Off!

As a massive thank you for sticking by us through thick and thin, we want to leave you with an exciting lifeline that is coming up next month.

Please grab your calendars and a big bright marker pen for the GlobalGiving July Bonus Day happening from 15th to 16th July!

During this special window, any donation you make up to $100 will be part-matched by GlobalGiving from a generous bonus funding pot. It is the ultimate way to stretch your support even further during these quiet summer months and maximise your impact for the elephants.

Thank you for being such a bright light for us, and for the communities and wildlife we protect. We could not do any of this without you!

With brightest wishes and endless gratitude,

Introduction 

Street begging and working in tourist camps significantly reduces the life expectancy of these endangered species. It diminishes their high cultural importance and places them in inhumane living conditions. Other threats include habitat loss and fragmentation with many elephants still in the wild being forced out of protected areas We cannot just put elephants into protected areas, therefore need new strategies and research to help these elephants remain safe and continue to populate

Report 

With more than 70% of the elephant population, in Thailand alone, being found outside of protected areas our goal is to provide safe and monitored habitats for these elephants to thrive. By doing this we hope to increase the population as well as rescue and rehabilitate the ones that are in critical and inhumane living conditions. These creatures have high cultural importance, therefore we hope by creating awareness we can encourage sustainable tourism that respects the animals. A donation of $25 feeds and elephant for a week.

Thank you for your support