The powerful, thought-provoking HBO-documentary An Apology To Elephants debuts on Earth Day on HBO & HBO GO' in the US, Monday 22 April, 7:00-7:45 ET/PT. The film explores the beauty and intelligence of elephants, and tells the troubling story of their exploitation in captivity.
An Apology to Elephants is a call for compassion and better treatment, and a plea to save what's left of the wild in our world.
ElephantVoices' Joyce Poole are among those presenting what elephants are about, and why they don't thrive in captivity.
You can watch the trailer for An Apology to Elephants at the bottom at this page, read the synopsis here and set a reminder by clicking on the screenshot to the right. You should know that all these pages may take quite a few seconds to load.
ElephantVoices is launching a campaign against the ivory trade, which is causing the slaughter of tens of thousands of elephants every year. Elephant expert and Co-Founder of ElephantVoices, Dr. Joyce Poole, observes, "It is with a sense of déjà vu and deep sorrow, though little surprise, that following the torpedoing of the 1989 ban by the 'one-off' sales of ivory stockpiles, we find ourselves living through, and battling against, another elephant massacre." Two weeks before the delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meet in Bangkok, Thailand, to discuss the fate of elephants once more, ElephantVoices reminds the world that each new tusk on the market means more death, trauma and destruction.
"We are asking people to help us reach out to potential buyers of ivory who don't realize that elephants are dying in record-high numbers for trinkets and decorations. The only way to stop this wanton slaughter of elephants is to choke demand for ivory and stop the trade," states Joyce Poole.
ElephantVoices is basing its campaign on two powerful pieces of graphic art by New York artist, Asher Jay. The artworks, with the slogans, EVERY TUSK COSTS A LIFE; DON'T BUY IVORY and EVERY TUSK COSTS A LIFE; STOP THE TRADE, target potential buyers and decision-makers, and are also specifically directed toward a Chinese audience. "ElephantVoices is doing something unique by making the graphic art available online in several versions, so they can be shared on social networks and be used for T-shirts, bumper-stickers, posters and banners", says Executive Director, Petter Granli.
"We urge people to share these messages far and wide, making them go viral. The poaching is endangering elephants, jeopardizing biodiversity, and threatening tourism, people's livelihoods and stability in elephant range states. The writing is on the wall for elephants and we must act now", says Joyce Poole.
Yellow Stars Shed Light
There are too many people buying ivory in too many countries. The current demand for elephant tusks is unsustainable and is swiftly mining Africa's elephants. The largest demand is in China and, hence, the Chinese government and her people have a special responsibility for taking a lead to end the decimation of elephants. China was permitted to buy a restricted amount of ivory from stockpiles, a decision by the international community that has caused immense harm to elephants. Ninety percent of the ivory available in China is from slaughtered elephants, illegally sourced, traded and sold. Chinese buyers deserve to know that tens of thousands of elephants are being killed to supply them with ivory. Every tusk costs a life.
China has the ability to raise public awareness and to enforce their strict laws to quickly strangle the trading, buying and poaching. China can stop her countrymen causing the destruction of Africa's heritage and biodiversity, while concurrently protecting her enormous investments on the African continent. We urge China to take action now to end any trade in ivory - we cannot afford to lose Africa's keystone species. 中国 Zhōngguó means China. Star power is needed to save Africa's elephants from extermination.
Family Values
An elephant's 'ivory' tusks are enervated teeth composed of dentine that grow throughout life, adding two centimeters each year. They are not shed like antlers, they do not drop out and they just cannot be removed from living elephants. To obtain them you must hack them out with an axe. The tusks of male elephants are much larger than those of females. Poachers target elephants with the largest tusks, killing the mature, breeding males first. When they are dead and gone, poachers set their sights on younger males.
Elephant societies today resemble human communities after a prolonged war - most of the elephant patriarchs, the big tuskers, are gone. There are no role models for the elephant sons. As the number of adult males available to kill declines, poachers turn to the older females - the leaders of elephant society. They kill the family elders first, taking out the matriarchs, one by one. As the price of ivory increases with rising demand, the poachers slaughter the elephant mothers and daughters, causing the disintegration of entire families. An elephant's child, like a human child, cannot survive without the loving care of its mother. Africa's elephant orphans are succumbing in droves to starvation, grief and death. Ivory traders and buyers are wrecking havoc on Africa's elephant families. The world has a moral obligation to protect elephant societies, surely a crucial test of human values.
About ElephantVoices
ElephantVoices was founded in 2002, and works globally for the interest of elephants. Its mission is to inspire wonder in the intelligence, complexity and voices of elephants, and to secure a kinder future for them through conservation, research and the sharing of knowledge. Co-Founder Dr. Joyce Poole is a world-renown elephant expert, and has studied them and worked for their conservation and welfare since 1975.
The National Geographic documentary War Elephants is due to air in most countries in Europe and Africa on Sunday 3rd June 2012, on National Geographic Wild. The US premiere was on 22 April. A Nat Geo Live! premiere screening took place in Washington DC on 14 March 2012, also announced on National Geographics Explorers Journal. The documentary led to several other media activities, such as an interview on Animal House and a live conversation on National Geographic Facebook page on 13 March, embedded at the bottom of this page. You can see a clip from the film through this link - with Joyce "Talking To The Elephants".
A few days after the screening on 14th March the documentary won a prestigous award in Sun Valley Film Festival - ONE IN A MILLION. This award honors feature length stories made for under a million dollars. War Elephants furthermore received merits for cinematography and wildlife behavior at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana. On 20th April Bob Poole talked about War Elephants on ABC Nightline. You may want to visit The Independent's Traveller's Guide: Mozambique, to read more about this fascinating country.
About War Elephants on National Geographic's website: "In Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, elephants are in crisis: Years of civil war and ivory poaching have left them frightened and hostile toward humans. In a new National Geographic Television film, the world’s foremost elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole, in a documentary by her brother, cameraman Bob Poole, works to build trust and retrain the animals away from their violent behavior."
Below you will find when War Elephants will be shown in different countries. The following countries are included under "Nat Geo Wild HD Eur Intl Feed", air time 3 June at 15.00: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greece, Georgia, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosavo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
War Elephants air time
People from 55 countries joined Joyce and Meigan Goodyer Henry in a live conversation on National Geographic Facebooks page, Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
On 11th May 2012 ElephantVoices had a Skype conference based on our Elephants in the Classroom: Meet ElephantVoices initiative. Joyce Poole met up with students from Boynton Middle School in Ithaca, New York. Teacher Corinne Morton was the one behind this educational meeting through cyberspace.
Corinne has written this summary from an online gathering Joyce enjoyed very much. Keep up the good work, Boynton Middle School!
Petter
I am a sixth grade science and humane education teacher at Boynton Middle School in Ithaca, New York. We are located in the heart of the fingerlakes and our school is about ten minutes from Cornell University. As an educator, my passion is exposing students to all sides of situations so that they may make informed decisions about how they spend their money and what they do or do not support.
I have always been interested and involved in elephant conservation and education, especially regarding life for these creatures in zoos and circuses. I often do curriculum work tied in with the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and have exposed my students to the research being done on elephant communication. I love to think of myself as Global Educator and link my students to scientific events worldwide as well as locally. We had the pleasure of having Melissa Groo come in to our classes to do a presentation on her experiences with the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell and elephants in general. I had also exposed my students to ElephantVoices and the work Joyce Poole has done over the years in elephant research. I thought it would be a wonderful experience to have my students Skype with her after seeing it on the website.
The students were beyond excited and still talk about the experience they had skyping with Joyce! I had a total of 120 students come up with questions for her and those students were split into four class periods to Skype. I was able to let small groups of students take turns in front of the camera asking their questions while I projected Joyce on the large screen for all students to watch. It all worked wonderfully!
My students wrote some reflective pieces on their experience skyping with Joyce and below you'll find a few.
From the sixth graders ( age 11-12):
"I learned a lot and it made me want to do something and inform other people about elephant voices!" Imaan Gruel.
"I love the skype effect...I thought Joyce Poole was funny and at the same time it was enlightening." Dylan Davenport.
"It was the best ever science lesson. I love skyping with Joyce Poole." Brian Conuel.
"I learned a lot from the questions you answered and thought it was cool that you were across the world talking to us! Thank you". Danielle Hemly.
"It was cool to meet one of the leading elephant scientists in the world! It also made me want to boycott animal circuses." (Not signed)
"I am Max and I speak for the elephants! I am convinced that poaching and circuses are horrible." Max Milton.
"I really enjoyed skyping with you. You gave many facts and a few stories that made us laugh. Skype was a great way to talk with you. I want to spread the word about ElephantVoices." Andreas Lambrou.
"I know that elephants are important to the world." Mohammed Williams.
"Joyce Poole, you are awesome, I like that you help elephants." Tysheem Randall.
"I learned a lot skyping and it made me realize how awesome elephants are." Dylan Morse.
"I learned elephant circuses are not for elephants or for any other animals." Shayla Szeto.
"Thanks for everything... I have actually been to Africa...I got to see a lot of wild animals. Elephants and other animals belong in the wild." Mariya Mayu.
"It was a very informational experience. For example, I learned that elephant tusks extend far into their skulls." Ben Carver.
"Thank you for skyping, it was a wonderful experience. Elephants are a great subject to research and I bet it is very interesting to spend so much time with them. I hope we meet again." Adelaide Tracey.
"It was very cool talking to you!" Thea Clarkburg.
The National Geographic documentary War Elephants is due to air in the US on National Geographic Wild on Sunday, 22 April 2012, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. A Nat Geo Live! premiere screening took place in Washington DC on 14 March, also announced on National Geographics Explorers Journal. The film led to several other media activities, such as an interview on Animal House and a live conversation on National Geographic Facebook page on 13 March, embedded at the bottom of this page. You can see a clip from the film through this link - with Joyce "Talking To The Elephants".
A few days after the screening on 14th March the documentary won a prestigous award in Sun Valley Film Festival - ONE IN A MILLION. This award honors feature length stories made for under a million dollars. War Elephants furthermore received merits for cinematography and wildlife behavior at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana. On 20th April Bob Poole will talk about War Elephants on ABC Nightline. You may want to visit The Independent's Traveller's Guide: Mozambique, to read more about this fascinating country.
About War Elephants on National Geographic's website: "In Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, elephants are in crisis: Years of civil war and ivory poaching have left them frightened and hostile toward humans. In a new National Geographic Television film, the world’s foremost elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole, in a documentary by her brother, cameraman Bob Poole, works to build trust and retrain the animals away from their violent behavior."
Below you will find when War Elephants will be shown in different countries. The following countries are included under "Nat Geo Wild HD Eur Intl Feed", air time 3 June at 15.00: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greece, Georgia, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosavo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
War Elephants air time
People from 55 countries joined Joyce and Meigan Goodyer Henry in a live conversation on National Geographic Facebooks page, Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
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