ElephantVoices has had another busy and eventful year and we look toward 2012 with eager anticipation and in the hope that you and others will help us to maintain and strengthen our voice!
Here is a sneak-peak at the first quarter of next year: In February: back to the Maasai Mara and to a meeting in Arusha of elephant projects being carried out along the Kenya-Tanzania "borderlands". In March: the premiere of a film in Washington DC, fund-raising visits to New York and California, a series of lectures at Colorado College and an elephant welfare summit organized by PAWS at the Oakland Zoo.
But before we get ahead of ourselves we have a short summary of the year coming to an end.
Best wishes, and peace for creatures great and small, Joyce and Petter
ElephantVoices Maasai Mara initiative - Elephant Partners
Our primary investment of time and energy this year has been to the elephants of the Maasai Mara ecosystem. By combining web-based technology, education and citizen science in the monitoring and conservation of elephants, a long-held ambition has come true: engaging individual people from all walks of life in the conservation and protection of individual elephants. It is from-the-heart, Compassionate Conservation, at work! It has been a pleasure to collaborate with our old friends at Verviant, Nairobi, during the challenging programming described below.
Mara Elephants Who's Who & Whereabouts
Using photographs of the Mara elephants taken by people from all over the world, we now have over 750 individual adult elephants described and registered in an online searchable elephant ID database: The Mara Elephants Who's Who.
Photographs together with the date, time, location and group size and composition have contributed to over 430 group "sightings", which have been uploaded by a growing community of people to a second searchable Whereabouts database. Together these two integrated databases are known as the Mara Elephants Who's Who & Whereabouts. A related Mapping function makes it possible to search for the location of elephant groups by group type and group size; you can even search for where an individual elephant has been seen or for your own observations. The resulting data are available for anyone to view and to use to toward the conservation of the Mara elephants.
The Mara EleApp
We developed the Android-based Mara EleAppso that anyone residing in or visiting the Maasai Mara can participate in the collection of data that will help to monitor and protect the Mara elephants. The data collected on elephant individuals and groups, on their wounds, injuries or illnesses, and on mortalities can be uploaded directly to the ElephantVoices server in the US.
The combined App and searchable databases make this project highly interactive. There is nothing quite like it available anywhere else and ElephantVoices is proud to have pioneered this new way to monitor elephants. Indeed, as we go to press Agness Kilena (pictured left) has uploaded an observation of an elephant birth!
Name and Protect an Elephant for Christmas!
Each Mara elephant is registered with a code number. You can contribute toward the project and the protection of the Mara elephants by Naming an Elephant. Naming donations will go toward supporting the project, providing scholarships and covering field costs.
Kerstin Bucher, a frequent visitor to the Mara from Germany, has named the beautiful matriarch f0115, "Sian", in memory of an orphaned elephant she fostered. She has also contributed quite a number of elephant photographs that we have used to augment the Whereabouts & Who's Who databases. One of our long supporters, Doug Aja, who earlier this year gave the name Tilly to f0303, has just now named a second member of her family, f0305, "Janis". Thank to both for kicking off the naming of elephants!
A special thank you to donors and collaborators!
ElephantVoices' Mara iniative would not be possible without financial and in kind support from those of you believing in what we do and in a position to contribute. And without our many collaborators inside and outside the Mara we wouldn't have been able to move forward. We are very grateful for your contributions! You may enjoy reading the report from ElephantVoices' Mara field trip October/November 2011.
In September Joyce traveled to Mozambique, to assess the behavior of the elephants of the Gorongosa National Park. During a civil war that lasted over 15 years, the warring sides, RENAMO and FRELIMO, slaughtered 95% of the elephant population, exchanging ivory for guns and ammunition. Almost two decades after the end of the war, the survivors are still caught between fear and fury: They either run from tourist vehicles or they charge!
Joyce traveled to Gorongosa at the suggestion of her brother, cinematographer, Bob Poole and at the invitation of philanthropist, Greg Carr, who is leading the restoration of the incredible Gorongosa National Park. Joyce had the pleasure to meet some extraordinary survivors and ElephantVoices is discussing future involvement to help these elephants to learn that the people they now meet inside the park come in peace.
Scientific publications - the book about the Amboseli Elephants
We are proud to announce several major publications together with our collaborator the Amboseli Trust for Elephants this year. As previously mentioned, ElephantVoices contributed six chapters to The Amboseli elephants: A Long-Term Perspective on a Long-Lived Mammal, which was published by University of Chicago Press in April. The book is a culmination of four decades of study of the Amboseli elephant population in Kenya.
Educating via the Senses: Sound, Photography, Paintings and Film
Through a variety of activities, ElephantVoices continues to be involved in the sharing of knowledge about elephants.
From our collections a number of elephant calls, images and video, have been used by the media this year. A series of photographs describing elephant behavior appeared as part of Japanese DVD-book, which has become very popular.
A video clip, a range of elephant sounds and a series of photographs will appear in two elephant films that are due to premiere in 2012. Two of our elephant recordings will appear in Muséum-Maison de l'Eau temporary exhibition on elephants next year. The Science Museum of Minnesota is using a series of photos taken by Joyce in 1980 of Tonie grieving over her stillborn infant, to explore the question, "What makes us human?" The exhibit, still in development, introduces the concept that other animals grieve, too.
Joyce and Petter used a month-long exhibition of elephant photographs (Petter's) and paintings (Joyce's) as an avenue for two lectures on elephant behavior, welfare and conservation.
Joyce worked on two different elephant film productions, one with HBO on elephant welfare and the other with National Geographic on elephant conservation. Both films will premiere in 2012 - we will keep you updated.
We're happy to see that the number of people following us on our different Facebook Pages and Causes are steadily increasing - ElephantVoices on Facebook passed 10,000 "likes" a couple of weeks ago. Please join!
Captive elephant welfare - defining Sanctuary for Elephants
As more people recognize that elephants aren't suited to zoo environments, there is growing interest in the concept of sanctuaries.
To quote Jane Goodall in a letter included in a recent ElephantVoices news post about the Toronto elephants, "With their intense social bonds and need for large areas to roam, elephants should remain in the wild or when this is not possible, in a sanctuary that can provide them with adequate care, the chance to form natural bonds with other elephants, and large areas of natural habitat."
There is much talk about sanctuaries, yet there has been little discussion about what the word "Sanctuary" means for elephants. In line with our work on The Elephant Charter, we have, therefore, put time this year into defining the Principles of Sanctuary for elephants.
The Elephant Charter - SIGN ON and spread the word!
Once again, we urge you to sign The Elephant Charter. It is easy to share the site via social networks and, using Google Translate, visitors can read the Charter in all major languages. Please share it with your friends in other countries!
The elephants of the Toronto Zoo - ElephantVoices' welfare work
ElephantVoices participated in the successful campaign to persuade the Toronto Zoo to close their elephant exhibit and send the three remaining elephants to PAWS; on 25 October the City Council voted overwhelmingly to do so. With the climate and conditions Toronto Zoo can offer - this was the only reasonable decision for the elephants in question. We are delighted to hear that the enormously generous Bob Barker is funding the transition of these elephants from Toronto to PAWS.
Being a small organisation our priority is to engage at the level of policy where we can have the broadest influence on elephant welfare. The development of statements on selected topics concerning the management and treatment of elephants is a primary goal for 2012.
Our intention is for individuals and institutions to make use of these expert statements in a range of more specific cases around the world. While we may take a decision to give advice or provide statements on specific cases, such as the Toronto Zoo, this will be the exception rather than the rule.
In the spirit of The Elephant Charter, and global recognition of the need for elephant sanctuary, ElephantVoices has developed a short document describing our perspective on "sanctuary" for elephants, and the overall principles we believe such sanctuary must be based upon. You can read and download Sanctuary for Elephants - Overall Principles, on this page.
Although elephants are highly adaptable to a broad range of conditions in the wild, they are ill-adapted to captivity. Research into wild elephant biology has revealed the true range of elephant capabilities and the normal physical and social conditions in which elephants thrive. These conditions are rarely, if ever, met in traditional forms of captivity. While animal welfare is increasingly configured in terms of "5 Freedoms", for captive elephants two of them - freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress - are particularly problematic.
Elephants have been held in captivity for various purposes for thousands of years. They are seen by many as a natural resource to be exploited to meet human needs. Elephants are put to work in forestry enterprises, religious institutions, tourism, circuses and zoos, and serve as subjects for captive propagation programs. The failure to meet the physical, social and cognitive interests of elephants in captivity, is manifest.
ElephantVoices is frequently engaged with people and organisations wanting to provide rescue and sanctuary for elephants, as it relates to our mission and to the principles of The Elephant Charter, of which we are authors and signatories. The Sanctuary for Elephants document is meant to be of help to anyone involved in such discussions, where ever they may take place.
Kerstin Bucher is one of the first people to name a Mara elephant and, thereby, also supporting this ElephantVoices initiative in the world renown Maasai Mara. Kerstin lives in Germany, and has visited Kenya several times. We asked her to write about the background for her compassion for elephants, and how she chose to give the name "Sian" to f0115 in the Mara Elephant Who's Who database.
Thank you, Kerstin!
Petter
Article written by Kerstin Bucher
I have been interested in elephants, especially in African elephants, since I was a little child. I remember that I owned a book about animals, and there was a black and white photograph of a huge and magnificent elephant with beautiful tusks. The caption said that elephants will be extinct within a few years because of poaching. I was so sad and I never expected to see a wild elephant in its natural habitat as an adult.
Then, in 2004, I visited my uncle in South Africa, and we spent five nights in the Kruger National Park! The first evening, watching a big group of elephants at a waterhole in front of our camp, brought tears to my eyes. I will never forget the experience of watching them and hearing them trumpeting and rumbling!
Two years later I watched a heartbreaking documentary about elephant orphans in Kenya and I wanted to help them. In December 2007 I fostered my first elephant baby, called Dida. Since then I have fostered many of her friends, too. Several visits to Kenya intensified my wish to support elephants and to learn more about these gentle, gray giants.
In the beginning of 2010 I joined Facebook. Suddenly I met many like-minded people from all over the world. It was a fantastic feeling to communicate with them because my family and many of my friends couldn't understand my feelings for elephants and my wish to try to protect them. In my first months on Facebook someone attracted my attention! Her name was Joyce Poole. I remembered her name because just a few months before I had read an autobiography by Richard Leakey, "Wildlife Wars", about his time as the Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service in Kenya. He wrote about a young American woman working together with Cynthia Moss at Amboseli National Park who studied the famous elephants there. Her name was Joyce Poole. Joyce and I became friends on Facebook and I joined her group, ElephantVoices. On Facebook I learned that elephant poaching is increasing again in all African countries, including in Kenya.
During the last year many elephants were killed in the famous Maasai Mara, too, and people began to say that if nothing is done elephants will be in danger again to a frightening extent. This was a very disturbing feeling for me, especially as a fosterparent of many elephant orphans. How could we raise orphaned elephant babies to such an uncertain future!
I love the Maasai Mara and its wonderful and peaceful elephants. In the beginning of 2011 Joyce Poole and her husband, Petter Granli, started a new project in the Maasai Mara with the goal of protecting elephants and their ecosystem by involving people in the monitoring of elephants: Elephant Partners. As part of the project they have created a Who's Who of the Mara elephants!
Anyone can join this project by contributing pictures and observations of the Mara elephants! I was very interested in this initiative, but unsure if my pictures were good enough because I am not a professional photographer. I contributed some of my pictures to Elephant Partners and these have helped to build the Who's Who (for example, see the three-tusked female f0245) and the Whereabouts. I hope I can help to protect the Mara elephants. I like this project because I feel I am doing something active for the elephants - I am not only being a passive donor.
I met the lovely female f0115 in the Mara recently and decided to name her Sian. Why Sian? Sian is a Maasai name and one of my fostered elephants was called Sian. Sian was the daughter of an Amboseli elephant cow called Soila, who disapeared one day. Her little calf, Sian, was found abandoned. Soila was probably killed by poachers when she crossed the border to Tanzania. Sian was such a beautiful, gentle elephant, but she was too small and too thin for her age. She became weaker and weaker and died last year at the age of only five. She had a pulmonal malformation, and the more she grew the less oxygen her body received! For me she was a very special elephant and she touched my heart deeply. I am still crying when I look at pictures of her!
f0115 is a very beautiful and dignified female elephant! I had the possiblity to watch and follow her over many hours and days on my last stay at the Maasai Mara. She, too, touched me deeply and I enjoyed every single minute with her and her little family. I was thinking about many possible names for her, but finally I decided to name her Sian! Somehow I hope a piece of my little Sian is living on having named f0115 after her!
Petter and I just returned from a fabulous field trip in and around the Maasai Mara. We had a wonderful time and we learned a lot, too! We had far too little time just being with elephants, but in the context of involving others in conserving the Mara elephants, that was ok. One main goal during our tour through the ecosystem was to present the unique Mara Elephants Who's Who & Whereabouts databases - developed as part of the Elephant Partners conservation initiative.
The Mara Elephants Who's Who is populated with over 750 elephants and the Whereabouts hold some 400 sightings of elephant groups; both are continuing to grow by the day. The Mapping functionality, which draws on both databases, is completely searchable and highly informative. With each additional sighting we learn something new - and we hope that you will, too.
Elephants respond rapidly to change
The Mara ecosystem represents a patchwork of different habitats, management strategies, and human interventions that create a mosaic of threats and opportunities for elephants. We are beginning to learn how elephants respond to these, and it is fascinating. Some areas are almost entirely occupied by family groups, while males prefer other areas. Although this is typical of elephants, the pattern in the Mara is, to a large extent, influenced by human activities. And these are in flux. The new conservancies are providing safe havens for elephants that didn't exist only a few years ago; migration routes have been blocked by settlement; agricultural areas are on the increase offering nutritious forage; and poaching is on the rise. The elephants are learning and responding rapidly.
The tour
We started our field trip in Mara Naboisho Conservancy on 6th October, where we joined a couple of Norwegian groups hosted by Basecamp Wilderness who had requested a special introduction to elephants. There we also continued our work with African Impact and their volunteers, and gave a lecture on elephants to the students at Koiyaki Guiding School (KGS). Founded seven years ago, KGS is a very successful endeavor - educating local youth for careers in the tourism industry. Through KGS the percentage of local employees in camps and lodges is growing. These students are important ambassadors for the Mara, for wildlife and for elephants! We also spent a day on Ol Kinyei Conservancy where we met with Jake Grieves-Cook, Porini Camps.
Between 13-19th October we worked in Nairobi with our programmers to perfect an Android-based mobile phone application, the Mara EleApp. The App allows for the collection and upload of field data on elephant group sightings, injury and sickness as well as detailed mortality information.
Diminutive female elephant on Olderikesi
On 20th October we drove to Olderikesi Conservancy on the eastern side of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. There we were generously hosted by Calvin Cottar at his 1920s Safari Camp and were introduced by Keith Hellyer to the challenges of the area. While there we were able to add 6 groups to the Whereabouts and 16 new elephants to the Who's Who, including a diminutive female elephant, f0341. The elephants on the eastern side of the Mara gather in large groups and two of those we observed were aggregations of at least 70 elephants.
We spent the next few days back on Mara Naboisho Conservancy in the company of three ElephantVoices donors/volunteers: Junia Machado and Ana Zinger from Brazil and Elena Fieni from Italy. During our stay there we had the pleasure of meeting a group of 85 elephants. Although we knew many of the individuals, about half of the families were new, including a right-one tusked female with an old wound on her right hind leg, probably caused by a spear years ago. We also spent more time with African Impact and introduced to field coordinator, Lincoln Njiru, one of the ten phones for data collection donated by IFAW.
More training of scouts and guides
On 26th October we drove west to Olchorro Conservancy where we stayed at Richard's Camp and met with Richard Roberts, Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Save The Elephants) and Mark Goss who are coordinating the new Mara Elephant Project (MEP). We also had the pleasure of flying with Iain and Richard to look for elephants and areas hit by poaching and conflict. We were introduced to some of the MEP scouts and had the opportunity to watch a parade by conservancy scout recruits.
After an entertaining stay at the camp of Warden, Marc Goss of Mara North Conservancy, we were hosted by Saruni Camp in the Lemek Hills. The MEP scouts were stationed nearby and we spent a day training them to use the Mara EleApp. Having left Saruni Camp we met up with Basecamp Wilderness guide Derrick Nabaala, who was on leave in the area. Sitting by the side of the road we went through the Mara EleApp with him, and left him with a phone.
On 30th we drove to Olare Orok Conservancy where experienced the kind hospitality of Ron and Pauline Beaton. While there we also met with Conservancy Manager, Rob O'Meara, and his wife, Sarah, and Warden, James Kaigil. Sarah shared her Olare Orok elephant photographs with us to help us build up the Mara Elephant Who's Who, and is also organising the use of a phone with the Mara EleApp on Olare Orok and Motorogi Conservancies.
In the hope of meeting new elephants we were taken to neighboring Motorogi Conservancy by the Warden. We were delighted to find a group of 30, which turned out to be Big Mama and her large family. It was wonderful to see her there - she has now been spotted in four separate areas of the Mara and our knowledge of her home range is expanding! We also stopped in to visit guides, Meshack Sayialel at Porini Lion Camp and Ping'ua Nkukuu at Mara Plains, to explain the functionality of the Mara EleApp and to encourage their participation.
Meeting up with old friends - and making some new
We proceeded on to the western side of the Mara where we were guests of Sanctuary Olonana. There we met Marcus Westberg who shared his beautiful photographs of elephants in Mara Conservancy. On 4th November we met Asuka Takita at Mara Conservancy headquarters to catch up with her news and to explain to her the use of the Mara EleApp. From there we proceeded over Mara Bridge and through the Mara Reserve to Basecamp near Talek. Along the way we covered new ground and discovered "new" elephants. We were also pleased to meet a few individuals who were already in the Who's Who. Among others, we met the well-known asymmetrical tusk matriarch, f0576, as well as f0246 with a newly broken left tusk.
The following day we trained Basecamp Guide, Agness Kilena, to collect elephant observations and to use the Mara EleApp.
The end of a fascinating Mara tour
On 6th we proceeded to our final destination, Siana Conservancy, where we stayed with Nick, Betsy, Will and Gini Cowell. Siana has experienced substantial ivory poaching this year and it was not surprising to see that the elephants there were wary. Gini is now working with us, representing Elephant Aware, collecting vital data on the elephants who use this part of the ecosystem.
On our way out of the Mara we passed by Sekenani, to follow up our contact with Park Warden, James Sindyio. During an informative two-hour meeting we discussed all kinds of issues, and collected our permit to access the Reserve when needed. Approaching Narok we made one last stop at the Kenya Wildlife Service District Office to meet with KWS Veterinarian Dominic Mijele. Dominic treats many elephants in the Mara and beyond and we felt that he would be a good person to have the last phone.
Plenty of challenges ahead - join Elephant Partners!
The Mara ecosystem is facing plenty of challenges, with human population growth, poaching and over-grazing to name a few. The need to find ways for humans and wildlife to live in more harmony is ever more critical for all stakeholders - including elephants. Telling both sides of the story is what Elephant Partners is about. By engaging people in the lives of elephants, we are building a community of people that care. Together we'll ensure the survival of the Mara elephants and their habitat. Help us make Elephant Partners go viral - participation of many is key to the future of the Mara elephants! Join us on Facebook, and spread the word.
We deeply appreciate the support and collaboration of the many people and entities mentioned in this informal travel report - and we very much look forward to be back. Thank you!
We applaud the decision by the Toronto City Council to send Toka, Iringa and Thika to PAWS! Having observed the elephants at PAWS and seen the positive changes in individuals who have been placed there, we have no reservations in saying that this decision is the right choice for Toronto’s elephants. Joyce joined Toronto City Councillor, Michelle Berardinetti, and Linda Bronfman of Everyone Loves Elephants on NEWSTALK 1010 on 23 November to call for the zoo to support the Council's decision. Jane Goodall, too, has added her support for the move. Click on the image to read her strong words regarding captive elephants.
Regarding the threats by the AZA over accreditation, we wish to state the following:
Accreditation is important - when it is used to ensure that the welfare of animals are protected; but accreditation by the AZA and CAZA also means abiding by rules that have nothing to do with the welfare of elephants; indeed some of these can be detrimental to them. When it comes to the daily well being of elephants, PAWS’ standards far exceed those of the AZA. Indeed, the standards required for accreditation by the AZA and CAZA fall far short of what is needed to meet the well being of elephants.
The bullying tactics by the AZA machinery consists of the same old tired rhetoric heard each time a zoo considers sending an elephant to one of the sanctuaries. This noise is not about elephant welfare, but about an institution feeling threatened by the winds of change. The continuing misinformation and, we're sorry to say this, outright lies, emanating from the AZA about captive and even wild elephants, is tiresome, and does nothing to improve the welfare of the elephants in their institutions nor does it help the conservation of wild elephants.
It is time that we all work together to do what is best for the individual elephants held captive and for the continuing protection of a species that should, actually, remain in the wild.
News, Media & Publications
f0115 is a very beautiful and dignified female elephant! I had the possiblity to watch and follow her over many hours and days on my last stay at the Maasai Mara. She, too, touched me deeply and I enjoyed every single minute with her and her little family. I was thinking about many possible names for her, but finally I decided to 
ElephantVoices Gestures Database
ElephantVoices Photo Database
ElephantVoices Video Database
ElephantVoices Calls Database
