Close Call in Thailand

Monday, July 28, around 12:00pm local time.

Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark were on their way to the Sublangka Wildlife Sanctuary in central Thailand to film the closing shots for the feature-length film Elephants Never Forget. Four wild elephants were recently born there, and everyone was hopeful to see them. Disaster struck along the way, as their vehicle plunged 120 meters over a cliff. Fortunately, all survived. Patricia is in ICU and is being treated for broken ribs, herniated discs, and internal injuries. Michael and the driver, Ton, were treated and released. Patricia and Michael send their heartfelt thanks to everyone for all the expressions of caring and concern. Patricia is also the co-founder of World Elephant Day, coming up on August 12, 2014.

It's A Wrap

… which is just what I thought when this mama elephant put her trunk around me during one of our last days of filming in Thailand this April.

I’m happy to say that after more than four years of hard work, we’ve finally wrapped our filming and are working 24/7 in the editing room to finish Elephants Never Forget.

We couldn’t have got to this stage without all the amazing support we’ve received – moral, spiritual, and financial – cheering us on with this epic project, which we’re very excited to be getting out to the world.

And not a moment too soon because our elephant friends are in deep trouble – in fact, the situation is worsening for both Asian and African elephants and we need a lot of loud voices out there to speak on their behalf … before they’re all gone.

We have recently lost two of the world’s most iconic bull elephants to poaching. Satao and Mountain Bull had both survived previous attempts on their lives, but were murdered earlier this year. Satao was one of the world’s largest elephants and was a famous “tusker”, with his great tusks reaching the ground.

As many of you know, our story focus is on the critically endangered Asian elephants who also face increased poaching threats, like the  ongoing slaughter in Indonesia.  More so, the loss of critical habitat and human-elephant conflict debacles threatens the Asian elephant severely throughout their range in Asia.

But amid all this horrible news, our story offers a beacon of hope – that human-elephant relations can improve, and this is what we will portray in the film.

I have been inspired by Dame Daphne Sheldrick’s insightful article about the 5 things that elephants can teach us.  It’s true, we do have a lot to learn from elephants.  They possess all the good qualities we strive to have – or should strive to have.  Sometimes I think they are more “human” than we are.

We will have some surprise announcements coming about the film and also our plans for its release, so expect more updates from us soon…

And of course, World Elephant Day is coming – August 12, 2014. So mark your calendars and plan to do something elephantastic on the day.  Here are some ways that you can help the courageous people who are tirelessly working on the front lines to save the elephants.