World Elephant Day 2015

It’s World Elephant Day 2015!

Another World Elephant Day is upon us. World Elephant Day is August 12th and it’s the fourth year for the annual campaign. It’s incredible how people’s awareness and concern about the urgent plight that elephants are facing is spreading around the world. Some of you may know that I am the co-founder of World Elephant Day. We launched it in 2012 as a day to bring people together to help elephants.

Although it’s very encouraging that more people are becoming aware of the numerous issues that threaten the future survival of elephants, the fact remains that the issues very much need our collective attention and support in order to make a difference. This year for World Elephant Day, we have compiled a brief overview of where things are at for both African and Asian elephants.

In our own work, we are very happy to announce that our feature documentary film, “When Elephants Were Young,” is finally completed! Through the simple story of a young man named Wok and the young elephant named Nong Mai, many of the problems for Asian elephants are unravelled, with some hopeful solutions.

“When Elephants Were Young” will be released this Fall. We’re excited about our new trailer, which has just been completed. Please check it out! We will be releasing details very soon about when and where the film can be seen. Thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout this elephant journey!

When Elephants Were Young

We’re very excited to announce the launch of our new website and our new film title, “When Elephants Were Young.”

So why are we changing the title? Well, there are many reasons for this change.

Films are often released under a different title than their working production title. Although “Elephants Never Forget” has been the moniker during our five-year journey of making this film – and will remain a beloved title for many of us – we believe the new title better reflects our special elephant story.

“When Elephants Were Young” inspires the imagination, and has a nostalgic yet hopeful tone that resonates with the story of our two main characters, Wok and Nong Mai. While the expression “elephants never forget” is a very familiar, well-known phrase that denotes one of the best-known qualities that we admire in elephants, it’s a phrase that is commonly used in other elephant-related works. We wanted the title to reflect not only our unique story of a young elephant, and a young man, but also the notion of a different time – perhaps a better time in our history. What might the world have been like when elephants were young as a species? Imagine when the planet was perhaps a more peaceful place, a time when humankind was also young – before its careless expansion into wild spaces, its destruction of species, and the natural world.

“When Elephants Were Young” conjures questions about this other time in our past – a time of innocence when the Earth, our human civilization, and our relationship with elephants, animals, and nature may have been more interconnected, more sacred. Perhaps it is a time that we can return to once again, a time of dreaming, of hope and potential … a time when elephants were young.

We will be rolling out the new title across our social media channels in the coming weeks. We will also be announcing other exciting news about the incredible people who have contributed their talents, music, and artistry to the film. Please join us in helping to spread the word about “When Elephants Were Young” as we prepare to premier it to the world in Fall 2015. Let us know what you think of the new title! We couldn’t have come this far without your support. We thank you for all you do for the elephants.

“…[Elephants] have drifted down to us on the ocean of time, and their strangeness and beauty bring to our imaginations a dream and a picture of that unknown world, immeasurably far removed, where man was not…”

                                                                                               -W. H. Hudson

Visit our new website!

It's the Year of the Elephant

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2015 is the year of the Goat. But for us here on the Elephants Never Forget film project, it’s also the year of the Elephant!

This is a busy time for us as we are finally nearing the completion of our film. We’re thrilled to announce that William Shatner is the narrator. We recorded with him in LA before Christmas – here’s a photo from the session. It was an honour to work with such an incredible talent, his amazing voice really brought our story to life and we’re so grateful for his generous support of the elephants.

We’ll have more updates very soon about the upcoming release of “The Elephant Never Forgets” film, which we are very excited about!

But 2015 is the Year of the Elephant for more reasons than just the completion of our film. The demand for ivory products continues to accelerate the killing of African elephants. Thailand, which is one of  the primary transit countries in the illegal smuggling of  poached ivory from Africa to China – and one of the countries that drives the global ivory trade – must make important changes in its legislation this year. After a decision in 2014 by CITES, Thailand has been given until March 2015 to take action against the illegal ivory trade or it will face trade bans, costing the country over one and a half billion dollars per year.

In response to international pressure, Thailand has revised its National Ivory Action Plan and will introduce new laws to regulate the illegal ivory trade. But there is still a long way to go, and much more to be done. Thailand is challenged because it has a “legal” ivory trade, which allows the buying and selling of ivory from captive Thai elephants. Elephant owners are allowed to trim and sell the ivory from their elephants when they are alive, or to carve and sell the tusks after their elephant dies. This is weakly enforced and has enabled the smuggling of African ivory to come into Thailand. While some wildlife protection agencies have urged Thailand to close all its legal domestic ivory shops, others state that a complete ban would force the trade underground – allowing it to flourish, and causing the demand for ivory to increase.

The elephant conservation communities may be divided on this point. But one thing is for certain –  ivory should only belong to elephants.

There is hope that new elephant-related legislation in Thailand will make a difference by bringing awareness to people about the realities of the ivory trade and what it means for the future survival of all elephants. Hopefully these milestones will be one of many positive turning points this year in the battle to save elephants around the world.

We’re still in the midst of revising our website, but please post your comments on our Facebook page or send us an email.