Author: PREN ADMINISTRATOR

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HAVE ALL THE OPTIONS FOR A RELOCATION TO A SANCTUARY, INSTEAD OF ANOTHER ZOO, BEEN CONSIDERED FOR ELEPHANTS BILLY AND TINA? 

HAVE ALL THE OPTIONS FOR A RELOCATION TO A SANCTUARY, INSTEAD OF ANOTHER ZOO, BEEN CONSIDERED FOR ELEPHANTS BILLY AND TINA? 

On Friday 2nd May 2025, the Pro Elephant Network has sent a letter to the Director of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, to the President and CEO and the Executive Vice President of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health regarding elephants Billy and Tina.

“The vision of the Pro Elephant Network (PREN) is a future in which all elephants can thrive in freedom and dignity in protected natural habitats as part of naturally functioning and evolving ecosystems. 

Our mission is to stop the capture and exploitation of elephants by humans and to advocate for the release of captive-held elephants back into natural spaces. Where freedom and reintegration back into wild areas is not possible PREN seeks the best ethical solutions in the most natural surroundings possible. The acceptability and viability of these ethics and conditions are to be evaluated relative to what the individual elephant would be able to experience in the wild.

The Pro Elephant Network (PREN) is therefore deeply disappointed and dismayed by the decision, formally announced on the 22nd April 2025, to transfer Billy and Tina to the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma. PREN joins a multitude of elephant experts and advocates calling for a more compassionate outcome for the last two remaining elephants living at the Los Angeles Zoo.  

This decision, jointly taken by the Los Angeles Zoo and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, to transfer Billy and Tina to another zoo facility, is, in our joint expert opinion,  ill-considered and illustrates a disregard for the wellbeing of Billy and Tina.  PREN strongly believes that these elephants deserve to live in peace in a sanctuary after years of being on display in public whilst in solitary confinement and in captivity at a zoo. 

There are a number of elephant specific sanctuaries such as the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, in the USA, the Global Sanctuary for Elephants in Brazil, or the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary to name but a few, that could potentially offer Billy and Tina the opportunity to be introduced to other elephants of different ages and sexes.  Have any options for sanctuary been considered for these elephants instead of another zoo facility?

In addition, Billy and Tina desperately require reprieve from constant public gaze, the aforementioned specialised elephant sanctuaries do not operate in a manner where public is integral to the footfall and viability of zoo economics. Elephants blossom in privacy and shrink under the constant public engagements, viewing and loss of private space which all has negative connotations on their health.

Billy is forty years old and Tina is fifty-nine years old, according to the content of a media release by Defense of Animals, “Billy and Tina are in grave distress, suffering from severe medical conditions including foot and joint disease and chronic arthritis, both elephants display profound zoochosis, a condition marked by repetitive behaviours such as swaying, bobbying, and pacing, which are clear signs of psychological trauma and brain damage.” 

Whilst the newly constructed elephant facility at the Tulsa Zoo covers 17 acres it does not compare to the space and opportunity for purposeful rehabilitation of many elephant sanctuaries. 

Billy and Tina require a vast amount of space to remain physically and psychologically healthy and their continued captivity in a zoo will undoubtedly cause further, immense emotional and physical suffering. PREN unquestionably supports the numerous public requests for the urgent reconsideration of the aforementioned decision, and strongly advocates for the release of Billy and Tina to sanctuary where their care and autonomy will be prioritized. 

If the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens and Association of Zoos and Aquariumsmake the ground-breaking decision to release Billy and Tina into sanctuary, this decision based upon the best available science, will lauded by elephant experts from around the world. “

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Image Credit:

https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/latest-news/media-release-pressure-mounts-to-free-billy-and-tina-as-oakland-zoo-to-send-elephant-to-sanctuary/

https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/latest-news/what-loving-billy-the-elephant-over-the-years-has-meant/

©PREN 2025. All Rights Reserved.

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VANTARA

Image Credit: https://www.instagram.com/p/DB0T7jqyT4x/?igsh=c3I3emFlOXl5MXdh

THE ELEPHANTS AT VANTARA

Raman Sukumar is an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science, he is the India’s leading elephant ecologist, architect of Project Elephant, former chair of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group, the author of several books and scientific papers, and member of the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife.

Raman Sukumar has expressed his concerns about the elephants and Vantara. 

“With the enormous financial resources available, Vantara could potentially have been a game changer for captive and perhaps wild elephants in the country if they had adopted a more all-encompassing vision.  To me, bringing 200 or 1000 elephants to Jamnagar makes no sense.

The main problem is the concentration of a large number of captive elephants, I see no purpose in that.  The real role of captive elephants is for them to be integrated with management and conservation of the wild population. I would have favoured Vantara in investing in different models of welfare of elephants in captivity across the country. 

The role of captive elephants cannot be reduced to singularity, the welfare of elephants in one location and by one person.

The rescued captive elephants are used by forest department veterinarians to travel through the jungles or are trained to drive away wild elephants from human habitats. These roles would be lost if these captive elephants were kept at a facility like Vantara. It is important to understand the different regions and nuances of diversity of elephant cultures and situations and not feeding all elephants with high protein. It does not work like this. We need a broad and practical vision of how we improve the conditions and determine the future role of captive elephants.  There is a lack of focus on what should be done to captive elephants and their welfare management.”

READ MORE ABOUT VANTARA:

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©PREN 2025. All Rights Reserved.

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GLOBAL Conservation NGO’S Rally to Respond to Proposals from Namibia and Zimbabwe  to Cull Elephants and Other Wildlife

23 October 2024 

The undersigned organisations are deeply concerned by the announcements by some governments in southern Africa to cull large numbers of elephants and other wild animals, including in National Parks.

In late August 2024, Namibia declared it would kill 723 wild animals, including 83 elephants, and later increased this number to 100. Shortly afterwards, Zimbabwe announced its intention to kill at least 200 elephants.

The justifications given for these threats include a combination of providing meat to drought-stricken citizens, reducing pressure on land and water resources, mitigating human-elephant conflict, and reducing alleged wildlife over-population.

However, while we acknowledge the severity of one of the worst droughts in decades in southern Africa, the killing of large numbers of wild animals cannot be justified for the following reasons:

PLEASE READ THE STATEMENT:

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©Pro Elephant Network 2024. All Rights Reserved.

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 NAMIBIA’S UNCONSCIONABLE PLAN TO KILL 83 ELEPHANTS 

PRO ELEPHANT NETWORK STATEMENT

Hot on the heels of World Elephant Day, Namibia announced that it plans to hunt and kill 723 wild animals, including 83 elephants, and to distribute the meat to people because of the severe drought. PREN argues that Namibia’s plans arecounterintuitive and set a very dangerous precedent. 

The elephants to be killed include:

  • 30 from the Zambezi region (10 from Salambala, Lusese, Nakabolelwa, and Kabbe, 10 from the North Complex of Mudumu and 10 from the South Complex of Mudumu).
  • 12 from Kamanjab and Fransfontein areas in the Kunene region 
  • 10 from Ruacana, Tsandi and Okahao in Omusati region
  • 8 from Grootfontein in the Otjozodjupa region
  • 7 from the Kavango West Region in the areas of Tondoro, Musese, Maha, Nzize, Agro tour farms and Mangetti Cattle Ranch
  • 5 from Omatjete in the Erongo Region
  • 4 from Kalkveld 
  • 3 from EkuloLyanazi, Okasheshete, Uukanga, Ondomb, Tomykunzi and Onoolongo in the Oshana Region
  • 2 from Onanke and Cham Cham in the Oshikoto region
  • 2 from Kavango East region.

These numbers include 21 elephants in an area that is often traversed by a small isolated population of only 62 desert-adapted elephants.  

Namibia’s plan to kill elephants and other threatened wild animals is misguided and cruel. Elephants and other wild animals are not the cause of drought or human food insecurity. Killing elephants will not address food shortages and at best will only have a short term and minimal impact on a limited number of people, while setting a dangerous precedent. Elephants are not the cause of drought or human food insecurity and taking aim at elephants will not address the reasons for drought or improve food security. 

Where is the environmental impact study to support this so-called cull? Namibia’s pretext that it is because elephant numbers exceed available food and water supplies is not supported by scientific evidence. Instead, this move will have hugely damaging disruption and impact on elephant communities and in Namibia. PREN members also question the criteria upon which the decisions were taken by the Namibian government to trophy hunt the elephants that are listed in the official announcement by the Namibian government. 

In its press release of 26th August, Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism claims that the cull “will assist in managing the current grazing pressure and water availability by reducing wildlife numbers in some parks and communal areas where we feel numbers exceed available grazing and water.” However, the announcement has not been accompanied by an environmental impact study to support this so-called cull. The claims by MEFT are not supported by scientific evidence. Instead, the cull is likely to be hugely damaging and disruptive to elephant communities and those of other species in Namibia. PREN members also question the decision to allow safari outfitters  to participate in the culls, raising concerns that trophy hunters will be offered the opportunity to target some of the elephants that are listed in the official announcement, and calling into question the true motivation behind the culls. 

We note that some of the areas in which elephants are due to be culled are the same as those where a tender was advertised in December 2020,for the capture and sale of a total of 170 elephants with hunts sold to hunters ostensibly to control “damage-causing animals”.  

A report published in November 2021 questioned the success of Namibia’s wildlife conservation model, and its adherence  to sustainable utilization of wildlife through community based environmental management.  This report confirmed that wildlife numbers are declining in Namibia and that the elephant population in the Kunene Region of Namibia is collapsing. 

At its core, this so-called cull is a populist political action that ignores ethics, science, conservation, and fails to adhere to and One Health and One Welfare principles, for short-term political gain.

According to a published research article titled Strengthening Africa’s Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems Through Enhanced Policy Coherence and Co-ordinated Action, Africa as a region, is particularly vulnerable and exposed to the negative impacts of climate change. The activities of elephants have been shown to help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration. Killing elephants will only exacerbate the impacts of climate change and make the situation worse in the longer term. 

Drought conditions in Namibia are exacerbated by climate change. Climate change and extreme weather are posing severe threats to humans and elephants. The removal of these elephants will have a negative impact on the resilience of the entire arid ecosystem and ultimately on vulnerable communities. Instead, the government of Namibia should be building resilience by fostering sustainable food systems and biodiversity regeneration through equitable and democratic climate justice practices, and by rethinking conservation paradigms. This is especially relevant given the increasing frequency of droughts and extreme weather events and the urgent need for solutions. 

Protecting farmers by building resilience to climate change within the agricultural sector is therefore paramount to the food security agenda.  Climate resilient food systems are the focus of a new $2.3 billion regional programme approved by the World Bank in June 2022, available to Eastern and Southern African countries in support of efforts to tackle the underlying structural challenges of food insecurity and address their vulnerability to unpredictable shocks.  

PREN members question whether the SADC governments and Namibia have adequately prepared their farmers for climate change and extreme weather which are posing severe threats across Eastern and Southern Africa? 

Hunting and killing of elephants is particularly cruel, especially single elephants as indicated by the small take-off numbers, is particularly cruel.  They experience trauma and are highly intelligent social beings that live in particularly large and complex  social networks with a highly organised structure involving strong family bonds that last a lifetime; these complex connections include vital relationships within family members, bond groups, coalitions and clans. The hunting of individual elephants results in stress and trauma for the targeted individuals and their wider family members, which can result in disruption of their complex social networks leading to increased conflict with people. 

The removal of these 83 elephants will not mitigate human-elephant conflict, nor will it provide long-term relief for people or wildlife affected by the current drought.

PREN members call on the Namibian government to rescind its plan to kill 83 elephants and other wild animals, and instead to consider more effective and humane ways of tackling the current drought conditions affecting parts of the country. 

READ FULL STATEMENT:

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Image: ©EMS Foundation 2024

©PREN 2024. All Rights Reserved.

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WORLD ELEPHANT DAY 2024 TOWARDS FREEDOM AT LAST FOR ZOO ELEPHANT CHARLIE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Charlie, photographed at a Zoo in South Africa where he is enjoying positive reinforcement and daily enrichment provided to him by a team of elephant experts August 2024 ©PREN

WORLD ELEPHANT DAY 2024

[Johannesburg: 08 August 2024]: The vision of the Pro Elephant Network (PREN)is a future in which all elephants can thrive in freedom and dignity in protected natural habitats as part of naturally functioning and evolving ecosystems. Our mission is to stop the capture and exploitation of elephants by humans and to advocate for the release of captive-held elephants back into natural spaces. Where freedom and reintegration back into wild areas is not possible PREN seeks the best ethical solutions in the most natural surroundings possible. The acceptability and viability of these ethics and conditions are to be evaluated relative to what the individual elephant would be able to experience in the wild.


On the 29th July 2022, the South African Government made a ground breaking decision to pursue options for the retirement of Charley, a bull elephant, from the zoo in Pretoria to a suitable wildlife sanctuary or a similar setting. This progressive decision was based on the best scientific and ethological evidence provided to them by elephant experts and civil society.


Offering all South Africans a fair and equitable opportunity, on the 17th of May 2023, interested parties were requested to publicly submit proposals in response to an advertised call for an Expression of Interest to find a suitable retirement home. The EMS Foundation and Shambala Private Game Reserve submitted an extensive response which was accepted in March 2024.


Following Charlie’s comprehensive expert behavioural and medical assessments it has been noted that due to his advanced age and the physical complications associated with being in captivity for over forty years that the preparation for his relocation, the relocation itself and his rehabilitation to a natural secured environment is not without risk. In March 2024 the government confirmed their acceptance of the generous offer EMS Foundation and Shambala Private Game Reserve made to Charlie.


In preparation for Charlie’s relocation from the zoo, the EMS Foundation and Shambala are partnering with a highly qualified and experienced team of international elephant trainers with oversight from South African and international veterinarians. Charlie is receiving excellent round the clock care during his preparation for his evacuation from the zoo, with ground support from international and South African organisations. South African wildlife translocation specialists will transfer Charlie with his team, to a state-of-the-art rehabilitation boma that has been designed and built to cater for his every need as he is gently transitioned into a more natural, protected environment.

As this project progresses more specialists will be invited to take part in assisting with, and recording his progress.


PREN has, since 2020, played a significant role in the negotiation process for the release of Charley from the zoo, furthermore, distinguished expert members of PREN have attended the zoo and compiled important reports which were submitted to the South African government. This important South African and international project is supported by the elephant experts from the Pro Elephant Network.

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©PREN 2024. All Rights Reserved

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CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF TWO JUVENILE ASIAN ELEPHANTS GIFTED FROM THE NEPAL TO QATAR

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The Pro Elephant Network (PREN) consists of a significant international community of diverse individuals and organizations involved with wild and captive African and Asian Elephants and comprising specific expertise, including, but not limited to, the fields of science, health, conservation, welfare and well-being, economics, community leadership, indigenous knowledge, social justice and the law.

Members of PREN have been informed that during a recent meeting between the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr Pusha Kamal Dahal, and the Qatar Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Prime Minister of Nepal offered two juvenile Asian elephants to Qatar as a gift.

According to information provided by Manipuran Chaudhary, Chief of the Breeding and Training Centre at Sorsor in Sauraha, these elephants are a five year old male elephant known as Khagendra Prasad and a six year old female known as Rudrakali. Both juvenile elephants were born and trained at the centre, they are the offspring of a wild elephant, known as Ronaldo, who regularly meets with the herd at the centre.

An article published in the National Newspaper “Rising Nepal”, confirms that Rudrakali and Khagendra Prasad were offered to the Qatar Government as gifts under the Nepalese “Conservation Policy”.

Badri Raj Dhungana, spokesperson at the Ministry of Forestry, has confirmed that the proposal to gift two elephants by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to be formally confirmed by the Nepalese Cabinet. “Elephants fall under the category of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), no side can give and accept elephants without prior approval from CITES headquarters in Geneva. We have already obtained permission, but as far as I know, the Qatari side was waiting for Geneva’s approval. As soon as the permission is obtained, we will present the elephants to the Emir,” said Dhungana.

The mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan, Mayor Mr Balen Shah has strongly criticised the proposed elephant gift and has questioned the legality and morality of “transporting wild animals to environments like deserts”.

Qatar is not a natural range state for either African or Asian elephants. The humid subtropical monsoon influenced climate of Chitwan National Park, where these elephants were raised, is characterised by high humidity all through the year and yearly precipitation fall of 2,500 mm. In winter temperatures of 5°C to 18°C are the norm.

The two young elephants grew up having access to the rich vegetation of the Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests which include Sal trees, Chir pine, Beleric, Rosewood, Axlewood, Elephant apple, Grey downy balsam and creepers such as Bauhinia vahlii and Spatholobus parviflorus.

The Elephants will be exported to a desert climate and to an alien arid environment where their future is uncertain. Elephants in captivity rely on knowledgeable carers who are experienced with regard to their complex needs. Moreover, the elephants who live at the Breeding and Training Centre at Sorsor in Sauraha have daily access to indigenous habitats and communities of wild elephants.

In addition, PREN members who are guided by elephant well-being and welfare experts, academics, scientists, and conservationists are particularly concerned about this transaction because these young and vulnerable Asian elephants will be prematurely separated from their mothers and families.

Elephants are large-brained mammals who display complex cognitive capabilities, and sentience, and demonstrate social needs and empathy, but most importantly, determination.

The Asian Elephant is able to use tools and, together with only a few other non-human species, such as some great apes, dolphins, rays and the Eurasian magpie, passed the mirror test, proving self-recognition abilities and a sense of self-awareness.

When grown males inevitably come into their annual musth cycle, their testosterone levels rise steeply making them more aggressive; all attempts to manage captive males during this process through isolation, separation and confinement, will impact their welfare.

All Elephants require access to expansive, diverse habitats and move across long distances. They also need to be provided with opportunities for individual autonomy and socialization. These essential needs typically cannot be met in captive environments, leading to health deterioration and stereotypic behaviours reflecting the welfare-compromised environment. Stereotypic behaviour, the invariant restrictive and purposeless repetition of motor patterns, remains the most widely used welfare indicator for captive Elephants in poor welfare conditions exposed to psychological stress and has direct physiological consequences on the body’s ability to function.

In terms of the social aspect, elephants are highly social mammals and live in particularly large social networks with a highly organised structure involving strong family bonds that last a lifetime; these complex connections include vital relationships within family members, bond groups, coalitions, and clans and are extremely difficult if not impossible to replicate in captivity.

The members of PREN who signed the enclosed letter strongly recommend the urgent review of the gifting of these or other Elephants with a view to prioritising the welfare of the animals and urge the Cabinet to permanently reject this plan.

Image Credit:
https://english.pardafas.com/nepal-to-gift-elephants-to-qatar-symbol-of-bilateral-relations/

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EXPERT OPION OF SANParks PURSUIT OF A SCIENTIFIC BASED STRATEGY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE KNYSNA FOREST ELEPHANT

EXPERT OPINION OF THE SANPARKS PURSUIT OF A SCIENTIFIC-BASED STRATEGY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE KNYSNA FOREST ELEPHANT

The Pro Elephant Network (PREN) consists of a significant global community of diverse individuals and organisations. The PREN network boasts a wealth of expertise, related to wild and captive African and Asian Elephants, including but not limited to the fields of science, health, conservation, welfare and well-being, economics, community leadership, indigenous knowledge, social justice and the law, these experts have enjoyed a successful collaborative function since 2019.

On the 22nd March 2024 members of PREN offered their expert opinion about SANParks pursuit of a scientific based strategy for the management of the Knysna Forest elephant.

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Introduction

The Knysna elephant(s), Loxodonta africana, represent the most southerly group of savanna elephants in Africa; they are remnant of larger populations which occupied this region of South Africa in the past. Due to the influx of humans over the last century, the range of these elephants was largely confined to the approximately 200 km2 forest area around Knysna. The decline of this population of elephants to a single adult female presents a major challenge to the national conservation agency, South African National Parks (SANParks).

On the 7th of March 2024, SANParks issued a public statement confirming their intention to pursue an evidence-based management approach for the female elephant, located in the Knysna forest. More specifically, the Knysna forest is an area located in the Garden Route District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa which falls under the management of SANParks.

According to the content of the media statement, SANParks has embarked on a sociological and ecological assessment that will guide their decision-making process. A targeted survey confirmed that, while the majority of respondents were in favour of the introduction of more elephants to the Garden

Route elephant range, they were cognisant of the fact that it would be a complicated process requiring expertise.

The reason for the statement issued by SANParks on the 7th of March 2024 is that a filmmaker who tracked, photographed and published photographs of an elusive female elephant in Knysna forest for twelve weeks in 2023 is trying to convince SANParks that a herd of elephants should be introduced to the Knysna forest to provide company for the lone female and to restore the ecosystem in the Knysna forest.

Since his brief single encounter with the elephant, he has been championing the introduction of an imported herd of elephants to the forest. He has formed an action group called Herd Instinct. The group, described on their Facebook page, as free-spirited environmentalists who believe that the lone female elephant desperately needs company. On the 14th of March 2024, the group organised a meeting in Knysna to galvanise support.

SANParks has captured the female elephant on camera every two to three weeks and they have, as a result, accumulated over 15000 photographs and high-quality videos of her, using strategically placed camera traps. Through the measurement of stress hormones in her dung it has been confirmed that, in areas where there is intense human activity or when she is being tracked, she becomes stressed.

Background

Historically, elephants occurred widely along the Southern Cape region using a variety of habitats until their population numbers were decimated by ivory hunters. Unfortunately, the Knysna elephants, the only remaining free-ranging elephants in South Africa, have failed to flourish in that location even after official protection was afforded to them in 1908.

According to the study entitled The Decline of the Knysna Elephants – Pattern and Hypothesis it is estimated that of the 3000 elephants that roamed the Cape Floristic Region in pre-colonial times, it is likely that about 1000 elephants occupied the Outeniqua-Tsitsikamma area. Between 1856 and 1886 Knysna experienced a marked influx of humans and a boom in development which increased human- elephant conflict at a further detrimental cost to the elephant population.

During the late 1800s, an estimated 400 to 500 elephants lived in the area but by 1900 only 30 to 50 individuals were left. The aforementioned study highlights the knowledge and management challenges which exist for small, threatened populations of elephants where the long-term demographic data are sparse. The study also provides the first, unbiased evaluation of multiple drivers that may have caused the decline of the Knysna elephants.

The Knysna forest elephants have been the subject of mystery and conjecture for years. Gareth Patterson an award-winning environmentalist, wildlife expert, author and public speaker, published a book called Beyond Secret Elephants which highlights his extensive experiences based on the seven years that he spent examining the Knysna forest on foot.

In 2007 and 2009 his physical research samples were examined by Professor Lori Eggert, the Director of Graduate Studies in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri, who has developed a method of genetic censusing specifically for the study of African and Asian elephant populations. According to Professor Lori Eggert, the Knysna forests contain more than one elephant. The results of this study, The Knysna Elephants a Population Study Conducted Using Faecal DNA were published in 2007.

In contradiction to Patterson and Eggert’s published findings, were the results of a study that was conducted in 2016 and 2017 led by SANParks scientist Lizette Moolman using 80 cameras deployed at nearly 40 locations over the entire range. The cameras were all active for 15 months and during this time the same female elephant was identified in 140 capture events, always by herself. No other elephants were photographically captured. The conclusion of the study titled, And Then There Was One: A Camera Trap Survey of the Declining Population of African Elephants in Knysna was that it must be recognised that the Knysna population is functionally extinct. Future management must reflect either supplementation and or the addressing the welfare issues regarding the one remaining elephant.

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REQUEST THE USFWS TO IMPLEMENT AN IMMEDIATE BAN ON THE IMPORT OF ELEPHANT TROPHIES FROM AFRICA

On Wednesday, 20th March 2024, an urgent appeal was sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and to U.S. Minister of the Interior to implement an immediate ban on the import of elephant trophies from Africa, after US citizens were found responsible for the killing of some of Africa’s last big tuskers.

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The appeal from members of the Pro Elephant Network was endorsed by concerned wildlife conservation organisations and individuals from around the world.

The African Elephant was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1978. At the time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a rule under section 4(d) of the ESA to regulate the import and certain interstate commerce of the species in the United States.

Section 4(d) of the ESA provides the Secretary of the Interior with broad discretion to publish appropriate regulations tailored to the specific conservation needs of a species. The 4(d) rule has been amended multiple times to address changing threats to African elephants. The fourth and most recent amendment, made in 2016, was in response to increased poaching of elephants for ivory and led to a near-total ban on the trade in ivory in the United States.

In 2021, the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) was classified as Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Amboseli population of savanna elephants includes adult males with some of the largest tusks on the African continent due to the particular genetic makeup of these elephants and the many years of protection they have been afforded from trophy hunting and poaching.

In late 2023, however, two adult males from the Amboseli population, with tusks reportedly weighing over 100 lbs. were shot south of the border in Tanzania, ending a 30-year trophy hunting moratorium in the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area. A third elephant was shot in the same area in late February 2024 and, as of 10 March, a further three licenses are said to have been granted putting the integrity of the Amboseli elephant population in serious jeopardy.

Introduction to the Pro Elephant Network

The Pro Elephant Network (PREN) consists of a global community of diverse individuals and organisations, united in their common concern for Nature, their deep association with the natural world and their commitment to apply their experience for the greater good.

These individuals and organisations embrace expertise from both within Western academies (including the fields of science, conservation, animal welfare, human and non-human rights, philosophy and ethics, advocacy, economics, community leadership, writing, the media, social justice and the law) and the indigenous paradigm.

PREN provides a strong framework for cooperation and networking and aims to end and reverse the impacts of harmful practices towards Elephants including but not limited to capture, imprisonment, captive breeding, abuse, training, exhibition, commercial contact and trade in live Elephants and body parts. Employing evidence- based information, PREN promotes the intrinsic value and self-determination of free-living elephants for the purpose of ending all exploitation of elephants.

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