CITIES CoP15. (Photo Credit: ElephantVoices)

March 25, 2010–Like many of our fellow elephant supporters, we’ve watched and read the updates coming out of the Convention on International Trading in Endangered Species (CITIES) in Doha this month.  Today we are happy to report that the requests from Tanzania and Zambia to down list their elephants populations from Appendix I to II and to begin to trade in ivory were both rejected.

We’ve followed the Facebook updates from ElephantVoices since the conference began on March 13, 2010 and they report:

Tanzania and Zambia amended their proposals when they realized that they might lose the vote, but despite well orchestrated interventions by supporting parties they did not succeed in achieving the two-thirds majority required. We firmly believe that down listing and ‘one-off’ sales would have further stimulated the market for ivory, and led to more killing of elephants. They did succeed in getting another vote in the plenary session today, Thursday 25th, but the victory for elephants was upheld.

This success is largely due to the extraordinary collaborations between the African Elephant Coalition (AEC, with 23 African Elephant range states as members) and the informal group Kenya Elephant Forum (KEF), which includes key stakeholders in Kenya (Save the Elephants, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Kenya Wildlife Service, Youth for Conservation, ElephantVoices and others) co-ordinated by Pat Awori.

For more information about Elephant Voices, please visit their website and become a fan of their Facebook Page.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on how this and other elephant news effects Asian Elephants, particularly the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) Elephant Hospital featured in The Eyes of Thailand.

-Windy Borman

Director & Producer, The Eyes of Thailand

P.S. Documentaries are expensive undertakings.  Please help us continue our work on the film–and be a voice for Asian Elephants–by making a tax-deductible donation to The Eyes of Thailand through the film’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Film Society.  Click on “Donate Now” here and it will take you to the secure online donation page for the SFFS.  Thank you so much!

Dear Friends,

In researching animal rights organizations for “The Eyes of Thailand”, In Defense of Animals suggested I join their mailing list for the Elephant Task Force.  This turned out to be a very serendipitous decision on many levels and in the short-term it allows me to share that on June 20, 2009 In Defense of Animals will host the International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ).  Demonstrations are currently scheduled for California, Oregon, Thailand, Spain, all over the globe!

Please check out the list of groups hosting demonstrations at: http://www.helpelephants.com/idaez_find_an_event.html.

Below is an email from Melissa Gonzalez, Elephant Task Force Coordinator for In Defense of Animals, explaining more details about the June 20th events.  Please read it, sign up or start an event, and spread the word.

Thank you!

-Windy Borman

Producer, Writer, and Director, “The Eyes of Thailand”

Dear Members of the Elephant Task Force:

Thank you so much for your dedication and determination to help elephants in zoos and circuses.  As most, if not all of you are aware, IDA has launched our first-ever International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ) and is set to occur on Saturday, June 20.  We are thrilled to have so many events confirmed throughout the US and others countries around the world, yet would like to have greater representation at other zoos where activists have not yet come forward to help.

In addition to requesting more events at zoos with elephants internationally, we are also asking activists located in the US and residing near the list of zoos below, to submit event forms asap.  If someone confirms an event at your local zoo before you do, I will let you know the details and/or perhaps you can work together in a joint effort.  I would be happy to put you in touch with activists in your area working towards our cause.

Houston Zoo
Dickerson Park Zoo
Buttonwood Zoo
Roger Williams Zoo
El Paso Zoo
Indianapolis  Zoo
Little Rock Zoo
Miami Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Reid Park Zoo
Topeka Zoo
Buffalo Zoo
Seneca Park Zoo
Rosamond Gifford Zoo
Baltimore Zoo

If you live near the zoos above, or other zoos with elephants around the world, please help them by filling out and submitting our IDAEZ event registration form:
http://www.helpelephants.com/idaez_event_form.html

The following link contains all the events where we have confirmed events, http://www.helpelephants.com/idaez_find_an_event.html.

If your local zoo with elephants is not on the list, PLEASE, take action to help the elephants.
(Please note the Toronto Zoo in Canada is confirmed yet details are pending and due to be received soon.)

[Note: if you confirm an event on or before Monday, June 15, 2009, In Defense of Animals will be able to ship informational materials, pamphlets, etc.].  These materials will be posted on our IDAEZ homepage in next day or two: http://www.helpelephants.com/idaez.html

Please help make the International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos an even greater success for elephants by submitting the form today.  We are accepting events up to and including June 19 yet prefer they come in asap.  The greater number of events and participants at zoos with elephants translates into a greater number of people wanting to help them.  Thank you for your time and consideration.  We appreciate all that you have done and continue to do to help the elephants suffering zoos.

If you are involved with Facebook, or are considering it, I would like to invite you to join our Facebook Group, In Defense of Elephants.

———————
Sincerely,

Melissa Gonzalez
Elephant Task Force Coordinator
In Defense of Animals, IDA
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael, CA  94901
E:  Melissa@idausa.org
T:  707.981.7701
F:  707.981.7702
www.HelpElephants.com

In 2007, I had the opportunity to travel to northern Thailand with the director of the Chiang Mai Project, Sherie Guilliat.  I had a feeling that the trip would be a pivotal event in my career as a documentary filmmaker, but I had no idea how inspired I would be to spread the word about the plight of the Thai Asian Elephants upon my return.  I owe that to my interview with Soraida Salwala and the footage of her patients at FAE’s Asian Elephant Hospital.  After one viewing of the film’s trailer, I hope you can see why this film has become a labor of love!

My goal for the “The Eyes of Thailand” is to advance Asian Elephant conservation by motivating the international community to pass protection laws in Thailand that align with FAE’s mission to save every elephant in Thailand from abuse, injury, and exportation.  Asian Elephants are already classified as endangered, but if laws protecting them are not created (and enforced) immediately, the entire species will become extinct within the next 50 years!  This will have devastating effects on the environment, as well as the social and cultural structure of the country.  Consequently, D.V.A. Productions has partnered with Soraida Salwala to provide a weekly blog about FAE’s progress (which you can read in “Notes from Soraida”) and Creative Narrations, a non-profit multimedia community building consulting agency, to develop supplemental curriculum for grades 3-12 in U.S. and Thai schools—because little activists become big activists!

We have the plan and the passion to make this vision come to fruition, now we ask you to help supply the means.  Please make a tax-deductible donation to “The Eyes of Thailand” today through the film’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Film Society: http://www.sffs.org/donate/donate-now.aspx?pid=47.  Every little bit helps bring us one step closer to completing the film and educating the world about the plight of the Asian Elephants.  Thank you.

Please continue to follow our progress on this blog, Facebook, IndieGoGo and Twitter (@eyesofthailand).

Krup Kum Ka,

Windy Borman

Director Windy Borman filming at FAE in 2007.