Brand new Episode to be aired tonight at S2e TV (www.ElephantInTheRoom.S2e.TV)!

Rare footage of Asian elephants.

Baby Elephant : Revenge Of The Tire

A conservation group releases video shot in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia showing what it says is the largest group of wild Asian elephants captured on camera over the past decade.

More updates and innovations news:
Reuters tells the worlds stories like no one else. As the largest international multimedia news provider, Reuters provides coverage around the globe and across topics including business, financial, national, and international news. For over 160 years, Reuters has maintained its reputation for speed, accuracy, and impact while providing exclusives, incisive commentary and forward-looking analysis.

Thula Thula Elephants swimming at Mkulu Dam.

Rare footage of wild asian elephants highlights success of cambodias largest protected forest video.

The footage shows at least 12 individual Asian elephants, including young, as they graze, interact and move through the forest.

For over 14 years, Conservation International (CI) has worked closely with the Cambodian Government to protect this forest – critical to supporting the lives and livelihoods of 3.5 million people in the Cardamom Mountain range, and fisheries and agriculture downstream. Credit footage courtesy Cambodia HARVEST and Conservation International.

Elephants are taking a shower

Network Africa: Elephants On The Verge Of Extinction

The Action for Nosey Now team just want to say Thank You to Amy L. Waz and everyone who attended the USA flea market last weekend, to raise awareness and protest on Nosey's behalf. We really appreciate you taking action for Nosey!

Nosey is scheduled to be back at the USA Flea Market again this coming weekend, for circus performances and giving rides.

The flea market is just north of Tampa. Bring on the troops!

Education is our best & most powerful tool!

If you would like to attend this weekend all info & details can be found on: CompassionWorks International's event page: Port Richey, FL: Protest the Use and Abuse of Nosey the Elephant!

**Attention Parents** Please teach your children respect for animals. I know it sounds "exciting" to ride an elephant however I can assure you it's not exciting for the #elephant What I witnessed this weekend @ #USAFleaMarket in Port Richey #FL was an atrocity.

Please Google #Nosey The owners have over 200 USDA violations & still allowed to exploit her. She was chained, had no water, had a 280 lbs man and 4 kids on her back, she has arthritis, her eyes were oozing, a 7 yr old was working the platform

We all remember #Tyke the elephant who went berserk & was gunned down in Hawaii. It's time for Nosey to retire. She has never seen another elephant & spends her life traveling around in a beat up truck.

Please do not give these #animalabusers your money. The laws do not protect Nosey or other animal. Only we can stop this madness. #animaladvocate #animalrights#animalactivist #AnimalAbuse #peta #Circus#circussucks

Thank You ~ Action For Nosey Now

A great way to start the New Year!

Establishing a pattern... (Please also see our 1st post on this issue here: http://rbl.ms/1ZD2sOa)

Consistent with what was observed over the rest of last weekend at the USA Flea Market, New Port Richey, FL, yet another, even younger child was seen serving as FWC's required elephant ride "assistant." As shown in the photos below)

The Liebel's chose to use this child in this way which is probably not in the best interest of public safety. For example, if a rider was to fall between the platform and the elephant, there would be nothing a child of this size or age could do.

FWC regulations require an assistant to be present along with an experienced elephant handler when offering elephant rides to the public. Kara Hooker of the FWC needs to be informed of what took place last weekend

Please call Kara Hooker at (850) 544-2933 OR (850) 488-6253

Please keep a record of the Date and the time that you call FWC as We may need to use this information in the future.

Thank You ~ Action For Nosey Now

All the photos below show the elephant ride assistant is a very young girl!

Very young ride assistant ~ Taken at USA Flea Market, New Port Richey, FL on 9th-10th January 2016

GREAT NEWS! Cancellation Confirmed!

Nosey is NOT going to be giving rides or performing in the circus at the USA Flea Market at all this weekend!

The circus will continue but without Nosey.

Thank you advocates & all who showed up to protest...this could not have happened without your energy and your action!

MORE GREAT NEWS!

We (Action For Nosey Now) spoke with Bay News 9, yesterday and we also went out to the flea market.

A follow-up segment will be broadcast later today, we'll share it as soon as we have it. (Thanks for the video, Amy!)

Huge Thanks for all you do for Nosey ~ Action for Nosey Now

Please watch & share this clip

More Exciting News about the activists for Nosey! We have reached the incredible milestone of 9000 Facebook supporters! Nosey needs you now more than ever! Please continue to take action on all our action posts and please keep sharing our news.

Our Heartfelt Appreciation for all of Your Help & Support for us and Nosey! ~ Action for Nosey NowNEW Milestone! @ActforNosey http://rbl.ms/1nstSoW

Virginia Could Be First State In US To Implement Law To Protect Elephants

Delegate Sam Rasoul, who represents Virginia’s 11th House District, which includes part of the City of Roanoke, has introduced a bill that would ban the use of devices such as a bullhook, axe handle, or block and tackle, or the performance of certain practices in order to discipline, train, or control the behavior of an elephant in the State of Virginia.

Virginia House Bill 302 (HB 302) was introduced on Jan. 4, and referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice. If passed, the bill will then go to the Senate floor, then on to the Governor.

Elephants are capable of suffering from physical and emotional pain. To treat elephants in a manner which inflicts both physical suffering and psychological suffering is inhumane. Support the passing of HB 302

According to the expert opinion and observations of world-renowned elephant behavioralist, Dr. Joyce Poole, the inhumane use of the bullhooks physically and psychologically harms and harasses elephants to a level that can cause emotional stress and trauma.

Cities across the nation are banning the use of bullhooks. Countries outside of the United States have banned entire circuses because of the cruelty involved in training and maintaining the animals. It’s time that the United States follow suit. As home of Asha the solitary elephant at the Natural Bridge Zoo, ranked the #1 Worst Zoo for Elephants due to substandard living conditions and alleged bullhook use, as well as multiple USDA citations,

“We are incredibly grateful to Sam Rasoul and his staff,” says Karrie Kern, CEO and Founder of One World Conservation, a non-profit that has been working on the bill since July of last year. “We have faith that the Courts of Justice will do the right thing and stand behind HB 302,” Kern says.

One World Conservation is a non-profit organization focused on the conservation efforts of exotic and endangered species, both in captivity and in the wild.

There is a new petition to Save Elephants from Loggers at Animal Pettions.com.

Target: OES Assistant Secretary Ambassador Judith G. Garber

Goal: Support international funding for Conservation International’s trust fund for the protected forest area in the Cardamoms, Cambodia.

Conservation International is attempting to protect vast forest land containing endangered species with a long-term trust fund for their conservation scheme in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, and is aiming to secure $7.5 million from developed countries and corporate interests. The program, established in tandem with the Cambodian government in 2002, is responsible for the protection of 400,000 hectares of forest land in the southwest of the country.

The area is home to roughly one third of Cambodia’s rare and endangered species, including the endangered Asian elephant. Only around 200 to 250 elephants are in the Cardamoms, with similar numbers in the east of the country, yet these are still the largest remaining populations of wild Asian elephants in the world.

Recent footage of a herd of elephants in the region has indicated that the program is working. While logging has continued in Cambodian forests, the protected area has seen a much smaller decline in forest area. Outside of the protected region, forests declined by 15 percent between 2006 and 2012, compared to 2 percent inside.

If Conservation International receives the $7.5 million they are aiming for, along with the $2.5 million they have already with contributions from their own global conservation fund and from Daikin, the Japanese air conditioning firm, they will be able to guarantee funding for the protection work forever. Support their efforts to protect this pristine forest land and the wildlife that calls it home.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Assistant Secretary Ambassador Garber,

Conservation International is looking for funding for their forest protection scheme in southwest Cambodia, and it’s up to the developed countries of the world to help them reach their goal. The area in question, a 400,000 hectare region in the Cardamom Mountains, is home to a vast array of rare and endangered creatures, making up one third of such species in the country, as well as the forests themselves. With the recently released footage of endangered wild Asian elephants grazing in the protected forest area indicating that the program is working, it is imperative that the work continue.

Illegal logging in Cambodia is putting the forests and the ecosystems therein at risk, and the practice will not be stamped out overnight. However, independent studies have shown that inside the protected area, the forests declined by significantly less than the area immediately outside it. The program can be called a success, and as such, should be continued.

The U.S. has a responsibility, as a major player in global environmental affairs, to act responsibly. In this case, the responsible thing is to contribute to the $7.5 million required to keep this program running indefinitely and encourage other nations to follow suit. Please support Conservation International’s trust fund to protect this unique forest region.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Paul Mason

Stand up for the Sumatran Elephants in 2016. Deep in the heart of Leuser Ecosystem is a herd of some of the last Sumatran Elephants that roam ancient migratory paths. Majestic matriarchs and little wobbly elephant calves travel unhindered through its dense green undergrowth. These paths take them through their favorite groves for foraging and rivers edges where calves frolic playfully. They are one of the reasons why the Leuser Ecosystem still has a viable population of these amazingly intelligent creatures.

Donate to protect the Sumatran ElephantBut these key elephant migratory paths are being cut off as Conflict Palm Oil plantations, and accompanying roads, expand into the region and fragment the lowland rainforests. Poachers also follow these new roads, giving them easy access to Sumatran Elephants, and other species like Sumatran Tigers, illegally hunted for trade on the black market. As more critical forest is destroyed, the endangered Sumatran Elephant is pushed closer to extinction in the Leuser Ecosystem.

The situation for these elephants is dire, but not without hope. We have had incredible success in the past year changing some of the biggest corporations who source Conflict Palm Oil for snack food. It wasn’t easy but we made it happen with your support and the help of our partners on the ground in Indonesia. In 2016 we will continue to demand an end to forest destruction and the abuse of human rights for Conflict Palm Oil production. All of this requires your urgent support.

Please help protect the last of the Sumatran Elephants with a generous 2016 tax-deductible donation.

Donate and save the Sumatran Elephant today

Thank you once again for joining RAN in the movement to protect the rainforests of Indonesia and the last herds of elephants who call it home.

This Hopeful Image of the Future for Elephants Will Inspire You to Stand Up to Save Them! Our greed for ivory is killing Africa’s elephants at a rate of one animal every fifteen minutes. That comes out to be almost one hundred animals a day, dead because of mankind’s insatiable lust for ivory jewelry, nameplates, piano keys, and a whole myriad of other frivolous items.

With prices soaring as high as $1,500 a pound, and the elephant population dwindling, protecting Africa’s elephants a more dangerous job than ever before. While the people tasked with protecting the world’s remaining elephants have an incredibly daunting job, the value of the work they do is immeasurable. Among the many organizations who have stepped up in defense of the elephant is The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT).

DSWT, located in Nairobi Kenya was founded in 1977 as a refuge for Africa’s orphaned and injured elephants. Since then, they have been leading the way in conservation, raising orphaned elephants so they can be released back into the wild in Kenya’s protected Tsavo National Park. Although the picture painted of the impact of the illegal ivory trade on elephants is often bleak, the work that DSWT offers a glimmer of hope for the future.

This is the sort of world DSWT is helping to build for Africa’s elephants.

Without their help, none of the elephants in this picture would have survived in the wild, but as they grow up and return to their natural environment, they each will play an important role in restoring the African elephant population.

The work that DSWT is amazing, but without the joint help from individuals who are actively working to end the ivory trade, it could all be for not.

Recently, baby steps have been taken to protect Africa’s elephants, with companies like UPS taking a stand against shipping ivory. However, without an aggressive international ban on all ivory products, there will still be a vicious black market. We can all help by refusing to purchase any item made with ivory – or any other elephant product, and sharing this post to raise awareness!

If you would like to learn more about DSWT, you can visit their website here. Image source: DSWT

And, in a story at PETA, they tell us why Ringling's Plans to Take Elephants Off the Road in May Is Deceiving. The dwindling audiences have spoken by walking away, and legislators have voted to stop animal acts, so, as of May, no more elephants will be jammed in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus trains and hauled around the country: The circus has moved up its deadline for eliminating elephant performances. Bowing to the public’s “mood shift,” Ringling had announced last year that it would end elephant performances by 2018.

This is good news, but it’s not all sunshine and roses for the “retired” elephants. Spending days on end chained in stifling, reeking boxcars is a miserable life for these keenly intelligent, active animals, but despite Ringling’s spin on what comes next, the circus’s Florida breeding compound – where the elephants will go – has fundamental flaws. At Ringling’s grandiosely named Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), elephants will no doubt still be chained on a daily basis, be forced to breed, be deprived of opportunities to interact and socialize normally, and continue to live in fear of being hit with bullhooks. Ringling has also been known to experiment on elephants at the facility and to sell them.

In another chilling revelation, the CEC is teeming with tuberculosis (TB). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the CEC is the “facility with the highest incidence of TB in their elephants,” and it has been the subject of a series of government-mandated quarantines as a result.

Pulling elephants from the road is a step in the right direction, but Ringling should get out of the whole animal business altogether. The elephants should be taken to legitimate sanctuaries, and all the animal acts should come to an end.

Urge UniverSoul Circus to End All Cruel Animal Acts!

UPDATE: Recently, Bill Cunningham, the largest producer of Shrine circuses in the U.S., announced that he is no longer using wild animals in his shows, effective immediately. This announcement comes just months after the notorious Ringling Bros. circus announced that it plans to phase out its elephant acts by 2018. These are monumental steps toward ending the archaic practice of forcing animals to perform confusing tricks under the threat of pain and fear. Join PETA in asking UniverSoul to follow suit and eliminate all animal acts from its performances!

UniverSoul Circus has a long history of contracting with notorious animal abusers who have lengthy records of Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations. It has worked withHugo Liebel, who has been racking up AWA violations concerning his treatment of the ailing elephant Nosey for two decades. It also contracts with big-cat exhibitor Mitchel Kalmanson, who was cited twice within four months for denying exercise and space to big cats while with UniverSoul Circus. The cages were reportedly too small for the cats to make normal postural adjustments, and a handler admitted that the animals were kept caged 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the entire four to seven weeks that they were on the road and sometimes longer. In addition, two elephants currently on the road with UniverSoul—Betty and Bo, who are exhibited by Larry Carden—have yielded over five years of reactive tuberculosis (TB) tests, suggesting that they are likely TB-positive. These elephants risk exposing arena and circus workers, members of the public, and other animals to TB.

UniverSoul is known for having some of the best human talent around, and it’s high time that it followed the lead of other big-name circuses by recognizing the change in consumer attitude and eliminating animal acts now. Please take action today for animals who are forced to travel with UniverSoul.

CONTACT UNIVERSOUL

Please feel free to use our sample letter, but remember that using your own words is always more effective. In Defense of Animals

10 Worst Zoos for Elephants Named

and Shamed by In Defense of Animals

Along with the arrival of each new year, comes the release of our annual list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America. With this announcement, we want to thank YOU, our supporters and activists, for being the wise, and compassionate human animals that you are, and for helping us continue this esteemed tradition. In raising awareness for elephants, the largest and most iconic of animals incarcerated in zoos, we are raising the bar for freedom, autonomy, and respect for all animals everywhere.

This year's list has a very unique #1 Worst Zoo entry that broke the mold by unabashedly pointing out the "con" in so-called "conservation."

Dallas, Henry Doorly and Sedgwick County zoos - "The Terrible Trio" - are colluding to attempt an atrocious and highly controversial plan to take 18 young elephants from Africa so they can be exploited in cramped and dismal U.S. zoo exhibits for the rest of their lives. The zoos falsely claim that the elephants are overpopulated where they are, and that they must be killed or moved. Viable options have been offered to keep the elephants in Africa where they belong, yet the zoos continue to insist on the import, driven by their greed for profit.

In Defense of Animals' 10 Worst Zoos list educates and informs by lifting the veil of deceit and exposing the mis-education that zoos so often propagate. This list is essential in generating media coverage of critically important issues facing elephants and other animals in captivity, and those living in the wild who may be ripped away from their families to live in public display facilities. The list helps change society’s perceptions about zoos, influences policy and legislation to help animals, and puts local pressure on zoos to do better – or do best by shutting down their inadequate exhibits for good!

Despite the cruelty that we expose, please remember that notable progress was made in 2015 and the positive trend is continuing, with more North American elephant exhibits closing every year.

Let's Work Together

We thank you, our friends in this fight for justice, for helping us continue the venerated 10 Worst Zoos tradition. However, we cannot celebrate until such a list is no longer needed - when all remaining captive animals are living out their lives in peace and comfort in certified sanctuaries.

Read the list, share it, and stay tuned for our updates that include regular opportunities to help and positive actions that we can take together to help liberate elephants and other animals from the confines of tyranny and greed.

These elephants will not be forgotten, no matter how alone, remote, or hidden they – and their tormentors - may be. You've stood by us and we will continue to be steadfast and stand by the elephants with, and on behalf, of you.

Please take a look at the list, share it now, and consider supporting In Defense of Animals with a regular gift.

If you would like to volunteer to help elephants (or other animals), please email us at elephants@idausa.org to apply.

There is also another Petition to end the cruel treatment of elephants in India - by Save The Asian Elephants.

http://stae.org - Young elephants are snatched from their forest homes to supply tourist attractions, temples and festivals. Capture from the wild often entails slaughtering the mothers and other herd members who attempt to protect their young.

PAJAN – THE BRUTAL ‘BREAKING IN’ PROCESS

The captured calves are isolated and then forced into a pen and tied with ropes to prevent them moving. They are deprived of water, food and sleep. Terrified, they are brutally, often fatally, beaten with rods, chains or bullhooks (a rod with sharp metal hooks at the striking end) and stabbed with knives and nails. This practice – “pajan” – is designed to break their spirits and brutalise them into submission.

We respectfully urge:

Narendra Modi to end pajan and ensure the proper treatment of captive elephants. These magnificent creatures should either be released into the forests or kept in genuine sanctuaries.

David Cameron to urgently fulfil his Government’s Manifesto commitment to “support the Indian Government in its efforts to protect the Asian elephant”.

The Association of British Travel Agents to press its members to remove elephant attractions from their itinerary in India and the rest of Asia. Only visits to genuine sanctuaries and wildlife reserves where tourists observe elephants at a respectful distance (and do not ride them) should be permitted.

STAE asks for your signature to this petition as we need maximum visible support as we enter crucial meetings with the UK Foreign Office and the UK tourism industry.

See STAE's work featured in Mail on Sunday

16/08/15: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3199391/Tortured-tourists-Chained-spot-20-years-Beaten-submission-secret-jungle-training-camps-terrible-plight-Indian-elephants-LIZ-JONES.html and

23/08/15 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207447/Your-roar-outrage-gentle-giants-MoS-readers-extraordinary-reaction-abused-elephants-story.html

Next, in a Take Part daily article, it sates how Elephants Win: Hong Kong Moves to Crush Ivory Trade. The government reveals plans to end the city’s legal ivory market, which activists say fuels the slaughter of elephants.

Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying announced Wednesday that his government will end its legal ivory trade.

That market is considered a facilitator of illegal ivory transport into mainland China, the world’s largest consumer of smuggled ivory.

“The government is very concerned about the illegal poaching of elephants in Africa,” Leung told Hong Kong’s legislative council on Wednesday. “It will kick-start legislative procedures as soon as possible to ban the import and export of elephant hunting trophies.” He added that the government will “explore other appropriate measures,” including a phaseout of the local ivory trade and stiffer penalties for smuggling and trading endangered species.

Wildlife conservation groups are hailing the announcement as a milestone in the movement to ban all ivory trade—a position the Chinese and U.S. presidents took in 2015.

“We expect action will be taken this year, but what we don’t know is what the timeline will look like,” said WildAid chief executive Peter Knights. “He announced a phaseout, so obviously the quicker the better. The most important thing is that they reveal a timeline this year.”

WildAid has been working in China and Hong Kong since 2011 to educate the public on how the country’s legal ivory trade fuels illegal poaching of Africa’s elephants.

“We’re losing 30,000 elephants a year in Africa, and we believe most of that ivory is being traded through legal channels,” Knights said.

In a report released last year, World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong showed the loopholes in the legal ivory trade that allow illegal tusks to infiltrate the market. Ivory from the city’s stockpile obtained prior to 1990 can be legally sold. But lax enforcement has allowed the 400 or so licensed traders to use legal ivory permits as a front to sell contraband tusks.

The practice has helped lead to the rapid decline of African elephants, whose population has fallen from between 3 million and 5 million in the early 1900s to around 470,000 today. If poaching keeps its current pace, scientists say the species could be extinct within two decades.

Hong Kong’s move comes as the price of elephant ivory plummets. In a report by conservation group Save the Elephants, the cost of raw ivory on the black market has fallen by almost half over the past 18 months. Ivory tripled in value in the four years leading up to 2014 but dropped from a high of $2,100 per kilogram to $1,100 per kilogram by November 2015.

Researchers Lucy Vigne and Esmond Martin of Save the Elephants said the price drop is a result of China’s growing public awareness about illegal ivory and the government’s intent to shut down the domestic ivory trade.

“Everybody in the ivory business in China is waiting and wondering what will happen next, and are gloomy that their centuries-long tradition of ivory carving may be coming to an end, hoping at least that it can be phased out gradually,” Vigne and Martin said in a statement.

“If the trade closes, the value of ivory as an investment depreciates,” Knights said. “We see Hong Kong prices going down because of the public backlash against ivory, and that should have an impact on poaching. Couple that with stepped-up efforts in Africa to deter poachers, and the ivory trade ends up getting squeezed at both ends.”

Updates including the link to the Go Fund Me Campaign to free MoMo!

Update #5 2 days ago

Dear Friends,

Here is the Go Fund Me page for Mo Mo.

https://www.gofundme.com/u7f33xug

Update #4 5 days ago

Dear supporters, please follow Mo Mo on her facebook page. We are also hoping to begin raising funds for her freedom!!

www.facebook.com/MoMobirthdaywish

Update #3 6 days ago

Communication is beginning soon, with people who may be able to help us and Mo Mo.

Update #2 about a month ago

I would love to be able to buy Mo Mo her freedom. A few of those who have signed have asked about this.

Update #1 about a month ago

So many wonderful people have signed and are spreading the word of this dear girl. Let's help make her birthday wish come true, Freedom!!!

About This Petition

Mo Mo the elephant just turned 62 years old, which is quite a feat for an elephant raised in captivity. While many of those in the wild tend to live to a ripe old age, zoo-raised elephants' lives tend to be much shorter.

To celebrate Momo's unexpectedly long life, the Yangon Zoological Gardens dressed her up in a sparkly outfit, gave her a feast of bananas, and released 62 birds. It was a big spectacle, and probably made the zoo a lot of money, but I doubt it was how Mo Mo would have chosen to spend her birthday.

Mo Mo has spent the last 55 years of her life in captivity, performing with the other elephants for zoo visitors. Her special trick is playing the harmonica and shaking her hips to the beat. If this weren't sad enough, all of the other elephants - Aung Toe, Ma Toe, Moe Meit, and Ma Yang Kot - who performed with her over the years have passed away.

Instead of releasing 62 birds to celebrate Mo Mo's birthday, the Yangon Zoological Gardens should have released Mo Mo. It is a miracle that she has managed to survive all these years in captivity; let's give her the rest and respite she deserves. Please sign this petition demanding that the Yangon Zoo release Mo Mo to an elephant sanctuary where she can live out her final years with peace and dignity.