• SAVE THE ELEPHANTS

    Join our movement for elephants

  • ELEPHANTS ARE IN PERIL.

    HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD CARE.

    Elephants currently face significant existential threats caused by human activities. In the past 50 years alone, these threats have disrupted herds, injured and tortured elephants, and perpetuated widespread decline in populations around the world. The biggest threats to elephants today are:

    • Ivory poaching
    • Trophy hunting
    • Enslavement and entertainment
    • Rapidly dwindling habitats and climate change
    • Human-elephant conflict

    In the United States, elephants continue to suffer in captivity. They are stolen from their families, tortured into submission, and transported in conditions of extreme confinement. Forced to perform in traveling shows and give rides to people at fairs, the life of an elephant in captivity is full of pain and loneliness.

  • broken image

    WHY MASSACHUSETTS FOR ELEPHANTS?

    The Ivory Market 

    • Massachusetts facilitates an abundant illicit intrastate ivory market, despite a 2016 federal ban on the commercial trade of ivory.
    • Illicit ivory is becoming harder to monitor as ivory traffickers use social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
    • The Boston area was highlighted in a 2017 report on the US elephant ivory market, due to the city's many antique stores, markets, and auction houses which sold ivory.
    • An undercover investigation conducted in 2019 by the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International found an active market for undocumented elephant ivory in Massachusetts.
    • The Nantucket Lightship Basket industry and Nantucket scrimshanders have turned to carving raw unregulated ivory for scrimshaw decorations since whaling was outlawed in 1971. Many scrimshanders claim to use mammoth ivory, but it is almost impossible to tell the difference between mammoth and elephant ivory, especially after it has been worked. Along with antique dealers, they actively lobby to keep the ivory trade alive.
    • There is currently a bill before the MA legislature, S.519, to ban the sale and use of new ivory and rhino horn in the Commonwealth.

     

    The Elephant "Entertainment" Industry

    • Elephants have been exploited for entertainment in the Commonwealth since 1796. 
    • In 2019, Buelah and Karen, two of three elephants owned by Massachustts circus and traveling show company R.W. Commerford and Sons, died after decades of being forced to travel in trailers, perform, and carry up to 5 human riders.
    • Efforts are ongoing to free the third elephant, Minnie, to one of the US’s two accredited elephant sanctuaries.
    • Massachusetts just became the sixth state in the US to pass a bill prohibiting the use of exotic animals in traveling shows, which will take effect on January 1, 2025.

  • We are a group of concerned citizens working to save elephants worldwide from poaching, kidnapping and forced slavery, abuse and neglect, habitat loss, and overall cruelty.

     

    Join our movement for elephants

    • Petition for legislation that protects global elephant populations from the ivory trade.
    • Support efforts to free elephants in captivity.
    • Learn about the role that the U.S., and Massachusetts specifically, play in the ivory trade.
    • Educate yourself and others on threats facing elephants, both nationally and internationally.

  • Sign up for our newsletter!

    We must keep fighting to protect these amazing creatures. If you'd like to be updated about our work and the ways you can help, please sign up for our newsletter below.

Cookie Use
We use cookies to ensure a smooth browsing experience. By continuing we assume you accept the use of cookies.
Learn More