The Elephant Sanctuary, Charity of the Day

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Dec 28th 2007 at 10:02AM

Established in 1995 and existing on 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee, The Elephant Sanctuary is devoted to providing a safe refuge for endangered Asian and African elephants that are old, needy, and sick after being retired from zoos and circuses. It is also passionate about educating others on the crisis facing these large and gentle creatures, and working to stop the capture and training of elephants from their natural habitats to perform in circuses and safaris. They have 23 elephants total in the sanctuary, and you can meet them all by name and picture and either send a general donation or sponsor a specific "girl" after reading each of their bios and getting to know them in photo albums.

Tags: animal rescue, AnimalRescue, charities, charity, conservation, donation, donations, elephant, elephants, giving, rescue, sanctuary, tennessee, wildlife

Filed under: Charity of the Day

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Anita Dec 29th 2007 1:12AM

Actually The Elephant Sanctuary currently has 19 elephants, 3 African and 16 Asian.

Hugo Dec 30th 2007 5:23AM

While I'm all against cruelty against animals, and understand the feelings of anyone trying to ease the life of these animals, I can't help but feel that this is a bit over the top.
Taking care of these animals -being among their needs vast protected spaces, loads of food, transport from wherever theyy were first- looks extremely expensive, and there is a lot of wildlife in need of preserving out there.

Barbara Peskin Dec 31st 2007 10:36AM

I'm a teacher and have been following and supporting the Elephant Sanctuary for almost ten years.

It is truly an amazing place. These elephants are allowed to live with dignity. Additionally, supporting the Sanctuary's efforts to buy land also conserves and saves land in Tennessee.

Through it's mission the Elephant Sanctuary has an integral role in teaching all of us about animals, habitat, and being caretakers for all beings. The Sanctuary's website is an amazing teaching tool. Every page has information you can use to teach about elephants and elephant habitat.

Also, the broader message about people caring for animals and allowing them to live in dignity is so important. You can also learn about life, dignity, and that elephants have many of the same needs, fears and hopes that people do.

Carol Buckley and Scot are amazing people who had a unique vision and dream. They are truly heroic.

Thanks for recognizing the Elephant Sanctuary.
I encourage all to visit it at www.elephants.com. Look for the elediary's and elephant biographies to begin your learning adventure.

Cheers and love to all the elephants at the Sanctuary,
Barbara

spyderbytz Dec 31st 2007 1:20PM

Yeah, there IS a lot of wildlife out there that needs protecting/preserving... so how do you choose? Elephants are not native to the US, humans took them (and/or their "parents") away from their native lands for rather selfish reasons. Now that they ARE here, humans should continue to take care of them.

Make it illegal to import certain animals? Tempting, but then some people would never get to see some beautiful creatures. Others would miss the opportunity to study them. Yes, these are selfish reasons to rip critters out of their native habitats... but they are also why the populations of some endangered species are being rejuvenated. For every pro, there is a con, and vice-versa.

I don't think there are too many animal species that became extinct during the existence of humans, whose demise wasn't at least indirectly caused by said humans.
What a mess we all make... and how few of us make any effort to clean it up.