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How You Can Help

‘What can I do, what difference can one person make?’

It’s natural to ask that question when faced with issues that seem too large and overwhelming for an individual to impact. But when you add your voice to others, it becomes amplified and part of a force for change. Joining a protest, volunteering at a sanctuary, advocating against cruelty, adopting a rescued elephant, or creating a fundraiser for an elephant cause are some of the many actions you can take as an individual and with others that deliver much-needed help to elephants.

The most immediate way to help is to donate to organisations and groups working tirelessly to protect elephants and care for those who have been injured or traumatised. Even the smallest donation helps! It will go towards saving elephants’ lives and to projects on the ground that need your support to continue, such as anti-poaching patrols, orphan rescues, mobile vet units, campaigns to educate, and initiatives to reduce conflict between elephants and humans.

Organisations You Can Help

African Parks

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. It manages 22 national parks (2023) and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Big Life Foundation

Protecting over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa, Big Life partners with local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.

Born Free

International wildlife charity devoted to compassionate conservation and wild animal welfare.

Elephant Family

Elephant Family works in partnership with homegrown, in-country conservation experts on the ground to tackle the challenges facing Asia’s wildlife and the indigenous communities that live alongside them.

Elephants Without Borders

Elephants Without Borders is a charitable organisation based in Botswana dedicated to conserving wildlife and natural resources, through innovative research, environmental education, and empowering local communities.

Game Rangers International

Game Rangers International (GRI) is a non-profit organisation working in Zambia alongside the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and the local communities to protect Zambia’s wildlife and wild spaces. They also have an elephant orphanage where the orphans are gradually reintegrated back into the wild.

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare)

IFAW works to save individual animals, animal populations, and habitats all over the world. It has many projects to save and protect elephants, including protecting their habitat, managing human-elephant conflict, preventing poaching, and ending the ivory trade. Dedicated to galvanizing and uniting the tourism industry to help end the poaching of Africa’s elephants.

International Elephant Project

The International Elephant Project (IEP) is a not-for-profit project in Borneo and Sumatra for elephant conservation, rainforest protection, and local community partnerships, in order to protect and save the entire ecosystem and biodiversity of habitats shared by elephants.

National Park Rescue

Working on Africa’s conservation frontline to protect elephants and other threatened wildlife against poachers; to restore effective law enforcement, shut down corruption and trafficking, and reconnect the surrounding communities key to a park’s survival.

RARE Sri Lanka

Animal rights advocacy organisation speaking out for wild and captive elephants in Sri Lanka.

Save Elephant Foundation

A Thai non-profit organisation dedicated to providing care and assistance to Thailand’s elephant population, rescue and rehabilitation.

Save The Asian Elephant

STAE works to raise awareness of the plight of Asian elephants, especially their torture in the service of entertainment, and to urge tourists to stay away from such attractions. It lobbies the government to pass legislation to help protect Asian elephants.

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

The DSWT is today the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation programme in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organisations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

Space for Giants

Working to secure a future for the largest mammals on earth, to be enjoyed by humanity forever, by ensuring that they have the space and security to live and move freely in the wild.

STEP – Southern Tanzania Elephant Program

Elephant conservation project based in southern Tanzania, working towards long-term security for elephants.

The Call to Conserve

Dedicated to raising awareness about Asian elephants and effecting change in captive wildlife welfare through collaborative projects with local communities prioritizing trust, thoughtfulness, and partnership.

Virunga National Park

Rangers protecting elephants and wildlife in an extremely hostile environment.

Voices for Asian Elephants

To protect endangered Asian elephants of India by preserving corridors for wild elephants and restoring their habitats, while providing basic knowledge and tools to the people living near the forest fringes to alleviate human elephant conflict.

Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand

WFFT rescue and rehabilitate captive wild animals and provide high-quality care and a safe environment for them to live the rest of their lives. They campaign against all forms of animal abuse and exploitation in Thailand.

Other Ways to Help

Besides donating, there are many ways you can help elephants: spread the word about the crises they face, urge friends and family to support their cause, share info and news on social media, write letters to your MPs and decision-makers, sign petitions, attend protests, respond to government surveys on elephant issues (such as captivity in UK zoos), start your own fundraiser. We have seen all these initiatives make a difference!

Buy a cake for elephants!

You can buy a beautiful cake made from fruit and vegetables for sanctuary elephants to enjoy. Each cake is designed with great skill and care by dedicated staff, making a unique gift for any occasion (and you’ll get a video of the elephants enjoying their delicious treats!).  The cakes also give their owners an alternative income, so it’s a win-win all around!

You can purchase cakes from Gentle GiantsAsian Elephant ProjectsSamui Elephant Haven, and Chok Chai Elephant Park for elephants in Thailand.

Cakes for elephants

Cake made by Care for Elephants at the Asian Elephants Project

If you care about elephants and their fate on our planet, you can’t afford to do nothing!

Join Action for Elephants UK

Become part of our group and share in our advocacy, activism, and awareness-raising to help turn around the crises facing elephants. Their endangered status is now an emergency, a race against the clock for their survival. As the threats against elephants increase, the spectre of extinction looms.

Our protests and demos are peaceful events that give everyone who cares about elephants a chance to make their voice heard. These events help to publicise the issues and generate debate and the push for solutions. They also serve to pressure governments to take action.

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‘As the dominant species on this planet it is our moral duty to protect and preserve all forms of life. For species such as elephants and rhinos to be fighting for their existence due to human exploitation and interference is unacceptable and we must do everything within our power to turn this dire situation around. We are responsible for the problem and we must be held responsible for the solution. It will indeed be a very sad indictment on our species if rhinos and elephants are no more, and that day will come sooner than we think if we do not take action.’

Sir David Attenborough