Elephant Voices

Category: 1. General News, 2. Field News Kenya, 4. Welfare News | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: elephantvoices

In February we told the story about the baby elephant that fell into a man-made well west of Kilimanjaro, and how she ended up at the elephant orphanage at The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi.

You may read what we just posted on ElephantVoices, and see the video from the rescue either there or below. Sometimes a bad situation ends up ok - even though I’m sure Kibo is still missing his family!

Tags: amboseli, elephants, elephantvoices, granli, kenya, poole, siniya

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Category: 1. General News | Date: Jun 30 2009 | By: elephantvoices

In todays newsletter, sent out to ElephantVoices friends and contacts around the world, we gave an introduction to the second generation ElephantVoices.org as well as touching on some of the issues that have occupied us over the last few months. Supported by programmers at Verviant.com in Nairobi, we have built a new cyber home. Our main purpose has been to develop an efficient, flexible and creative platform for the online sharing of information about elephants - their behavior, communication and interests.

We apologise for not being able to launch the news section and the Video Database at this stage. And you may find that some things don’t function as they should - please let us know! Our overall goal is to continue to expand and improve the site in the years to come.

We invite you to take a tour on ElephantVoices!

Best wishes, Petter and Joyce

Tags: elephants, elephantvoices, elephantvoices.org, granli, poole

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Category: 1. General News, 8. Education, Elephants in captivity, Publications | Date: Jan 12 2009 | By: elephantvoices

A new book is on the market: An Elephant In The Room: The Science and Well-Being of Elephants in Captivity. The opening chapter in the book, Mind and Movement: Meeting the interests of elephants, is written by ElephantVoices’ Joyce Poole and Petter Granli.

Cover photos by ElephantVoices’ Petter Granli.

From the back cover:
“There once were about 160 species of elephants, reaching back across 60 million years. Today, only three remain, and their survival is not certain.

An Elephant In The Room: The Science and Well-Being of Elephants in Captivity, authored by experts from around the world and astride many disciplines, brings a new voice to assist their future. It examines the many and perplexing difficulties of elephants in captivity, looking for the best questions and trying to provide good answers,

The book presents the biological, ecological, and social dimensions of elephant behavior in the wild as the basis for any sound understanding of what elephants want and need. It discusses the effects of trauma and stress upon elephants, with a close look at current captive management systems and beliefs. It also offers a scientific assessment of captive elephant welfare, and practical methods to improve fundamental aspects of the lives of elephants in captivity. Presentations of new and impressive initiatives in the form of orphanages and sanctuaries provide hope for the future, as do new visions that would transform the current management regimes in zoos.

Humans have over millennia caused elephants enormous anguish, and even their imminent demise. Are we also capable of saving them? Is captivity a requirement for this, and if so, what should it be like? What are the special needs of elephants? What can be done to improve their quality of life?

The number of zoos giving up their elephants has been growing in recent times. More are questioning whether zoos can provide for the extraordinary demands of these extraordinary beings. To help address this, the book concludes with a set of Best Practices: a synthesis of science and ethics to guide a healthier future for captive elephants.

Anyone interested in animal welfare, and especially the welfare of elephants in captivity, will find this book essential and enlightening reading.”

An Elephant In The Room: The Science and Well-Being of Elephants in Captivity, will soon be available on Amazon.com.

Tags: "elephant welfare", captivity, elephants, elephantvoices, granli, poole

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