We have worked in the field in Kenya for 47 years to save elephants. We fund veterinary treatments to save injured elephants, protect critical habitats and patrol to stop poachers. We also rescue orphaned calves that would not survive without their mothers or herds. By adopting an elephant, you can help us save this iconic species.

Between 2010 – 2012, one elephant was killed every 15 minutes for their tusks. Poaching rates today are much lower but each year, up to 20,000 elephants are killed illegally for their tusks, which are then trafficked and sold. Poaching has decimated populations across Africa and, in some countries including Sierra Leone and Senegal, elephants are now extinct. Poachers typically target elephants using arrows, snares and spears. Calves without tusks may be left behind, but are unable to survive without protection or their mother's milk.

Elephants can roam up to 80 kilometres a day, and need lots of space to find food and water. But over the past 70 years, much of their habitat has been destroyed or degraded as settlements, farms and infrastructure have been built, putting the squeeze on elephants. The impact of losing forest cover and increased traffic in wildlife areas can be huge. Animals are increasingly forced to travel through settlements, even crossing major roads and railways, and animal casualties are on the rise.

As human populations expand and wildlife habitats are destroyed, people and animals are coming into close proximity. When elephants move through towns and farms in their search of food and water, property damage and crop-raiding can occur, impacting impoverished communities. Encounters between poeple and elephants can be deadly too: elephants and humans can be injured or killed, and calves separated from their herds in the panic.

Elephants are a keystone species, which means other animals, plants and entire ecosystems rely on them for survival. Through their dietary habits and movements, they help create and control the environment around them, spreading plant seeds to new areas in their dung and making space for new plants to grow by pulling up grasses and bushes to eat. Communities across Africa are also dependent on the species through the income they help generate through wildlife tourism. Saving elephants and their habitats therefore means preventing poverty, sustaining livelihoods and protecting entire ecosystems.