A Marcher’s Toolkit – Getting Ready for the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos – Vancouver

Hello Marchers!

Please help spread the word and join the march on Oct 4th 2014.#March4ElesandRhinos

On October 4, 2014 Vancouver will be taking part in the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos to draw attention to the crisis facing these two species and to call for an end to the ivory and rhino horn trade that is pushing them rapidly towards extinction.

To date, 127 cities across the globe will be marching on that day – this will be the biggest international event ever held to save our planet’s vanishing wildlife, with the focus on elephants and rhinos.

The poaching of elephants and rhinos has reached unprecedented heights in recent years as the demand for ivory and rhino horn has soared in China and other mainly Asian markets. The ivory trade is also fueling terrorist groups, transnational criminal gangs, and armed militias that are destabilizing African countries as well as posing serious threats to international security.

An elephant is brutally killed every 15 minutes – that’s around 100 every day, and at least 35,000 every year. With so few numbers left (some estimates put the figure as low as 250,000 for the entire continent), and with such a slow reproductive cycle, the outlook is looking tragically bleak for elephants. If we don’t take action now to stop this massacre, it will be too late to save them. They will vanish forever – in about 10 years.

A rhino is poached every 11 hours with an estimated 24,000 left in the world. Over 1,000 rhinos were poached last year alone, compared to 13 in 2007. If the rate of killing continues to rise, rhinos too face extinction within the decade.

Here is a short informational video about the ivory trade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfooocokOr4&list=UULXXG0683FswkRlXk4CTjFQ

And the elephant advocacy group organizing the Vancouver march,Elephanatics

https://www.facebook.com/Elephanatics — Like us!

Event agenda:

1:00 to 1:30
Opening events
We have drummers, face painters, photographers, a fun quiz, and items for sale! We need volunteers the most during this time (beginning at 12:45) to help people register, take photos and sign our petition. There will be charitable items for sale by donation during this time (cash only).

1:30 to 1:35
Introductions by organizers

1:35 to 1:50
Speaker Jake Wall
Jake wall is a PhD student at UBC and an African elephant researcher with Save the Elephants.

1:50 to 2:05
Speaker Rosemary Conder
Rosemary is the Chief Development Officer of the BCSPCA and an elephant advocate, with a particular interest in ethical tourism.

2:05 to 2:35
March!
March Route: Georgia to Granville Station, Granville Station to Waterfront Station, Waterfront Station to Burrard Station, to Robson Street and Hornby back to the Gallery

2:35 -3:00
Closing remarks, learn “What You Can Do”, and more pictures!

For those of you wanting to purchase t-shirts, mugs etc..please visit here:http://www.cafepress.com/marchforelephantsandrhinos

www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org

Making Signs and Costumes

While we will have some signs to hand out we encourage you to make one at home and bring it along. For ours we used:

paint stir sticks as handles

foam core to mount the poster on both sides

glue – to glue it all together

Here is some artwork you can use or you can make your own! More to come!

Face painting – We’re super lucky to have someone volunteer to face paint. Here are some fantastic designs to choose from. Elephant Face Paint Designs 

Marchers in Israel and London!

Capturing attention and having fun at the same time is important. Here are some examples of other marchers:

Protest against Canned Lion Hunting in Israel.

Getting the Word Out

Please help us get the word out. The more people who realize the issues facing these animals, the more of an impact we are able to make on October 4th, the more signatures and MP’s we contact the better the outcome for elephants and rhinos. Let’s make NOISE.

If you have local media, please send them this release:

Please use this poster to publicize the march. Send it to friends and family, post it at your local library coffee shops.

Finalposter – please print or email to your networks.

These smaller promo pieces can be used to hand out to your networks.

ER_VANmarch2014_card4up_front

Petitions

Petitions are the life blood of the march. This is how we really make noise. Getting signatures is important. If you can print a copy of this and get signatures and bring it to the march to hand in to organizers that would be amazing and we’ll love you forever.

Petition for parliament-3 – these are signatures to be gathered.

This is a letter we encourage you to send to your MP. All you have to do is add your signature and find your MP through this contact list:

Petition to Parliament Augustt 25-4 – a letter to send to your MP http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members

Petition to China – Stop Carving and other easy but important actions to take:

http://www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org/#!take-action/c1qm

Education

You can make a difference. Things you can do are:

Tell people about what you know. (See media below and share)

Take what you know and let your government rep know.

Support people working the front lines.You can do this by “liking” these groups on facebook and social media, sharing stories and news, supporting them by supporting their fundraisers – buy t-shirts, adopt orphans as gifts, or fundraise for them. Do NOT support animals in tourism. Elephant rides and treks are  all a part of a system of terrible animal abuse. Tell people. Excellent organizations to support are:

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Save the Elephants

Big Life Foundation

Wildaid

African Wilfdlife Foundation

There are more  – but these are just a few.

Buy Stuff

Get cool t-shirts, mugs, decals etc right here

Endorsed by Jane Goodall

Canadian Media and Major Media to date:

Head Elephant Keeper Edwin Lusichi welcomes PBS journalist Jeffrey Brown to the Orphanage to better raise awareness of the poaching crisis. http://www.pbs.org/…/racing-save-kenyas-wild-elephants-poa…/

David Attenborough – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/Sir-David-Attenborough-the-esc…

“”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.”

PBS Special on poaching with Big Life

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/racing-save-kenyas-wild-elephants-poachers/#.VCpWMVGagk4.twitter

Rhinos aren’t sexy but they are cute and definitely worth saving – Metro News Paul Sullivan

http://metronews.ca/voices/just-saying/1164216/rhinos-they-poo-a-lot-and-they-need-our-help/

Chelsea and Hilary Clinton Call for End to Elephant Poaching

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2014/09/24/16126351/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomworld-topstories

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos – Africa Geographic

http://africageographic.com/blog/demanding-an-end-to-the-slaughter-of-rhinos-and-elephants/

CBC Quirks and Quarks – Bob McDonald interviews George Wittmeyer

http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/2014/09/06/2014-09-06-5/

National Geographic – Elephant Hero – Sam Wasser

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/elephant-heroes/sam-wasser/

Google Elephant, BC Man’s System, Helps Save Threatened Species – Article on Jake Wall

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/07/17/bc-mans-google-elephant-africa-jake-wall_n_5592978.html

God’s Ivory

Huffington Post – The Role of Religion in the Elephant Poaching Crisis

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-joseph/gods-ivory-the-role-of-re_b_5745994.html

Newsweek: Richard Leakey Tries to Save the African Elephant – Again – August 2014

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/richard-leakey-tries-save-elephants-again-267099.html

Canada AM – August 2014 Greg Gubitz – Big Life Foundation – Why Elephant Poaching Is On the Rise – “We don’t stand a chance unless we drive down demand”

http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=422619&playlistId=1.1971133&binId=1.815911&playlistPageNum=1

Elephants Never Forget, Let’s Not Forget About Them The Globe and Mail August 2014

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/elephants-never-forget-lets-not-forget-about-them/article19999890/

Elephant slaughter by poachers in Africa soars to 100,000 in 3 years – The CBC News August 2014

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/elephants-never-forget-lets-not-forget-about-them/article19999890/?cmpid=rss1

Elephants Perilously Close to Extinction The Toronto Star August 2014

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/08/19/elephants_perilously_close_to_extinction_from_disastrous_poaching_says_study.html

UBC Trek Magazine – Keeping Track of Elephants August 2014

http://trekmagazine.alumni.ubc.ca/2014/august-2014/features/keeping-track-of-elephants/

Ivory Trade: Why Elephant Poaching is still rampant -CBC Online

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ivory-trade-why-elephant-poaching-is-still-rampant-1.2740635

Don’t let anyone discourage you from social action. Protest, pushing government and organizations to change works but we need to work together, have fun while getting some serious things done. If we don’t do this, these animals can’t save themselves.

The Global March for Elephants and Rhinos October 4th, 2014 has the support of the following NGO’s

ElephantVoices, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Elephants Without Borders, Performing Animal Welfare Society – PAWS, the Jane Goodall Institute, Born Free Foundation, Born Free USA, Animal Defenders International, In Defense of Animals, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, The Rhino Orphanage, United for Wildlife, IAPF – International Anti Poaching Foundation – www.iapf.org

Mrs Helen Clark, head of United Nations Development Program for your support and inspiration in a call to action for support of the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos!!!!