A few days after my arrival in London, I spotted my first elephant. Without hesitation, I gave it a big hug. The Walk London team (Ian P. Hardy, David Ingham and I) were strolling around Chelsea, getting a feel for the walks. I wanted more elephants and London was filled with 258 colorful pachyderms. I had to learn more.
Basic Facts about the Elephant Parade:
From May until the end of June, these painted elephants have been scattered around the city, in the largest fundraiser ever for the charity, Elephant Family (http://elephantfamily.org). London hosted this grand art event, attracting 25 million people and raising an estimated £ 2 million to create elephant corridors in India, Thailand and Sumatra allowing elephants to migrate in safety. Village populations are growing, pushing the elephant into less and less space. The hungry elephants invade villages, trample crops and kill villagers.Villagers retaliate, killing the elephants. By establishing movement corridors, elephants and humans can co-exist in peace.
What can we do?
Date an elephant! Maybe this is the most far-fetched thing you’ve ever thought of doing…or…maybe not!
Here’s how it works:
If you’re searching for a gift that stands out – like the biggest thing possible – Date an Elephant will satisfy on all fronts. Elephant Dating is a great gift for special occasions such as
- weddings
- anniversaries
- birthdays
- Valentine’s Day
Elephant Family created the concept of Elephant Dating as a refreshing change to charity adoption. Animal lovers everywhere will embrace this unique way to contribute to a worthy cause.
Now, here’s where you come in:
A donation of £30 (approx $45.00) will secure a 12-month date with a real Asian elephant. In return you will receive gifts from your beloved that include love letters, a photograph (to be framed and kept on your nightstand) plus the all important, Valentine’s Day card.
Steps to successfully elephant dating:
- Log on to http://www.elephantdating.org
- Buy a date using Google Checkout. If you want the gift box to be sent to a loved one, merely click “change” in the” deliver to” option and give his/her address.
- When the box arrives it will contain a booklet, DVD of Elephant Dating Celebrities and, of course, your dating card.
- The dating card begins your romance. It contains your voucher code. You select your intended (the elephant of your choice) and provide the address where you wish to receive your love letters.
- From here…you’re on your own. What you say to your elephant is between the two of you. Use the word “love” a lot. All animals love…love!
For goodness sake, let’s help the elephants.
Dear Annie
Thank you for the chance to tell your readers a little about my company Mystic India Ltd, supporters of the Elephant Family charity. Here is a little more information about what the charity is doing and the reason behind Elephant Parade London 2010.
With just 30,000 Asian Elephants compare to around 800,000 African elephant, the elephant family charity are doing a great job in protecting their habitat in India and Asia.
Elephants need great swathes of rural land to roam and graze. And they’re very much creatures of habit. So if their home disappears or is disturbed by man’s activity, they’ll still try to find a way through to safer ground (following their old familiar routes). They’ll trample on through farmland and villages, enraging local communities. They’ll try to cross railway tracks – and endanger lives in the process.
To cut the risk of human-elephant conflict and casualties, we’re securing habitat all over Asia. Together with the Wildlife Trust of India, we’re purchasing the corridors of land that elephants need and helping local people relocate. We do this with the overwhelming support of these communities. Often, they’ve been plagued for years by bewildered, hungry elephants. They’ve lost crops, property – and perhaps even loved ones – in human-elephant conflict. No wonder that they’re ready to move on. And we make sure that they have good-quality housing and agricultural land to go to.
Once the indigenous community is safely settled elsewhere, we work with the State Wildlife Department to grant these corridors protected status. And only then can elephant-lovers breathe a sigh of relief.
Mystic India have put together a special tour to India enabling you to see famous sites like the Taj Mahal but most importantly to visit the founder of the charity, TARA, Marks Shands famous elephant & co founder of the charity. This opportunity allows you a free day to spend with Tara, where you can ride and feed her and even bath her in the river. Then head to cosmopolitan Mumbai where we can arrange a Slumdog Millionaire tour into the slums if you are interested, before then heading down to Wayanad to see firsthand what the charity is doing and the corridor they have created. To end this 16 day trip you can stay at one of only 2 luxury hotels beachside in the north Malabar Coast in Kerala. For more details of this tour, or to have a tour designed especially for you please see our website http://www.MysticIndia.co.uk or send us an email info@MystcIndia.co.uk. For every booking of our Elephant Family Charity Tour we will give £70 per person to the charity. Sharon ‘Shanti’ Evans – (MD) Mystic India Ltd.