World Elephant Day 2018
13th Aug 2018
This year we celebrated World Elephant Day on Saturday 11th August with our 3 African bull Elephants, Shaka, Janu and M’Changa. Ahead of the day, we took ‘Eden the Elephant’ for a tour around Bristol to explain to the public what we are doing to help Elephant conservation.
We again ran a competiton for visitors ahead of World Elephant Day and the lucky winners took part in a special Elephant enrichment activity hiding some tasty treats inside the enclosure for the boys to find.
Elephant numbers have dropped by 62% over the last decade, and they could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade. An estimated 100 African elephants are killed each day by poachers and the IUCN Red List lists African Elephants as Vulnerable to Extinction in the Wild.
Noah's Ark are supporting the Elephants and Bees project, one of the Save the Elephants innovative programs. Elephants have a natural fear of bees and will instinctively avoid bee hives. The project is using this natural behaviour to dissuade crop-raiding Elephants and minimise human-elephant conflict. At the weekend we were successful in raising £377 for the charity at the weekend.
Eden isn’t done exploring the city yet. If you spot the Elephant on her travels this summer send your photos to the zoo for a chance to win a family ticket to Noah’s Ark this summer holiday.