URGENT: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

At 4pm today, Monday, May 18th -

We saw this heartbreaking article about elephants dying of thirst in Mali. Essentially because of a drought, the levels of a lake have dropped to the point where the herd of 450 elephants can no longer obtain water.

Baby elephants are getting trapped in water holes, sucked into the mud, trying desperately to reach water. Adults are being found dead from dehydration. The photos will tell you everything you need to know.

We immediately got on the phone with wild.org, the foundation in the US heading up the drive to find an immediate solution to save these elephants.

Here’s what we found out:

1) $20k will repair 4-5 broken pumps that can help raise the water level in the lake – and get water immediately to the elephants.

2) For this amount, water can be trucked in as well to help the population have water immediately.

3) The money will also help pay for the diesel fuel to run the pumps for approximately 4 weeks.

4) There is hope there may be rains in June, which would help refill the lake. The pumps were installed in the 80′s during the last drought but have fallen in to disrepair.

5) Wild.org and SAVE THE ELEPHANTS are working together – they have people on the ground who can immediately supervise the process.

6) Wild.org is a highly rated US 501c3 that has been around for almost 30 years. They do great work and are experts in this field. All donations are tax deductible.

BOTTOM LINE:

For $20,000 US, within 7 days – this herd will be drinking water. If you donate money and we reach $20k – the result of you reading these words right now and taking action will be a moment where an elephant – who is right now dying of thirst – finds sweet clean lifesaving water.

Warmly,

Tracey & Cori

If you want the full download on what’s happening, read the article below and see if your heart doesn’t break.

HOW TO HELP:

Contact us directly if you want to help. They need the $20k immediately and we’re gathering the money for them to insure it all comes together.

OR you can donate directly to The Wild Foundation. Specify “Urgent Action – Water for the Elephants of Mali.” Here’s the direct link.

UPDATE ON THURSDAY, MAY 21 :

On the strength of donations that have come in, The Wild Foundation has been able to get money to Mali to begin the process!!! WATER IS ON THE WAY AND WE THINK THE PUMPS WILL BE WORKING IN 24-48 HOURS!!!

About $15k has come through already and we now need just about $5,000 more to ensure that we can pay for the diesel to keep the pumps going!

PLEASE DONATE!!!! (And let us know if you do so we can appreciate your help in our quest!!)

We did it.

We got the money in, the pumps working, and the much-needed water to our elephant pals. I’ll keep this page up for the next time we have something urgent to tackle.

Thanks for all who helped. See what’s possible? Margaret Mead, my friends. Small group of thoughtful, committed…you know.

ELEPHANTS SUFFERING IN MALI DROUGHT

(CNN) — The bodies of young elephants covered in the brown dirt of dried-up wells tell a heartrending story.

A young man helps an infant elephant drink in a last-ditch effort to save its life.

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more photos »

Reaching desperately for drops of water, they had lowered their trunks, toppled in, remained trapped and died in Mali’s scorching heat.

The “last desert elephants in West Africa” have “adapted to survive in the harsh conditions” they face, Save the Elephants said Monday. But now, the group says, conditions have gone from bad to worse, and they are living “on the margin of what is ecologically viable.”

Save the Elephants distributed new pictures Monday that depict the devastating drought and the struggle for survival in Mali, one of the poorest nations in the world.

“Six elephants have already been found dead,” the group wrote in a news release accompanying the photos.

“Four others, including three calves, were recently extracted from a shallow well into which they had fallen when searching for water. Only the largest survived.”

The youngest are in the most danger, since their smaller trunks can’t reach deep into the few remaining wells, the group said.

The worst drought in 26 years is threatening the existence of the “last desert elephants in West Africa,” the northernmost herds in the continent, Save the Elephants said.

The animals, now numbering only about 350 to 450, have been called “the last elephants of Timbuktu,” said Jake Wall, a scientist with Save the Elephants. But they’re south of Timbuktu, Wall told CNN in a phone interview from Bamako, Mali. “We tend to refer to them as ‘the last Sahelian elephants.’ ” See a map of Mali »

Each year, the elephants trek farther on the fringes of the Sahara to find water. They have the longest migration route of any in the continent, traveling “in a counterclockwise circle” of about 700 kilometers (435 miles), Save the Elephants said.

The images are signs of the crisis gripping the northwest African nation.

The U.N. Development Programme ranks Mali near the bottom of its Human Development Index. It cites a 56 percent poverty rate in the country, with nearly a third of the population unlikely to live past age 40, and an illiteracy rate of 77 percent.

The World Food Programme says the majority of infant deaths in Mali are due to malnutrition.

The drought, combined with soaring temperatures, has also led to deaths of cattle, Save the Elephants said. “The stench of rotting corpses fills the air, and what little water remains is putrid and undrinkable by all standards.”

In areas where the elephants live and search for water, “the normal peaceful coexistence between the elephants and herdsmen is starting to break down and giving way to conflict over access to water,” Wall said.

There is some hope for the weeks and months ahead. “We’re hoping the rains start in June, and that will allow the elephants to start drinking out of shallow ponds until the really heavy rains begin” in July or August, Wall said.

But “urgent action” is needed in the interim “to secure water for the elephants,” Wall’s group said in its news release.

Save the Elephants, which focuses on helping elephant populations worldwide, said it has partnered with a foundation and the Mali government in its fundraising appeal.