The mission of An Elephant Calling began with the death of a 17-year-old girl who loved elephants.  She was my granddaughter's best friend, my husbands best friend's daughter, and she was like a daughter to me.  Her death was so painful that I absolutely had to find a way to honor her that would make a difference on a long-term basis.  The logo at the top of the page symbolizes Savannah guarding over all of the elephants who need our help.  After Savannah's death, I fostered an elephant in her memory through The David Sheldrid Wild Life Trust, and my education about elephants began there.  I knew nothing about elephants but Savannah's death opened a door into a world that would consume my life.  My focus is on the poaching crisis and the truly horrific abuse elephants and rhinos around the world are suffering.  Savannah gave me a gift when she died, and that was her love for elephants.  Rhinos are also in trouble, and I wish I could do more than just spread the word and donate what funds I have, along with fostering orphaned elephants.  An Elephant Calling is for those orphaned elephants who have lost their Mums and the rhinos who are fighting to survive.  I will be a voice for the voiceless, in memory of Savannah Nichole Scheil.  Those are the reasons for our starting An Elephant Calling, but it has become so much more than that now.  We feel we need more than just a FaceBook page to spread the word of the poaching crisis, and we have big dreams here at An Elephant Calling.  We have many ideas, but we could use all the help and input available to help us educate the public about the crisis at hand.  Please feel free to share and post anything you feel might be helpful in getting the word out about the criticle state our elephants and rhinos and many other wild animals are in.  Please, let's join together and work towards stopping the poaching crisis.  Together we are better.  We can do this!  Elephants are such intelligent, compassionate, caring, and loving animals.  How could anyone want to hurt such a beautiful majestic animal?  They do; every day!!  They hurt them in the most horrific ways using snares, guns, poison darts, and by simply cutting off their faces and leaving them to die.  This is also the tragic fate of the beautiful rhino, three breeds of which went extinct in 2017.  In 2018, we have already lost the Northern White Rhino, never to be seen again.  Shame, shame on us as human beings!  How very said that we have let it come to this.  It is the goal of An Elephant Calling to educate and draw awareness to the inhumane treatment of these beautiful animals.  We can no longer turn a blind eye to this.  Please, we must wake up, and we have to try to wake up everyone around us.  So much work is being done to save them, but it is still not enough.  We are working hard to provide information about ways you can help on this site and to bring you the necessary information to educate you so that you can share with others; and together we can make a difference.  It is said that up to 100 elephants die a day due to poaching for their ivory.  We must help stop this number from climbing.  In 2018, the statistics showed a slight decline in rhino poaching in SA of 26.  There were 1,026 in 2017.  These numbers are still astounding.  Thank you for taking the time to join our efforts.  We can make a difference if we stick together and keep ourselves and others informed of the nature of this crisis and what we can all do to  help.

 

Dee Donnelly,Founder,CEO, An Elephantant Calling

Writer/Editer Dee Donnelly