Did you know Asian elephants are endangered?
According to the IUCN Red List, the official list of species facing extinction, the Asian elephant is classified as ‘Endangered’. Over the last three generations, the population has declined by more than 70%. In the next three generations, it is projected to decline by at least another 50%.
In the 1900’s, there may have been as many as one million wild Asian elephants. By comparison, today’s numbers are grim. Loss of habitat, conflicts with humans (HEC), and poaching have reduced wild Asian elephant numbers to around 30,000 individuals.
Captive elephants are also suffering, with only an estimated 15,000 left. Many of these captive elephants are working and struggling to survive in Asia’s profit driven, mostly unregulated, tourism industry.
Our mission
Elemotion Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to improve the lives of endangered Asian elephants and the people connected to them. Our mission has three goals.
- Educate the public about the plight of the Asian elephant. The foundation’s education initiative includes information in several languages about wild and captive elephants. An informed public has the power to improve elephants’ lives by choosing to participate in elephant friendly activities, donating to established organizations, and spreading the message.
- International network building. Support, coordinate, and facilitate the passage of information between like-minded organizations, programs, researchers, and individuals who are working towards the betterment of wild and captive Asian elephants.
- Create and support programs which improve the lives of elephants and the people connected to them. The foundation is dedicated to helping elephants by creating initiatives which have an impact on large numbers of elephants as well as on individual cases. We also focus on educational and community development for people who live and work with elephants, including HEC affecting villages.
About the Foundation
The foundation began in summer 2009 with an educational brochure for tourists visiting Asia. It explained the actual conditions under which elephants work in the tourism industry. It also included advice on how the public could enjoy elephants without a negative impact. This information became available on a multilingual website where the message has been passed on to thousands of people.
In September 2010, Elemotion Foundation received its official non-profit status and registry number (27-3472337). The foundation has sponsored the care of a 2-year old male captive elephant, produced numerous free educational materials, participated in school conservation lectures, and created an initiative for chain wound prevention. Today, we are currently sponsoring another 2-year old male elephant, working on building a school library for a human-elephant conflict affected village, and designing an elephant sanctuary medical protocol.
The foundation is run by founder/president, Laurene K. Knowles, a board of directors, and an advisory board. Contact Us: info@elemotion.org or write to Elemotion Foundation, 1612 Celia Crescent, Richmond, Va 23236 USA.
About the Founder
Elemotion Foundation’s founder, Laurene K. Knowles, was born in the US and enjoyed a successful career in Europe as a dancer, model, and classical ballet teacher. She has two Bachelor of Arts degrees in French and History from Virginia Commonwealth University and speaks fluent English, French, Italian, and basic Japanese.
Laurene has had a love for animals that reaches back to her early childhood. Today, this love has transformed into a passion for animal welfare and wildlife conservation. After a visit in 2009 to the Elephant Nature Park, she decided to create Elemotion Foundation to improve the lives of wild and captive Asian elephants and the people connected to them.
Captive elephant welfare, responsible tourism, elephant orphan rehabilitation, human-elephant conflict, and early childhood education are all issues the foundation addresses. Laurene’s research has led her to Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka where she studies the unique elephant situation in each country. By having a broad international base, she is able to find cross-country solutions and unite people working on solving similar problems in different countries.
Today, Laurene lives in Tokyo, Japan where she works full-time for Elemotion Foundation, in the company of her two cats, Fonzie and Bea. She continues to travel regularly to throughout Asia for field research and foundation projects. In 2013, her work will focus on captive elephant welfare and wild elephant conservation in Sri Lanka and Thailand.
If you would like to contact Laurene, please send an email to: laurene@elemotion.org
Elemotion Foundation’s financial statements are available upon written request from the Office of Consumer Affairs.
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Atten: Office of Consumer Affairs
102 Governor St.
Richmond, Va 23219
USA
