GLOBAL SANCTUARY FOR ELEPHANTS
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Mission Statement
Our mission is protecting, rescuing, and providing sanctuary for elephants worldwide. Vision: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few exist to be able to care for even a fraction of them. Global support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Below Are 4 Integral Pieces of the Sanctuary Puzzle That We Provide VAST WIDE OPEN SPACE Vast wide open spaceto allow elephants to get lost within their own world of intuitive exploration. MENTAL & PHYSICAL STIMULATION Bothmental and physical stimulation-empowering them to think, move and function as they would in the wild. EMOTIONALLY NURTURING ENVIRONMENT An emotionally nurturing environmentthat encourages elephants to communicate their fears and desires free from expectation. COMPANIONSHIP OF A HERD The companionship of a herd – allowing elephants incomparable support and the knowledge they are no longer alone.
About This Cause
Thousands of captive elephants in zoos and circuses around the world are suffering. Year after year of isolation, restraint, malnutrition, abuse, and lack of adequate exercise and proper medical care exact a harsh physical and psychological toll. GSE is part of the solution for captive elephants, creating sanctuaries that offer them a natural life that allows for both physical and emotional health. As an organization with over a combined 50 years of expertise in elephant rescue and sanctuary development, GSE is uniquely positioned to increase awareness and amplify support for the rescue of these magnificent and beloved animals. Because we are committed to identifying opportunities where we can have the greatest impact, Brazil was chosen as the location for our sanctuary pilot project. This location ensures that the growing number of elephants displaced by ongoing bans on performing animals across South America would be guaranteed compassionate care in an appropriate habitat. Brazil also offers the benefit of a tropical climate, pristine waters, and lush vegetation which compose a natural environment that is ideal for both Asian and African elephants, eliminating the need for complex, heated barn structures and freeing up funding for time-critical rescues and specialized medical treatment. Quite simply, we could have a significant impact on captive elephants throughout an entire continent with no other healthy alternative. In October 2016, we welcomed our first two residents, Maia and Guida. They were two female Asian elephants who had spent their lifetime traveling with the circus. When their suffering was noted and the government stepped in and confiscated them, there was nowhere for them to go. They spent the next five years on chains, on a farm owned by the lawyer of the circus. Their past was traumatic, but even their relationship with one another wasn’t pretty. Any time they got off of their chains on the circus farm, Maia was aggressive toward Guida - knocking her over and continuing to push her. Everything in their lives changed the minute they took their first steps into the sanctuary. Given space, understanding, and the ability to express themselves in a healthy way, they spent the next two-and-a-half years side-by-side every single day. Both elephants grew immensely. Guida found her self-confidence and Maia learned that her actions have consequences (a lesson Guida simply taught her by walking away if Maia was in a bad mood). Physically their bodies began to recover from severe weight loss, joint and foot issues, and bouts of colic. Emotionally the transition was much deeper. This is what sanctuary is all about. Sadly, Guida passed away in June of 2019 leaving her best friend and companion of more than 40 years behind. Maia, our girl who feels so strongly, has been working hard to face her grief and build relationships with the other elephants since losing Guida. Not only did Maia lose someone who had become her cherished friend, but she also had to redefine what life looked like without Guida. She struggled at times, and it was difficult to see an elephant with such a big personality disappear into herself, but she made it through and is starting to shine again. Our third rescue elephant, Rana, joined Maia and Guida in December 2018. Rana blossomed immediately and embraced all that sanctuary has to offer while learning what it means to put other’s needs and desires before her own. Rana has been a little bit of a surprise elephant. At the zoo she was aggressive, and we weren't sure how she would react once she arrived at the sanctuary. What we found is that even though she is in her 60s, she approaches life with an innocence not commonly seen in older captive elephants. It is incredibly endearing and something that seems to be a gift for the other elephants. She seems to have a great wisdom and is a comforting sister with lessons to impart to the other individuals here. In the last months of 2019, two more precious elephants, Ramba and Lady, arrived at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil. Ramba, known as the last circus elephant of Chile, was the impetus for us getting involved with building a sanctuary in South America. And she was also the reason we kept going when things would get bleak and progress was nowhere to be found. Without her, we’re not sure any of this would exist. Against all medical opinions, she lived for seven years with kidney disease at a roadside zoo, ensuring the sanctuary was completed and finding her way to her joy. She was always the perfect grandma. Sadly, Ramba serves as a reminder of why every day at sanctuary should be cherished. She passed away on December 26, 2019. Although the loss was hard, there is much to celebrate about her life. She had ten weeks of bliss, exploration, and getting to know the depth of caring and compassion of an elephant companion, her best friend Rana. Not only was her life changed, but she changed the lives of elephants all over South America. Lady, a solitary zoo elephant, was our fifth rescue, arriving at the end of November 2019. The condition of her feet is among the worst that we have seen, and the zoo could not provide even a fraction of the care that she requires. Lady is very insecure with a deep-seated fear and lack of trust. This extends beyond people who she does not know and even impacts her ability to interact with the other elephants. Lady is curious and very interested, but she has not been able to take the necessary steps to put herself into a position where she can physically touch the other elephants. Along with her struggles and uncertainties, she has significant joys. Lady loves her habitat, the ability to wander, and every little bush and tree she encounters. Her apprehensions dissipate when she walks into the bigger spaces, and she can be silly, beautiful, adventurous, and trying. Her healing may be slow, and there have been inevitable bumps along the way, but that is what healing looks like. The next elephant to arrive was Mara, who made the journey from what is now Ecoparque Buenos Aires during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. She spent over 20 years at various circuses before being sent to the ecoparque nearly 20 years ago. Mara has a permanent wrist injury that throws off her gait, but she doesn’t let that stop her from spending time with her best friends Bambi and Rana. She has faced gastrointestinal issues in the past that doctors across the world worked to treat, but is now eating nicely and has gained a healthy weight. Maia came to us with the label of “killer”, having struggled with human relationships deeply in the past - though at the ecoparque she had keepers who worked diligently with her and accepted her for who she was. She has learned to love and appreciate her sanctuary caregivers (though she watches them carefully) and is one of the smartest elephants we’ve ever cared for. Our seventh rescue was Bambi, who came to us from a zoo in Sao Paulo, where she lived with another elephant whose personality clashed with hers. When we first met her at another zoo years prior, she was charmingly plump and full of energy. When we met her again at the second zoo, she was a shell of her former self, afraid of emerging from her small concrete room, underweight, blind in one eye, and covered in layers of caked-on mud. Once she arrived at sanctuary, Bambi became a bundle of energy and needed to learn to slow down and match her physical and emotional speed to that of the other elephant residents. She has worked hard and gradually settled into herself, learning that her food grows all around her, she has acres of land to explore, and that friends are by her side. She is especially bonded to Rana and Mara. The eighth and ninth elephants to arrive were Pocha and Guillermina, a mother and daughter who had spent over 20 years together at what is now Ecoparque Mendoza. Their home was a stone underground pit that prevented them from seeing the horizon and cut them off from the world. Guillermina was born in the pit, and her feet had never touched grass or built relationships outside of those of her mother and the bull who fathered her (who lived in the neighboring stone enclosure). After arriving at sanctuary, they immediately found joy in dusting themselves with sand and dirt, though it took them a little bit of time and courage to explore the habitat around them; they simply weren’t used to anything being above their eye level and struggled to learn to look up and around at the vast space around them. Guillermina is filled with youthful energy and sometimes struggles to match that energy to the other older elephants, but she is becoming more grounded and learning lessons with each passing day. Unfortunately, after a few short months at sanctuary, Pocha passed away due to a severe illness that had been ravaging her body for years. Though she spent a mere six months here, she had the experience of exploring new spaces and, perhaps most importantly, watching her daughter live a life that Pocha likely never knew possible. Guillermina is learning to live a life without her mother, someone who gave her everything she possibly could. She’s learning to grow, and the other elephants are growing, too, learning what it’s like to live every day with a spunky personality. Every elephant is different, but one thing is constant: they all blossom beautifully as they rediscover what it means to be an elephant and are allowed the time and space to figure out who they are. This level of healing is something we want for captive elephants across South America. The first section of the female African habitat has been funded and completed, which will allow us to welcome three elephants: Kenya, Kuky, and Pupy - all of whom deserve a safe space to heal and evolve. The funded male Asian habitat will eventually be home to at least one male elephant once he is ready to travel. Our next task is expanding the female African habitat, which is essential to allow for healing and growth for the soon-to-be-arriving girls and allow rescue for additional elephants. Space allows for greater freedom of choice - one of the most essential components of sanctuary life.