Trading to Save Elephants

On the 14^th of October 2016, the Nairobi Securities Exchange held its second annual Charity Trading Day, with Save The Elephants as the lead charity organization to benefit!

Renowned Kenyan media celebrities were present to make calls to potential dealers, competing with one another on who would sell the most. In under an hour from when the actual trading started, twitter was abuzz with the trending hashtag #NSECharityTradingDay.

A total of Ksh 5.8 million (57,212 USD) was raised from the day’s sale as well as from corporate sponsorship. The collective consciousness of Kenyans regarding elephant conservation was truly inspiring.

Wallace Kantai, the Business Editor of Nation TV, shared with those present the story of a school trip on which he touched an elephant – an experience has left a deep impression on him.

Janet Mbugua, a News Anchor with Citizen TV, also declared her love of wildlife and said that she wanted to go to Samburu for her honeymoon, rather than fly to far off lands as her husband expected.

Caroline Mutoko a former radio presenter and now a Kiss TV show host as well as a celebrity MC, mentioned that it was time for Kenyans to own and protect the fauna and flora that is in Kenya. Just when the selling frenzy stopped, Save The Elephants CEO Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton ended the trading session by ringing a hand-held bell.

“Kenya is such an incredible country that is rich in wildlife, where people come from thousands of miles and together pay lots of millions of dollars to come to see our animals. It’s important that children from Kenya be able to enjoy the same marvelous sites,” he said.

He then expounded on the project in Tsavo, of which the funds raised on this day would be channeled to.

“Kenya’s largest population of elephants is in Tsavo, where about 14,000 live. The new high speed railway from the Coast cuts through the elephant range, and a new 6-lane highway is planned. We started a project with the Kenya Wildlife Service to track the animals to allow us to understand how to maintain the connectivity between Tsavo East and Tsavo West. With careful planning, based on scientific knowledge, there’s going to be a future for Kenya’s largest elephant population.”

Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton closed by inviting the people present to visit Samburu.

“You have a chance to participate by coming to see these animals. Come up to Samburu where we have our center of operations. We do cutting edge, dynamic scientific work with Kenyans and international scholars. “

Save the Elephants (STE) works to secure a future for elephants in a rapidly changing world. To battle the current surge in ivory poaching, the STE/WCN Elephant Crisis Fund is identifying and supporting the most effective global partners to stop poaching, thwart traffickers and end demand for ivory. Leaders in elephant science, STE also provides cutting-edge scientific insights into elephant behavior, intelligence, and long-distance movement and applies them to the long-term challenges of elephant conservation.