About
Save the Elephants is a conservation and research organization dedicated to securing a future for elephants in Africa. Established in 1993 by Scottish zoologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who pioneered the scientific study of elephant behavior in the 1960s, the organization is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with its principal research station in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Donations from US supporters are received by Save the Elephants USA Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
Mission
Save the Elephants works to secure a future for elephants and sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live, to promote humanity's delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species.
What they do
- Understanding Elephants: sustained, rigorous scientific study of elephant behavior and intelligence across some of Africa's wildest landscapes, including radio and GPS tracking of elephants and detailed histories of nearly 1,000 individual elephants in Samburu
- Elephant Pathways and Protection: using tracking, GPS collars, and long-term movement data to understand elephant movements and maintain migration corridors, and running the Elephant Crisis Fund to deliver flexible, responsive support to organizations across Africa combatting the ivory trade and protecting elephant landscapes
- Human-Elephant Coexistence: practical tools for people living alongside elephants, including beehive fences and the Human-Elephant Coexistence Toolbox, which presents more than 80 tried, tested, and sustainable methods to safely keep elephants at bay
History
Founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton conducted pioneering doctoral research on elephants at Lake Manyara, Tanzania in the 1960s and documented the devastation of elephant populations by the ivory trade during the 1970s and 1980s. He established Save the Elephants in 1993, and what began as a small research initiative grew into a registered charity with long-term research operations in Kenya.
Scale and impact
The Elephant Crisis Fund, launched in 2013 in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Network, has funded 120 partner organizations across 559 projects in 44 countries. Save the Elephants notes that the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies Africa's savanna elephants as endangered and forest elephants as critically endangered, underscoring the urgency of its work.
Governance
Save the Elephants is headquartered at Marula Manor in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya, and is guided by a board and advisory councils. It is a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Registration No. 1118804), and its US affiliate, Save the Elephants USA Inc. in New York, is a registered 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 88-2429208) recognized by the IRS in 2023.
