Every year, tens of thousands of African elephants are killed, and their ivory tusks are used for trinkets and ornaments. This out-of-control slaughter means the species faces the urgent threat of extinction. A world without elephants is a real and harrowing possibility – which is why we are using advanced AI technology to track every moment an elephant makes, ready to act at the first sign of danger.

Credit: Magnus News/Justin Sullivan.

Will you support this vital project?

Approximately 97 elephants are KILLED DAILY by poachers. NEARLY 100 elephants alive when reading this will be dead within 24 hours.

By 2030, there could be no elephants left in the wild.

Credit: EFE/EPA

African savanna elephants are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with populations rapidly declining and in grave danger of total annihilation.

Our South African partner, the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) recently alerted us to a herd of elephants living dangerously close to a poaching hotspot and in imminent peril of being taken out by poachers. Park rangers patrol the vast 180,000-hectare area regularly; however, there is only so much ground they can cover on foot and by vehicle.

Credit: Vic Dobry/ASI

With the help of powerful tracking devices, we can provide Addo’s elephants with much-needed protection.

During a two-day tracking device fitting operation using emergency funds, we and a team of skilled wildlife vets successfully fitted one elephant family with tracking devices powered by artificial intelligence (AI). We located the animals by helicopter, darted them, and worked quickly and carefully to fit them with brilliant new technology that will completely revolutionize the way our team monitors and protects endangered wildlife species. We have protected one family but so many other elephant families with young calves need protection too.

Credit: AP/Alistair Nelson

The old tracking devices sent geographical locations infrequently, meaning that it would take hours or days to detect an elephant in danger. The new devices invented by South African engineer Dr. SP Le Roux change all this. Their built-in AI monitors every movement an elephant makes, continuously monitoring its vital signs and even learning its behavioral patterns via smart algorithms. At the first sign of anxiety or abnormal activity, the AI tracker sends a real-time alert via network towers placed at various points across the park to AENP’s anti-poaching unit, which can be dispatched immediately.

Credit: Vic Dobry/ASI

Response time to elephants in crisis has been shortened from hours to a matter of minutes – this could be the difference between life and death for an elephant in danger!

BUT – only a handful of elephants currently have this protection. We MUST help the remaining animals!

Addo’s anti-poaching unit, which we support financially, has already received multiple real-time alerts thanks to these new devices, allowing the team to save each one of them, and it is thanks to your generous donations. But our work is far from over.

Right now, there are over 600 endangered African savanna elephants roaming Addo, and they all desperately need the same level of protection from poachers and other threats to their survival. After great herds of elephants were wiped out by hunters in the 19th century, Addo was established in 1931 to protect the surviving 11 elephants in the area. Today, elephant numbers have swelled to over 600. They are perhaps the best placed to survive the threat of extinction. We must do everything in our power to ensure they survive.

Credit: Zara King/ASI

Revolutionary new tracking devices will save elephant lives, but we need YOUR support to purchase and fit them!

Apart from the loss of a culturally significant wildlife icon, elephant poaching threatens the vital role that elephants play in maintaining healthy ecosystems as keystone species. Please donate as generously as you possibly can RIGHT NOW.

If we can raise $20,000 (around £15,600), we can continue our life-saving work to fit AI-enabled tracking devices to the endangered elephants of the Addo Elephant National Park. Please, will you help us?