3 documentaries explaining how to save the world's elephants |
Posted: August 15, 2018 |
Elephants are one of the biggest and yet gracious animals existing on this planet. They wander in the wilderness and help people with their life. But instead of getting some specs from such cooperation, elephants population throughout the world gets to extinction by leaps and bounds. This fact can leave no one indifferent. So watch these three documentaries to see what the perspectives are and how only one human can save hundreds of elephants. Walking with Elephants (2018/2019) Walking with Elephants is a documentary produced by Robbie Moffat and his group of enthusiasts from Red Rock Entertainment who aimed at explaining the desperate problem of elephants population throughout Africa. In the past, elephants would wander throughout the continent in search of water, fresh food, and better habitat. However, the ivory hunt led to almost complete distinction of these intelligent species in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Today these countries preserve their elephants only in special game reserves because the wild is too dangerous for them. The film crew took a literal walk with elephants to encounter the barriers to the existence of these creatures. The viewer will be able to see the life in Africa through the eyes of animals and to experiences the same obstacles to understanding what it means to be a hunting target in the wilderness. Walking with Elephants is a film that tries to explain that if we leave elephants alone, they will be just fine because it is a man who is their main enemy today. Born to Be Wild (2011) This full-length documentary was directed by David Lickley who is also known for Mysteries of the Great Lakes (2008), Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002), and Journey with Dylan Dreyer (2016). This director has always been fascinated with the wild nature and paid great attention to the importance of drawing people’s attention to the problems of nature. Born to Be Wildis a documentary that is dedicated not only to the elephants but to the orangutans as well. The former have problems in Kenya, the latter in Malaysia, yet the solution to their problems is very similar. The film tells a story of orphaned and abandoned orangutans in Borneo Malaysia and how a famous primatologist Dr Birute Mary Galdikas does her best to save the little apes. She saves them from the wild where their parents got killed and their forests cut down, so the little orangutans literally have no chance of survival. In Kenya, Dr Dame Daphne M. Sheldrick does the same for the orphaned elephants. She spent more than 20 years inventing a milk formula that will replace the missing nutrients for small elephants. She also was the first scientist who managed to raise an infant elephant and set him free into the wild. Even though these scientists specialize in different species, their sanctuaries work in the same way helping orphaned animals get stronger, grow, and start their own independent lives in the wild. Elephant Whisperer (2012) Elephant Whisperer is a long-term project of Jóhann Sigfússon in cooperation with Anna Dís Ólafsdóttir and Jóhann Sigfússon working as producers here. They are telling a story of an Asian sanctuary for elephants and a story one amazing woman Lek who is trying to change the world order to these amazing creatures in her homeland. The documentary tells a story of a Thailand sanctuary for elephants who had suffered from abuse. The usual order of this country has always been to use elephants as helpers and as friends since time immemorial. The film explains the old tradition of elephant-human cooperation and how much agriculture and development of Thailand depended on these animals’ help. However, the methods applied by the natives “Mahouts” (elephant trainers, keepers, and riders) were cruel and extremely harmful for the elephants. Lek has always felt a special bond with elephants and in this documentary, she explains and demonstrates the way of saving the Asian elephants. She built a sanctuary with her own money where she keeps all saved elephants and gives them a second chance for a happy life. Besides that she conducts educational projects for the Mahouts to explain that there is no need to use the old-fashioned hooks and chains to train an elephant and that care and food do the job much better. Lek confesses that such mistreatment comes from the lack of Mahouts possibilities to provide the required care for an elephant because this giant creature requires about 150 kilograms of food and 100-300 litres of water daily. She looks for mistreated animals every day and over the past years managed to single-handedly save over 200 elephants.
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