Highlights from 2017 Field Season
The Most Rapid Decline of Megafauna
The highlight of our 2017 Winter field season included wildlife biologist Marija Minic, who anchored many of our video blogs about the biggest contemporary threats to wild and captive elephants. Her astute eye was a gift for our work throughout Sri Lanka. We worked closely with Dr. Nihal, the regional DWC veterinarian in Ampara. We discovered the plight of 100-150 elephants trapped in this rapidly urbanizing area, subsequently surviving only by raiding nearby paddy fields. We hired special trackers to travel into the Trincomalee District. “Trinco is near to the central hideout for the former Tamil Tiger terrorist group. It remains a no-mans land and little is known about wildlife in the region. Our season also took us to Southern India where we worked with local conservationists and handed out several of our “wind torch” elephant deterrence devices.
“Island of the Elephants”
is a feature length
documentary directed & produced by Philip Price, that will l o o k a t t h e h u g e i m p a c t s o f S r i L a n k a ’s r e ce n t developments, and its effect upon wild elephants. Focus is upon the re-engineering of Sri Lanka’s hydrologic regime, as verses the wisdom of village elders which was passed down through 1000’s of years. Sri Lanka is world renown as having developed one of the most sophisticated reservoir tank, canal and delivery systems in human history. Yet, moder n day politicians and their hired Chinese collaborators think they can do better! All the while elephants are losing prime habitat, becoming homeless and may not be a viable in the wild within the decade. This could perhaps be the most rapid decline of megafauna in human history - and it goes unreported in world media. Meanwhile politicians and developers do fake census counts, write extravagant mitigation plans with absolutely no intention of following through, and elephant conservation funds given by the central government to various regions and their ministries never makes it to the elephants.
Faces and People of SavingGanesh.org
Sierra Stange, Historian, Yoga Leader
Scott Elnes, Filmmaker, Bend, Oregon
P Arun Prasad,
Arun Kumar,
Madawa Gamage,
Filmmaker, Naturalist Cameraman, Logistics Karnataka State, India Coordinator, Bangalore, India
Cameraman, Logistics Coordinator, Sri Lanka
Dashiel Pare-Mayer, Filmmaker, Director of Technology, Bend, Oregon
Philip Price, Founder & Executive Director, Bend, Oregon
Shannon Rose, Veterinarian, EleVet volunteer
Marija Minić
Trish London
Briony Ruse, PhD,
Wildlife Biologist, Las Vegas, NV
wildlife Vet, Director
Sustainable Sciences, Australia
SavingGanesh’s EleCare project