WORLD WORLDWIDE ANIMALS ZIMBABWE SOS ELEPHANTS News Journal Update - time is running out to save African elephants from killer drought.

 

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Purchasing solar-powered battery systems for water pumps in Zimbabwe is the elephants’ only hope!  Please help by making a donation now! Share Tweet Forward Dear friends,  African elephants are dying of thirst as climate change-induced drought wreaks havoc in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.  Dozens of these gentle giants and their defenseless calves are succumbing to hunger and thirst every few weeks. Their lifeless bodies litter the landscape after they have endured slow, horrible deaths. If we do not act fast, we risk losing untold numbers of endangered African elephants. Please help us provide life-saving water right away! Please help by making a donation now! Credit: Friends of Hwange We have a way to pump enough water for the drought-stricken elephants of Zimbabwe. The elephants need YOUR help to make it happen. Please help by making a donation now! There are more than 45,000 elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. The average adult elephant consumes around 60 gallons (150 liters) to 53 gallons (200 liters) of water a day, which means millions of liters are needed to sustain this population every day. Currently, the hot, arid Hwange National Park is a death trap for desperately thirsty elephants, and this is why.  The deadly combination of a woefully inadequate water supply and temperatures as high as 105.6°F (41°C) is leaving elephants and other animals listless and easily exhausted at the edges of near-dry water pans. Once the water has dried up completely, the pan becomes a sticky, muddy death trap, and weak elephants do not have the energy to free themselves from it - especially the young. They become distressed and ultimately succumb to thirst, heat, and exhaustion.  Credit: Friends of Hwange In other instances, weak animals or infants are left behind as the herd drags itself off in search of a new water source with a few more drops to drink. This is sometimes 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away and too far for a weakened calf to travel. Babies are thus abandoned and left to die. Exhausted elephants and their babies get STUCK in muddy waterholes, too weak to free themselves, and slowly die.  Please help us pump enough water for these desperate elephants!  Please help by making a donation now! Hwange National Park has an inadequate supply of natural surface water for wildlife, so pumps are used to bring water to the surface from deep underground. Credit: Friends of Hwange This works fine when the rains come as expected because the pumps can operate for eight hours a day - enough to provide sufficient water. But this year, Hwange’s driest in 50 years, the pumps need to operate 24 hours a day. The only way to do this is by installing solar-powered battery systems on the pumps. Because of the cost, some pumps are run on diesel generators - a noisy, expensive and non-eco-friendly solution that pollutes the surrounding atmosphere. The diesel for the generators is often stolen by criminals, leaving the animals once again at great risk. Installing solar-powered battery systems at more of the pumps is the most effective way to get a constant supply of water to the elephants - and we do not have a moment to lose. Please help by making a donation now! Credit: Friends of Hwange With your help, we will purchase solar-powered battery systems to pump   water 24/7 throughout the Hwange National Park. This will quench the thirst of parched elephants battling to survive the drought and help prevent deaths by mud traps. Please, help now! Please donate as much as you can today. Please help by making a donation now! We know solar technology works - we have used it to help mitigate the effects of drought in Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa to great success. Now, the elephants of Zimbabwe need us, and we cannot turn away from them in their hour of direst need.  Credit: Friends of Hwange Please help by making a donation now! Please help us to act FAST and ensure that these thirsty elephants and other wildlife have access to life-saving water as soon as possible.  For every $12,500 (around £9,900) raised, we can purchase and install one solar battery system - and we ultimately hope to install 10. It will make the difference between life and death for desperate elephants in Zimbabwe today. Donate right away, and help us save the lives - and futures - of the elephants of Hwange National Park. Saving animals and the planet,   Campaign Director Animal Survival International P.S. Elephants in Zimbabwe are dying because of drought. Please help us purchase solar-powered battery systems to help power water pumps and save elephant lives. We must act NOW. Every few weeks, more than 20 elephants perish - how many more must die before we help? Please donate right away and help us get a steady water supply to the desperate elephants of Zimbabwe.  Please help by making a donation now!

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