Amarula, a South African creme liqueur, chose me as the only USA delegate to help promote the #DontLetThemDisappear campaign. In partnership with WildlifeDIRECT, this is an effort to increase awareness about the plight of the African Elephant as well as to raise money to continue to fight illegal poaching in Kenya, the rest of Africa and the world.

A few weeks ago Amarula flew myself and delegates from 1/2 a dozen other countries around to the world, to Kenya where we learned that:

Every day in Africa, somewhere on the continent, an elephant loses its life to illegal poaching on average of every 15 minutes. More than 90 elephants a day lose their lives for the ivory in their tusks.**

Because elephants in Asia do not have tusks, this is a problem native to the African population of elephants!

Conservative estimates place the total number of elephants on the continent at less than 400,000. I’ve read articles and studies that say there are now less than 350,000. Everything I read points to the fact that if we do not stop the poaching, by 2030 there will be no more African Elephants.

TOMORROW, August 12, is #WorldElephantDay

What can YOU do to help save the African Elephant in honor of World Elephant Day and every day?

If you’re in NYC, tomorrow, August 12: you can stop by Union Square where Amarula will have a special event symbolizing the disappearance of these gentle giants. While there, share the event and facts relevant to World Elephant Day, so you can help boost awareness!

You can also:

1. Stop buying ivory, or decide to never start buying ivory. Support an ivory trade ban in your country or state.

2. Recognize and appreciate conservation successes via social media. Retweet, share, favorite and comment on messages about these successes.

3. Make a donation, volunteer time or expertise, adopt an orphaned elephant.

4. Visit Africa’s parks to meet wild African Elephants. This way you support the rangers who risk their lives everyday to make sure elephants are not killed by poachers. Take only photos. Leave only footprints.

5. Visit www.Amarula.com/Trust and Name + Design + Share an Elephant. For every elephant shared socially, Amarula will donate $1 to help WildlifeDIRECT in their efforts to stop poaching.

6. If you’re in the USA, make a note to buy a bottle of Amarula between September 1 and December 31. For each bottle sold in the USA, Amarula will donate another $1 to WildlifeDIRECT.

If you’d like to do further reading, the WildlifeDIRECT website is a great place to start!

I also received the following from Dr. Paula Kahumbu (shown above), at WildlifeDIRECT, who will be in Union Square tomorrow during World Elephant Day with Amarula:

** Because poachers don’t take tusks from living elephants. They kill them and then take only the tusks. Facts via WildlifeDIRECT.