The Asian Elephant Foundation and Elephant Parade come to Yangon

More than 50 children from schools in Yangon painted elephant statues and participated in an elephant parade at the Alliance Française in Yangon to raise awareness of the plight of Myanmar’s elephants and the need to protect their forest habitat.

Myanmar is home to the second largest population of wild elephants, estimated number between 5,000 and 6,000.  The continued threat to their environment means that teaching people about the problems and more importantly, what can be done to save these magnificent wild animals is very important.

The event was organized by the Myanmar Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry with the help and support of several other interested parties. These included from Europe, the EU Delegation to Myanmar, the French Embassy to Myanmar and the European Forest Institute's FLEGT facility. The Myanmar Timber Institute and the Myanmar Ministry of Education were also heavily involved in organization and support.

The fact that these respected groups were involved shows that the Myanmar government recognizes the importance of addressing this issue. The Asian Elephant Foundation thanks them for their involvement and remains keen to continue its support of future projects and activity’s. The more people who are aware the more we are able to do.

The competition was held at the French Embassy, where 50 schoolchildren from different schools in Yangon showed their designs for a painted elephant to represent the event and the message. The winner was a 12 year old girl who, with the help of a professional artist from Elephant Parade, will be able to translate her design to an Elephant Parade 150 cm elephant.

This will proudly be displayed as part of the Elephant Parade in Hong Kong, scheduled for later this year. Proceeds from the sales of her design will also be used to support continued conservation work in Myanmar. 

The Asian Elephant Foundation also prepared and distributed 10,000 copies of their educational package, translated into Burmese and the event was so successful and enjoyable, another is planned for 2014.