#PickMomUp celebrates motherhood with World Elephant Day

Kathleeya’s announcement comes on the occasion of two coinciding events: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s birthday — also Thailand’s Mother’s Day — and World Elephant Day, which recognizes the importance of elephants and celebrates their powerful maternal instincts.

WildAid’s press statement said the bond between a baby elephant and its mother may be the closest of any animal on earth.

Mother elephants carry their calves for 22 months and typically bear one calf every two to four years. But every year up to 33,000 African elephants are brutally slaughtered for their ivory. As a result, poaching has outpaced natural birth rates in many countries.  

To raise awareness of this issue, Kathleeya is kicking off the #PickMomUp challenge on social media, a campaign encouraging the public to say no to ivory and celebrate the motherhood bond that many elephants and humans share. The challenge asks Thais to post images and videos showing them lifting up their mothers on 12 August with hashtags #PickMomUp #IvoryFreeTH #StopBuyingIvory to represent the common maternal bond shared by elephants and humans.

“Demand for ivory in Asia is driving the poaching of African elephants,” Kathleeya said. “Mothers are just as precious and irreplaceable to baby elephants as they are to us humans.

According to the statement, a female baby will typically remain with her mother into adulthood. That’s why I’m asking the Thai public to join the challenge and show love for elephants and for the eternal bond of motherhood by never buying, using and accepting ivory products.”

According to a 2015 national survey by WildAid, African Wildlife Foundation and Save the Elephants, roughly half of the Thai population (52%) is aware of the elephant poaching crisis in Africa, with a similar percentage aware that Thailand is one of the world’s primary destinations for smuggled ivory (51%).

“We need to raise awareness among the Thai public that the local ivory market is supporting the killing of elephants in Africa, and we urgently need to reduce consumption of these products. We believe that when the buying stops, the killing can too,” said WildAid Managing Director John Baker.

Last year, Thailand passed the Elephant Ivory Act to regulate the country's legal market in ivory from domesticated elephants. The government has also prohibited the trade and sale of ivory from African elephants by enacting an amendment to the country's existing Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act, making African elephants a protected species in Thailand.

However, Thailand has yet to prove to the international community how these regulations can make its domestic ivory market free from illegal ivory. 

Meanwhile, the United States has imposed an almost complete ban on its domestic ivory market while China and Hong Kong have pledged to close their markets.

“With historic announcements from the US, China and Hong Kong to shut down their ivory markets, we urge Thailand to go ‘Ivory Free’ and save elephants, a species iconic not only to Thailand but also to the world,” added Baker.