World Elephant Day 2024: World Elephant Day is celebrated every year on August 12. It is an annual international event aimed at promoting the protection and conservation of animals worldwide.

The day is intended to raise awareness of the hardships faced by elephants, such as ivory poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and inadequate conservation efforts. The aim of the day is to create a sustainable and exploitation-free environment for the animals.

The theme of World Elephant Day 2024 is “Personification of prehistoric beauty, theological relevance and ecological significance”.

Elephants are of great importance to the habitat and wildlife. World Elephant Day provides a platform for people to come together and raise awareness about the issues facing elephants. It helps people to come together and unite voices from across the world, from legislators, citizens and governments to implement appropriate conservation strategies and take a step towards a cruelty-free environment for elephants.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X (formerly Twitter) inspiring people to make India a safe place for elephants instead of destroying their habitat. He said, “World Elephant Day is an opportunity to recognize the diverse efforts of the community to protect elephants. At the same time, we reaffirm our commitment to do everything possible to ensure that elephants are given a conducive habitat in which they can thrive. For us in India too, the elephant is associated with our culture and history, and it is gratifying to see their numbers increasing in recent years.”

In 2012, Patricia Sims from Canada and Elephant Reintroduction from Thailand joined forces and founded World Elephant Day. The day was celebrated worldwide for the first time on August 12, 2012 and Patricia has been responsible for World Elephant Day since then.

Elephants are divided into two species: Asian and African. Overpopulation and industrialization are deteriorating environmental conditions for Asian and African elephants, leading to an increased risk of conflict between elephants and humans.

World Elephant Day is a successful event every year to raise awareness about elephants and also to talk about the need for their global protection.

(With contributions from agencies)