Elephant in The Room, Nosey's Bill is now Nosey's Law, Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, The Liebel family (facing animal cruelty charges) fighting to regain custody of Nosey, Topeka Zoo, Hazel, Peanut, Permits to Import Elephant Trophies Issued Despite Ban, Federal Court Prohibits Import of Elephant Trophies to the U.S., In Defense of Animals, Wildlife SOS

#NoseysLaw Passed in New Jersey.

Thanks to Senator Raymond J. Lesniak!

Nosey's Bill to Help Elephants Needs Your Support Now! Nosey's Bill will be voted on by the New Jersey Assembly as soon as January 4, 2018. The bill would ensure that, "no person shall use an elephant or other wild or exotic animal in a traveling animal act" in the state.

Senator Raymond Lesniak first introduced Nosey's Bill in 2016.

His bill originally intended to end elephant performances but shortly after a parallel bill was introduced into the New Jersey Assembly by Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, the bill was expanded to include the use of all wild and exotic animals in traveling performances.

The latest information is that the Assembly will vote on this crucial bill on January 4, and later the Senate will vote to pass the expanded version covering all exotic and wild animals.

Those poor elephants and other captive wild animals dragged around to perform for people need all New Jersey residents to call their state senator and state assemblymembers now! Click here to learn more and take action

Davenport family fighting to regain custody of their pet elephant. A Polk County family is in a custody battle over their pet elephant.

The Liebel family, which currently lives in Davenport, has owned ‘Nosey’ for more than thirty years.

They say they took her in as a baby when her family was slaughtered in Africa.

Ever since, Nosey has been a part of the Liebel Circus and performed in shows across the country.

“I’ve grown up with her, all my brothers and sisters have grown up with her, she was my parents first child,” Cathalina Liebel said.

She drove more than two hours to do a interview with ABC Action News.

Liebel said her passion to get the animal back is as strong as her love for Nosey.

“She’s the only elephant we have, she’s our baby and she’s our everything. We would never get another elephant after her,” Cathalina said.

Right now Nosey is not at home. The 36-year-old elephant is currently at the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary, where there is no human contact with the animals.

Nosey arrived there after an incident in the summer of 2017 when the Liebel Circus was on tour with their animals and encountered car trouble in Alabama.

“When we were in the town of Moulton, which is where the truck broke down, an animal control officer came out, but had no experience with exotic animals,” Cathalina said.

Hugo Liebel, Cathalina’s father told our affiliate, WAAY-TV, that their transportation for the elephant suffered brake issues.

The family had pulled over to fix it and took out Nosey and put her in a pen.

That’s when complaints started rolling in according to his daughter and animal control seized their elephant and four ponies.

“We are very concerned for her health and her safety as well as temperatures,” Cathalina said.

Since Nosey was brought to the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary, The Liebel family says they’ve recognized the elephant’s separation anxiety in pictures and even claim they spotted Nosey with a bruise and broken tusk.

ABC Action News spoke with a member of PETA, Rachel Matthews who is a lawyer and elephant activist.

Matthews say Nosey does have a broken tusk, but that it’s very common for elephants to break them and that it does not cause pain.

We asked why PETA was going after Nosey’s family.

“She spends her life confined in a cramped trailer, carted from city to city and forced to give rides and perform tricks and that has taken an incredible mental and physical toll on this animal as the trial testimony in Lawrence County showed,” Matthews said.

Three weeks ago a judge ruled to give custody of the ponies back to the Liebel family but has yet to make a final decision about Nosey’s custody.

Matthews says PETA will do everything in their power for Nosey not to go back home to Florida.

Permits to Import Elephant Trophies Issued Despite Ban!

When U.S. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke, a trophy hunter appointed by President Trump, moved to end a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ban on importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe, the resulting public outrage forced at least a temporary delay ordered by President Trump. Now, despite all the alerts dedicated people like you signed of ours and other groups, a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) by Friends of Animals and Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has uncovered sixteen permits that were granted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to import trophies from Zimbabwe despite the ban still being in effect! This is outrageous!

The background is as follows. The Zimbabwe import ban was enacted by the Obama Administration after it was found that the African country did not have a conservation plan showing how trophy hunting benefitted conservation of the elephants there. This "kill-elephants-to-save-them" claim runs throughout trophy hunting culture despite research to the contrary. USFWS moved to end the ban just as Zimbabwe dictator Mugabe was overthrown in a coup which created government chaos and even more doubt that the annual killing of 500 elephants would accomplish anything more than killing elephants and encouraging the legal and illegal trade in elephant body parts.

USFWS claims the import permits were for elephants killed before the Obama ban went into effect, while Friends of Animals and Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force have filed a second FOIA to determine the truth of the claim by seeking records of the exact dates, places and persons doing the killing to determine if the ban was violated at the time. For more information, click here.

Federal Court Prohibits Import of Elephant and Lion Trophies to the U.S.

It seemed the entire nation was in an uproar this November when Trump announced he wanted to reverse the Obama Administration’s ban on the import of animal remains from so-called “trophy hunts” from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The controversy really blew up when a number of celebrities spoke out against Trump’s decision and encouraged the public to do the same. This loud vocal unrest spurred Trump to take to social media and state that he now views trophy hunts as a “horror show” that does not aid in conservation in any way. The brash decision was then put on hold, which brought some temporary relief, but now there is even greater news — the Federal Court of Appeals has invalidated the decision to allow the import of animal parts from trophy hunts from Zambia and Zimbabwe!

Every fifteen minutes an African elephant is killed, be it by poachers or trophy hunters, causing populations to drop by a drastic 62 percent in just ten years! Scientists estimate that at this rate, the species could go extinct in the wild by the end of the next decade. The wildlife and ivory trades are incomprehensibly corrupt and fueled entirely by greed. This trade is ladened with extreme human rights violations in addition to breaking global laws and zapping our planet of its biodiversity. Allowing the import of animal parts would take away an obstacle for corrupt traders and only make it easier for them to conduct their illicit business.

Thankfully, the U.S. Court of Appeals is aware of the pressing issues at hand and has made the right decision to uphold the conservation mandate set in place by the Endangered Species Act. This decision, which was announced this December 22nd, invalidates Trump’s previous decision to allow imports from trophy hunts. The Court also stated that the Trump Administration must take public comment on any decisions regarding trophy imports based on individual countries’ management plans.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), always an advocate for animals, fought against Trump’s decision. Anna Frostic, the managing attorney for wildlife litigation for HSUS, said this about the issue: “The federal government must carefully consider the science demonstrating that trophy hunting negatively impacts the conservation of imperiled species. We strongly urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take immediate action to rescind its unlawful decisions to liberalize elephant and lion trophy imports.”

Remember to keep speaking up for endangered species and share this fantastic news with your network!

Elephant Suffers Prolonged Death From Topeka Zoo Negligence. Topeka Zoo in Kansas failed, on many brutal counts, to adequately care for Shannon, a 35-year old African elephant who died on December 11. Shannon spent roughly ten excruciating hours on her side overnight - with no monitoring of her situation from Zoo staff after they left for the evening. This is inexcusable since Shannon, the Zoo's youngest elephant, was found "downed" on her side on the previous day, when the Zoo called firefighters to help hoist her to her feet. We can't let the three remaining elephants suffer the same fate! TAKE ACTION

We have some major news in the story of Hazel the elephant. We can now tell you that this tiny five-year-old is the biological sister of our beloved Peanut, who lives at the Wildlife SOS elephant sanctuary in Mathura.

We can also show you a more detailed photograph of Hazel from our undercover operation monitoring her well being. The photograph is devastating. That anyone could tie up a defenseless little soul like this breaks our heart in two — and boils our blood. But it only strengthens our resolve to get her out of there no matter what it takes!

Five-year-old Hazel
It is unconscionable to keep any elephant tied up and alone like this. But it’s especially disgusting with a very young elephant like Hazel, who is still developing, just learning about the world, and completely vulnerable. Little elephants this age need their families. Please help us rescue Hazel and reunite her with Peanut and the rest of the Nut Herd!