Chris Christie pulls another Asshole move upon leaving his post in NJ, Save Elephant Foundation, Ploy Tong, Spectra-Managed Venues, Garden Bros. Circus, Jordan World CircusSai Thong, tenBoma: the Anti-poaching Revolution, Elephant In The Room, Brian Davies, Kruger National Park & TWEETS regarding Nosey are this week's Elephant in The Room

Chris Christie "pocket vetoed" Bill to Ban Wild Animal Circus Acts in New Jersey.

A revised version of the bill is now set to be presented to New Jersey’s new governor, Phil Murphy, and a petition has been set up on Care2 to encourage Gov. Murphy to sign the bill and make the Garden State more humane. Please take a moment to sign the petition here.

Some people are still unaware of the animal cruelty involved in circuses and other live acts, so make sure you share this with your network to increase support for captive wild animals!

New Jersey: Ban The Use Of Exotic Animals In The Circus!!

Target: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy

In 2017 Illinois and New York became the first states in the U.S. to ban circus elephant acts. This means that any circus that still uses elephants can no longer perform anywhere in the entire state of Illinois or New York. Now in 2018 New Jersey is poised to take this even farther and completely ban the use of any exotic animals in circuses, this includes elephants, tigers, lions, and bears.

All animals, especially elephants, suffer terribly in the circus industry. They lead lives of sadness, constant fear, and despair. This bill passed the New Jersey legislature by votes of 66-2-2 in the General Assembly and by 31-0 in the State Senate. Unfortunately outgoing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie decided to "pocket veto" the bill, which means that he declined to sign it before leaving office.

But now New Jersey has a new governor and therefore renewed hope to end circus suffering! A new revised circus bill will be presented to new governor Phil Murphy for his approval. Please join me in asking governor Murphy to sign this very important bill into law. The state of New Jersey can lead the way to end circus suffering for all exotic animals in the United States!

After rescuing Bua Keaw the elderly elephant from the trekking industry earlier this month, Save Elephant Foundation just set another magical rescue into motion. Sai Thong is the latest addition to the foundation’s family of elephants saved from hard labor – and she is now finally beginning to live a peaceful and happy life.

Sai Thong is an elderly elephant who desperately needed rest after her years of labor.

Before rescue, Sai Thong was used for elephant riding. She tirelessly carried tourists on her back every day of her life.

Now, she has joined the foundation’s Elephant Care Program, as part of its “Saddle Off” project.

Sai Thong’s new life is nothing like it used to be. She finally has a home adequate to her needs, she can enjoy her free time, explore, and make friends with other elephants – which she has already started to do!

The life of an elephant used in the trekking industry is one no animal should have to endure. Elephants used for rides are subjected to a “breaking” process when they are young, they work exhausting hours, endure bad living conditions, lack contact with other individuals, and are often deprived of food and water while working.

Luckily, Sai Thong can leave this sad reality behind and she is now fully enjoying her life.

You can support Save Elephant Foundation and its efforts to give elephants used for entertainment a better life by making a donation, here. To learn more about Save Elephant Foundation, click here. All image source: Save Elephant Foundation/Facebook

tenBoma: the Anti-poaching Revolution. Elephants need us now more than ever.

PBS NewsHour's special correspondent Jane Ferguson joined our field team for an in-depth look at our tenBoma project.

TenBoma architect, IFAW Senior Vice President Lt Col Faye Cuevas, alongside East Africa Regional Director James Isiche, developed a system of integrated networks involving local and global communities united with one goal: to predict and prevent a poacher's next strike.

Premiere episode of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly featured IFAW’s tenBoma program and its architect, Lt Col Faye Cuevas.

tenBoma is a wildlife security initiative that safeguards the iconic African elephant and thousands of other species living in the landscapes they call home.

The primary goals: Saving wildlife and securing landscapes.

tenBoma, meaning ten houses, is inspired by an African community security philosophy that if ten houses look out for each other, the broader community is safer. Similarly, IFAW partners with local communities, governments and enforcement agencies like the Kenya Wildlife Service to create a coordinated system of eyes and ears that can monitor, predict and prevent poaching and other threats to wildlife.

Why? Because it takes a network to defeat a network. For instance, poachers are part of larger criminal organizations and supply chains that also include smugglers, dealers and other support personnel. To stay one step ahead of these criminal networks, IFAW needed to create an organized wildlife security network that is nimble and fast-acting.

One way we do that is by enabling information sharing among our partners. IFAW combines high-tech data analysis using satellites and computers with information collected from wildlife rangers and local communities, who keep a watchful eye for suspicious activities. This seemingly disparate information is aggregated to create actionable information about would-be poachers and other threats to wildlife. The information is then shared directly with field teams who can counter those threats before they materialize on the ground.

IFAW’s pilot initiative was Tsavo East National Park, which is Kenya's key conservation area, and has since expanded to include Tsavo West National Park, the Amboseli and Kilimanjaro landscapes. To protect the Tsavos, intelligence and operations experts from IFAW work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service. More than 70 intelligence and investigation ofﬁcers have been trained and three major operations have already been executed, uncovering new poaching networks and leading to investigations and arrests. As a result, INTERPOL has partnered with tenBoma, and IFAW Chief of Staff and tenBoma architect Faye Cuevas was named one of Vice’s “Humans of the Year.”

To learn more about the ivory supply chain, watch a new documentary film, “The Ivory Game,” which was executive produced by IFAW honorary board member Leonardo DiCaprio.

Spectra-Managed Venues Need to Stop Booking Cruel Animal Acts

Many venues managed by Spectra have been booking cruel animal-based circuses, such as the notoriously abusive Garden Bros. Circus and Jordan World Circus. While other venues across the country have banned or restricted animal acts after learning that they're inherently cruel and also pose a tremendous public-safety risk, Spectra has yet to commit to an animal-free policy at the venues that it manages.

Circuses deny animals all semblance of a natural life. Trainers tear baby animals away from their mothers—often well before natural weaning age—and use physical violence and psychological domination to force animals to perform on command. Animals in circuses spend most of their lives in cages or on chains and are typically forced to eat, sleep, and defecate in the same place.

Jordan World Circus continues to work with animal exhibitors who use these intimidating and often violent methods to force animals to perform, and Garden Bros. Circus was recently the subject of a whistleblower report alleging that elephants were electrically shocked backstage and left with blood dripping from wounds inflicted by handlers.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has closed, and more than 620 retail venues and 70 jurisdictions nationwide have prohibited or restricted circuses that use animals—it's never been clearer that today's public doesn't want to see animals bullied into performing tricks. Please urge Spectra to request that scheduled circus performances at its venues go forward without animals and ask it to prohibit circuses that use animals from performing at Spectra-managed venues in the future.

As the Elephant Nature Park team explains, it usually takes a while for any rescued elephant to adjust to their new home. Once they begin to settle in and forget the pain of their former lives, they get to meet the rest of the rescued herd. For Ploy Tong, things went very differently. The beautiful elephant was rescued from the trekking industry after she was made to carry tourists on her back from dawn to dusk. She had a very long journey to the sanctuary, but when she arrived, a whole new world opened to Ploy Tong – and a very warm welcome was already awaiting her!

After arriving at the park, Ploy Tong surprised everyone. “Since the moment that she set her feet in the park, she began to send her low vibrations out, letting everyone know of her arrival, and later she rumbled and trumpeted calling out for a friend,” the team writes.

Rescuers believe that this special elephant sought out a friend right away because, being blind, she wanted to “thrive and not just survive.” Her calls were quickly answered …

Ploy Tong was greeted and welcomed into her new home by the family of Faa Mai. The herd came to visit their new friend and talk to her, but Faa Mai herself lingered after the others left. “She carried on to talk and it would seem that Ploy Tong has found her friend,” the carers say.

How sweet is this happy ending!? Rescuers hope she will be able to join Faa Mai’s big herd and the elephants will accept her fully and keep their eyes on her. All in all, it would be hard to imagine a better first day home for the sweet Ploy Tong!

To learn more about Elephant Nature Park, click here. All image source: Elephant Nature Park/Facebook

Brian Davies from the network For Animals Organization finances canine anti-poaching patrols in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. These amazing dogs sniff out smuggled ivory and rhino horn and track poachers when they enter the game reserve. Kruger Park is a very sunny place so the ground gets hot; the dogs can only chase the poachers so far and then their feet hurt. I had special boots made that slip easily on to the dogs’ feet, so they can run further and faster.

Poachers better beware because of you and other animal lovers like you, the dogs will be hot-footing it after them.

Last week, Lawrence County District Court Judge Angela Terry declared that Nosey the elephant won’t be returned to the people who left her chained and swaying back and forth in her own waste.

PETA—whose campaign for Nosey started in 2004, when a whistleblower reported that she was being routinely abused with bullhooks and electric prods—is over the moon about the news. And countless other animal advocates took to Twitter to celebrate her freedom from her abusers. Take a look at some of our favorites:

Nosey’s road to justice was a long one. Over the years, PETA has persuaded venues not to host performances featuring the suffering elephant, persuaded local authorities to bar her captor Hugo Liebel’s elephant act, worked with elephant experts, engaged members of Congress, and obtained celebrity support in favor of her release into an accredited sanctuary where her needs could be met properly. Although Liebel’s attorney has threatened to appeal, PETA will continue to push to keep Nosey right where she is: at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where she’s being given the care and protection that she deserved all along.

Take Action for Elephants Like Nosey

Elephants just like Nosey still need your help. The notoriously cruel Garden Bros. Circus is scheduled to perform at locations across the southern U.S., and we need your help to let the venues planning to host it know about its atrocious record of abuse and neglect.

Click the button below to ask venues still planning to host this cruel circus to consider the facts carefully and at least require that scheduled performances go forward without animals:

HELP ELEPHANTS LIKE NOSEY