Save The Asian Elephants: Duncan McNair’s mission for the survival of Asian elephants.
- Riley Forson
- Jul 2, 2020
- 7 min read
(c) http://stae.org/gallery/
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Mr Duncan McNair, CEO of the not for profit Save The Asian Elephants (STAE)[1]. I knew a bit about the terrible suffering Asian elephants are facing in the name of money and tourism (see here for my previous blog on this issue), however, Duncan and STAE opened my eyes even wider to a plight that I cannot ignore, and neither should anyone else. What we now know is that Asian elephants are suffering the cruelest and most barbaric torture to generate income through tourism and that a great deal of this is fuelled by demand from western tourists, who often don’t understand or appreciate the extent of suffering these elephants experience everyday of their lives.
Duncan kindly gave up some of his weekend to explain to me about where his passion for animals began, what spurred him to take action to protect Asian elephants, ultimately forming STAE, and what invaluable work STAE is currently undertaking to make sure that not only do our Asian elephants survive, but that they also thrive.
© Duncan McNair
The journey to formation of STAE: Duncan explained to me that he always shared an affinity with animals and pets within his home as a young child, coveting a family pet for a long time, until a kitten became part of the family.
As a result of his passion for animals, which has been omnipresent, when Duncan, a commercial litigation lawyer in the City was approached by the CEO of the RSPCA in 2012, to conduct a review on farmed animal welfare standards, something which he enthusiastically grasped with both hands. A year later, the McNair Report was completed and was published to wide acclaim. Around this time, people were telling Duncan about the plight of Asian elephants in captivity across the range states of South East Asia and that “just like any sane person, [he has] always loved elephants and recognised them as an extraordinary species deserving respect and protection”, so he could “scarcely believe what [he] was being told” about their suffering. In true lawyer spirit and not willing to act on mere hearsay, Duncan took it upon himself to investigate first hand and embarked on a carefully planned journey to India, home to roughly 70% of surviving Asian elephants (both wild and captive).
Duncan’s journey took him to places that Western tourists do not see, in fact he was the first Westerner ever to enter the “elephant training camp”, or what Duncan describes as “elephant death camps”. Duncan’s explanation of what he witnessed first hand was enough to induce a cold shiver. He stated: “it was deeply shocking and awful beyond anything I had heard. I thought I could not leave this standing, I just could not” and was determined to help curb what has been described as the cruelest form of animal tourism in the world. Duncan explained that he saw “deep and profound suffering of captive elephants used for commercial exploitation” and that he found his experiences traumatic, but says “if it was traumatic for us, what is it like for the elephants subjected to this constant torture and degradation of their natural state?”
As a result of the truly horrendous suffering that Duncan witnessed, he knew that a change was desperately needed to give Asian elephants a chance to survive in the wild and peaceably in captivity. Duncan said that he “came home and made extensive enquiries with charities and concluded there was a more direct and determined way to help”. Duncan gathered an extraordinary array of likeminded and distinguished individuals all equally concerned to act. They founded STAE in 2015 and set upon ending “the terrible cruelty and brutal conditions suffered by this wondrous and ancient species”[2].
STAE’s work for Asian elephants: STAE aims to “exert influence on governments, politicians and the tourist industry”[3]to curb the suffering of Asian elephants in captivity, but simultaneously to act to protect the elephants in the wild; if we drive down demand for unethical elephant interactions, this removes the incentive to snatch baby elephants from the wild to break by torture for tourists to clamber all over. How does STAE go about achieving this? Duncan explained to me that “we don’t just need to educate the public, although this is essential. We also need new legislation to ban unconscionable practices which sustain the trade in extreme elephant abuse for commercial exploitation”. One of STAE’s immediate policies, therefore, is to present a Bill to the Government for a ban in the United Kingdom on the advertising, sale or promotion of unethical Asian elephant holidays. Why the United Kingdom you ask, if the issue is in the Asian range states? Well, if we target where the demand for elephant interactions comes from and change our legislative stance, this will hopefully encourage change in the range states, countries which depend on tourism from the Western world. This legislation would help to promote purely ethical and genuine sanctuaries, which can also be highly lucrative for the travel industry, as ethical sanctuaries would enable people to view elephants behaving naturally in herds, rather than them being ridden, performing tricks and enduring considerable suffering. The legislation would help elephants, but also tourists, because, as Duncan explained, there are dangers for both elephants and humans. Elephants which are brutalised can often “snap” leading to greater danger, even death, for unwitting tourists, as you can see on STAE’s website. Similarly, Duncan explained that TB and other zoonotic and reverse zoonotic diseases can rampantly spread in the squalid environments captive elephants are forced to live in, again making it a danger for humans to visit. However, this is often widely concealed by the travel industry.
As a result, STAE has been “pushing the travel industry forever and relentlessly”, particularly the Association of British Travel Agents (“ABTA”) who, as Duncan said “could do so much to help, yet does nothing except prop up this awful abuse of elephants, and whose members sell about 80% of package holidays abroad”. Whilst ABTA claims it has changed its guidelines relating to unethical elephant tourism, their guidelines are voluntarily, vague “full of holes” and wholly unenforced and that ABTA members have given only “broken promises” to change their ways.
When I asked Duncan what was the most alarming information he had learnt since forming STAE, other than the indescribable suffering of the elephants, he said that it was “the lack of public awareness…and the enormous deficit of information provided by the travel industry to its customers”. So, STAE has been working hard to help fill the knowledge gap and to inform everyone, from Government to students, on the issue of the suffering of Asian elephants in the name of tourism. Duncan and the STAE team regularly speak publicly, at universities, churches and temples. to businesses and professions, to governments and across Europe and utilise the power of social media to reach vast audiences, often helped by their distinguished ambassadors of all ages and backgrounds.
How well do they think they are getting on? Well, STAE’s petition (to ban the sale, advertisement and promotion of unethical elephant tourism), a link to which is provided at the bottom, now numbers at almost 1 million and with other similar petitions the combined total of those who have signed their support to the cause is a staggering 28 million and rising fast. Duncan explained that “we hear from people across the world supporting our policies. We have huge public support in polling which shows support for STAE’s policies is monumental, around 85-90%”. As Duncan said “The weight of numbers stands for a huge amount and we are not letting up on the pressure where it is required” to promote change for the elephants”.
© STAE
“Each of us is just one person, but together we are a mighty force”: How you can help STAE:
I asked Duncan a question which sometimes I think about when I write my blog, “what would you say to someone who thinks as just one person they cannot make a difference for animals?”. Duncan’s response was that “each of us is one person, but many one persons combined are a mighty force- numbers mean everything…One person is every person and one person multiplied is everything to advance this cause. When we all stand together that is the impact. Sometimes one person alone can be extraordinarily influential, but standing together we are a mighty force, we must mobilise together and this is what STAE stands for. In a functioning democracy, with persistence, a virtuous cause with clear and coherent policies must prevail. Already changes are happening at government level and many travel companies have abandoned the worst venues in favour of ethical sanctuaries”.
To support STAE, you can write to your local MP, to the UK Government, to the Indian Government, and to ABTA and its members demanding that they immediately stop advertising and profiting from the most brutal venues where elephants suffer considerable abuse. STAE helps you get started with template letters which you can find below. Also you can join STAE’s growing, friendly online team, you can introduce people of influence and new audiences to STAE, you can write a blog post or an article that STAE could publish, you can sign and share the STAE petition, or you could just explain to a friend or family the work STAE does. A friend of mine asked me to explain what I had learnt about unethical elephant tourism so that he could make informed choices about his trip to Thailand and whether or not to visit an elephant sanctuary; small conversations like this can make big differences to the lives of elephants.
What you do, even as one person, helps. If one person is educated by reading my blog, that might be one elephant that suffers less as a result, if one extra person signs STAE’s petition then they are one step closer to showing extraordinary support for their policies. As my life motto says: “small ripples of kindness turn into great waves”.
© STAE
A thank you to STAE:
I understand why Duncan is so proud of the work that STAE is doing and the immense headway they have made in such a short time. STAE is highly respected among charities and NGOs, and was recently named “Animal Heroes of the Year” at the inaugural Animal Star Awards which attracted 851 nominees- an extraordinary achievement for such a young organisation. But there is much to be done. In 10 years time, Duncan wishes his work for STAE will be done- that Asian elephants will no longer suffer as they do. But, if this is not the case, STAE will be there until the day that this is reality and I will stand alongside them every step of the way. So Duncan, STAE team and volunteers, thank you for all of your work now and into the future for our Asian elephants.
STAE materials:
Templates letters to Boris Johnson PM, India’s Minister of Tourism and the High Commissioner of India in London: http://stae.org/help-us/
STAE’s website:http://stae.org
STAE Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/stae_elephants/
STAE Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/stae.org/?ref=hl
Comments