Wildlife appeal · Indonesia & Malaysia
Protect the world's elephants
Across Asia and Africa, elephants are snared, poached for ivory and pushed into deadly conflict with people. WARN's in-network focus is the Sumatran and Bornean elephant in Indonesia and Malaysia — help fund the partners who rescue them.
Image: Shadow Ayush / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
In brief
Elephants are in long-term decline: Asian elephants are Endangered (about 40,000–50,000 left), African savanna elephants are Endangered and African forest elephants are Critically Endangered. WARN funds partner-led veterinary rescue, snare-wound care and humane human–elephant coexistence for the Sumatran and Bornean elephants of Indonesia and Malaysia — its in-network focus. Your gift helps keep that frontline work going.
By the WARN Research & Conservation TeamChecked against IUCN Red List & CITES sourcesLast updated
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What your monthly gift can do
Regular gifts let our partners plan rescues, veterinary care and sanctuary capacity ahead of time. WARN's target is for at least 80% of unrestricted donations to fund programme delivery — grants to partner shelters, sanctuary capacity, veterinary care and rescue across the network.
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Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth and among the most intelligent and socially complex — yet every wild species is now threatened. Habitat loss, human–elephant conflict, ivory poaching and the snaring of forests are driving populations down across Asia and Africa. WARN, a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation, does not run its own sanctuaries: we fund vetted local partners delivering emergency veterinary care, snare-wound treatment and humane coexistence work. Our current in-network elephant focus is the Sumatran and Bornean elephants of Indonesia and Malaysia; wider range states appear here as educational and search context only.
40,000–50,000
Wild Asian elephants left — Endangered (IUCN)
~352,000
African savanna elephants — Endangered (2016 continental survey)
~135,690
African forest elephants — Critically Endangered (IUCN, 2024)
2
WARN in-network focus countries: Indonesia & Malaysia
Figures: IUCN Red List (Asian, savanna and forest elephant assessments); IUCN African Forest Elephant Status Report 2024; Chase et al. 2016 (PeerJ). See sources below.
Why are elephants endangered?
Elephants are slow to recover from anything that goes wrong. A pregnancy lasts about 22 months — the longest of any land mammal — a calf depends on its herd for years, and a cow raises only a handful of surviving young across a long life. So when forests are cleared, snares are set or tusked bulls are killed, the losses build up faster than herds can replace them.
The IUCN lists the Asian elephant as Endangered, with an inferred decline of at least 50% over roughly three generations (about 75 years), driven mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation. In Africa, decades of ivory poaching and accelerating habitat conversion have left the savanna elephant Endangered and the forest elephant Critically Endangered. None of these populations is currently growing.
WARN cannot change the picture everywhere — but it can fund the partners best placed to keep individual elephants alive in its network. Because elephants breed so slowly, every snared or injured elephant a partner vet treats in Indonesia or Malaysia matters disproportionately to a declining population.
What threats do elephants face?
Five pressures account for most elephant deaths. They overlap — habitat loss fuels conflict, and conflict and poaching are deadlier where enforcement is weak.
Habitat loss & fragmentation
Forests are cleared for farmland, plantations, roads and settlement, and the habitat that remains is carved into fragments too small to sustain wide-ranging herds. Asian elephants now occupy only a fraction of their historical range, and severed migration corridors push elephants into ever closer contact with people.
Driver of the ≥50% Asian elephant decline (IUCN)
Human–elephant conflict
As elephants and people compete for the same land and water, crop-raiding, electrocution from illegal fences, train and road collisions and retaliatory killings claim elephant and human lives alike. It is now one of the deadliest human–wildlife conflicts on Earth, and the most effective answers — early-warning systems, beehive and chilli fences, protected corridors and fair compensation — are non-lethal.
Sri Lanka: ~200 elephants & 70–80 people killed/yr; India: ~450 human deaths/yr (2009–2020)
Poaching & the ivory trade
International commercial ivory trade has been banned under CITES since 1989 for African elephants (Asian elephants were listed earlier, in 1975), but poaching never fully stopped and surged again in the 2000s. Tusked bulls are targeted disproportionately, and illegal sales have shifted to encrypted channels that are harder to police.
Africa’s savanna elephants fell ~30% in 2007–2014, ~8%/yr (Chase et al. 2016, PeerJ)
The snaring crisis
Across Southeast Asia, cheap wire snares set for deer and wild pigs maim and kill wildlife indiscriminately. Elephants that step into them suffer crippling foot and trunk injuries that can prove fatal. Because snares cost almost nothing to replace, clearing them is necessary but not sufficient — proactive patrols, enforcement and community work all matter.
>200,000 snares cleared from just five SE Asian protected areas in 2010–2015 (Gray et al. 2018)
Captivity, tourism & welfare
Beyond the wild population, large numbers of elephants live in captivity for tourist riding and shows, logging and ceremonial use. These highly intelligent, far-ranging animals fare poorly in confinement, and ethical, hands-off wildlife tourism is far better for them than venues offering rides, washing or selfies.
Zoo Asian elephants: ~half the median lifespan of protected range populations (Clubb et al. 2008, Science)
How many elephants are left?
Roughly 40,000–50,000 wild Asian elephants remain, more than half of them in India. The species is Endangered and decreasing, having more than halved over the past century.
Africa’s elephants are now recognised as two separate species. The last standardised continent-wide survey (2016) counted about 352,000 African savanna elephants and found them declining by roughly 8% a year, mainly to poaching; the savanna is listed as Endangered. The African forest elephant was assessed independently for the first time in 2024 at about 135,690 animals and is Critically Endangered. The last combined continental estimate (2016) put all African elephants near 415,000; because the two species are now counted separately and surveyed in different years, those numbers should not simply be added together.
All elephant figures are estimates with genuine uncertainty — herds are hard to count across vast, often remote ranges — but the direction of travel is not in doubt.
Asian vs African elephants: how do they compare?
| Attribute | Asian | African savanna | African forest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Elephas maximus | Loxodonta africana | Loxodonta cyclotis |
| IUCN Red List status | Endangered | Endangered | Critically Endangered |
| Population estimate | ~40,000–50,000 | ~352,000 | ~135,690 |
| Max weight | ~5,400 kg | 6,000+ kg | ~2,700–6,000 kg |
| Ears | Smaller, rounded | Large, fan-shaped | Smaller, oval |
| Back shape | Arched (highest point) | Saddle / dipped | Rounded |
| Tusks | Mainly some males | Usually both sexes | Both sexes, straighter |
| Trunk tip | Two 'fingers' | Two 'fingers' | Two 'fingers' |
Population figures: IUCN Red List; IUCN African Forest Elephant Status Report 2024; Chase et al. 2016 (PeerJ).
Quick elephant facts
| Lifespan | ~60–70 years in the wild |
|---|---|
| Weight | ~2,000–5,000 kg (bulls to ~5,400 kg) |
| Shoulder height | ~2–3.5 m |
| Diet | Herbivore — grasses, bark, roots, leaves, fruit |
| Daily intake | Up to ~150 kg of vegetation; 100+ litres of water |
| Gestation | ~22 months — the longest of any land mammal |
| Young per birth | Usually one calf; weaned around 5 years |
| Trunk | Around 40,000 muscles; can lift a tree or pick up a single seed |
| CITES | Appendix I (highest protection) |
| Names | Baby: calf · group: herd · female: cow · male: bull |
Biological facts: Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute; IUCN. CITES listing: CITES Appendices.
Key facts about the elephant crisis
- Three living elephant species are now recognised: the Asian elephant (Endangered), the African savanna elephant (Endangered) and the African forest elephant (Critically Endangered) — and all three are declining.
- Asian elephants have fallen by at least 50% over roughly three generations (about 75 years), driven mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation.
- With a ~22-month pregnancy — the longest of any land mammal — and calves dependent for years, elephant populations recover slowly, so every avoidable death matters disproportionately.
- Human–elephant conflict is among the deadliest human–wildlife conflicts on Earth, killing hundreds of elephants and dozens to hundreds of people each year in the worst-affected range states.
- Wire snares set for other animals maim and kill elephants; more than 200,000 were removed from just five Southeast Asian protected areas in five years, yet removal alone cannot keep pace.
- WARN funds partner-led veterinary response, snare-wound care and humane coexistence for Sumatran and Bornean elephants in Indonesia and Malaysia — it does not run its own sanctuaries.
What does WARN fund for elephants?
WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation. It does not run its own sanctuaries; it raises funds and makes grants to established rescue teams, veterinary services and facilities, funding the frontline response so the maximum possible share of your gift reaches the elephants.
Our current in-network elephant focus is Indonesia and Malaysia — the home of the Sumatran and Bornean elephants. Wider range states such as Kenya, Thailand, India and South Africa appear on this page for education and search, but they are not current WARN partner-network countries, and the programmes of other organisations are not WARN's work.
Focus 1
Anti-Snare Patrols
Funding ranger patrols that find and remove the wire snares set across elephant corridors before they cripple or kill.
Focus 2
Rapid Veterinary Response
Supporting mobile field-veterinary teams that dart, treat and free injured, snared and conflict-affected elephants.
Focus 3
Human–Elephant Coexistence
Early-warning systems, beehive and chilli fences and community response teams so farming families and elephants can safely share the land.
Focus 4
Orphan Calf Care
Partner facilities that hand-raise and rehabilitate calves orphaned by snaring, conflict and habitat loss.
Choose your gift
Pick a tier, go monthly or one-off, and send it as a gift. The maximum possible share reaches the elephants.
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WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation, not a charity, so it cannot claim Gift Aid. The donation case is transparency: low fixed costs and partner-led delivery in the countries where help is needed.
How your donation helps
- Clears the snares. Funds the patrols that find and remove wire snares before they cripple an elephant — the threat most directly within reach in WARN’s network.
- Answers the emergency. Helps put a field-veterinary team on the road to dart, treat and free an injured, snared or conflict-affected elephant.
- Keeps the peace. Supports early-warning, beehive and chilli fences and community response so farmers and elephants can share the land without either being killed.
- Goes further monthly. A small regular gift funds the year-round patrols and veterinary cover a one-off cannot, and steady support is what partners can plan around.
Elephant appeal FAQ
How many elephants are left in the world?
Are elephants endangered?
What is the difference between Asian and African elephants?
Why are elephants endangered, and what are the biggest threats?
Why is human–elephant conflict so deadly?
Is the ivory trade still a threat to elephants?
Can you ride elephants ethically?
Where does WARN's elephant work happen?
Does WARN run its own elephant sanctuary?
How does my donation help elephants?
Sources & references
Population figures, conservation status and biological facts on this page are drawn from authoritative intergovernmental, governmental and peer-reviewed scientific sources.
- IUCN Red List — Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), 2020 assessment
- IUCN Red List — African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), 2021 assessment
- IUCN Red List — African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), 2021 assessment
- IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group — African Forest Elephant Status Report 2024
- Chase et al. (2016), “Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants”, PeerJ
- CITES — Appendices I, II and III (elephant listings)
- Gray et al. (2018), “The wildlife snaring crisis…”, Biodiversity and Conservation
- “Human–Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka: A Critical Review” (2021), Sustainability
- “Elephant conservation in India: coexistence and conflicts” (2023), Integrative Conservation
- Clubb et al. (2008), “Compromised Survivorship in Zoo Elephants”, Science
- Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute — Asian elephant