A History of National Elephant Appreciation Day

The first Elephant Appreciation Day was celebrated on 22 September 1996 by its founder Wayne Hepburn.

After receiving a paperweight, “encircled by a parade of elephants,” a gift from his daughter, he became enamored by them (elephants, not paperweights. 🙂 )

His new passion led him to read about, study, and even seek out the mighty elephant.

Well, his daughter was spot-on in her choice of gifts as over the years Wayne amassed a collection of elephants that numbered over 1900 items. And that was the inventory (from toys, books, art, clothing, jewelry & more) in 1997!

“Elephant Appreciation Day / Elephant Day, unlike community festivals, has no central event. It is to be observed and enjoyed by anyone anywhere on a local level.” Wayne Hepburn

Thank you Wayne for National Elephant Appreciation Day.

Elephant Conservation Rocks!    photo by Alex Wild

 

(And in this twenty-first century let us emphasize elephant conservation over anything else.

Elephant conservation rocks!   Savannah Crisp)

Learn more about:

The National Elephant Appreciation Day Community on facebook.

See a cute video on facebook they posted on 25 Aug 2015 from Yahoo UK & Ireland. Watch this elephant “having the best day of his life” after finding a piece of ribbon!

Visit the elefunteria

photo credit: Alex Wild