At the beginning of 2022, the Board of Directors for Asian Elephant Support decided to dedicate all of the funds raised during our annual Pizza for Pachyderms events at California Pizza Kitchen to the fight against Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV) - a deadly disease impacting elephants across the globe and those that care for them. Our goals were to ultimately aid much-needed research of the disease in wild elephant populations as well as assist where we could to save the lives of young elephants in Asia from this virus through medical support.
With Pizza for Pachyderms and various events in locations with no CPK restaurants, like an art class at a Painting with a Twist studio in Buffalo, New York, and efforts from our friends in Memphis, along with individual donations, this campaign generated close to $12,000!
We are pleased to announce, with thanks to the collective efforts of our supporters, we have been able to grant funds to fulfill our original goals. Recipients of funds include:
Center of Elephant and Wildlife Health Animal Hospital - Chiang Mai University in Thailand for their use to diagnose and treat elephants with EEHV - providing antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and supportive medications, as well as blood and plasma transfusion preparation and banking.
Dr. Arun Zachariah in India to continue valuable research into the prevalence of EEHV and the mortality rate associated with the virus in wild populations of Asian elephants.
As the battle against EEHV continues, we hope the funding provided contributes to the overall conservation of the species and learning more about the disease in order to protect elephants in human care and in the wild.