World Elephant Day 2022 - A Message from John E. Scanlon AO
This message is a modified version of the original speech delivered to the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation for World Elephant Day on August 12, 2022:
Good afternoon and a big thank you to our good friends and colleagues at the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation for putting on today’s event and for inviting me to join you.
Time certainly flies. It was just 12 months ago that we were witnessing the long, and very public, march of the herd of 16 Asian elephants in China's Yunnan Province. It captured the imagination of people across China, and right around the world. The extraordinary images of these majestic animals sleeping, taking a mud bath, and playing, and the images of the two calves that were born en route were particularly captivating.