Mosha, the baby elephant whose story inspired a global art movement, today celebrates her fifteenth birthday – and Elephant Parade joins her to celebrate what has been done for elephant conservation worldwide.
The Elephant Parade story began in 2006 when the organisation’s founders, Mike and Marc Spits first met a baby elephant called Mosha at the world’s first elephant hospital. Mosha was just seven months old at the time; she had lost her leg on a landmine and the Spits were so moved by the chance encounter they set about launching a project to raise money for the baby elephant. The aim of the project was to make the world’s first prosthesis for a baby elephant.
From this spontaneous initiative, Elephant Parade was born, and in the next 15 years, Elephant Parade art expositions visited over 30 cities around the world, raising awareness of elephant conservation issues through positive, engaging and eye-catching art pieces. A whole generation of public figures, celebrities and rising artists have joined the parades, contributing designs to expositions that have brought colour, joy and life to the locations they have visited. Beyond the uniting power of art, Elephant Parade has run dozens of school programmes around the world, raising awareness of animal conservation issues – and, consistently over the last 15 years, Elephant Parade has financially supported key charities that work so hard fighting for the future of the elephant.
