Locals in the friendly city not only care about our wildlife here in Texas but also about threats facing species around the world.
"The Global March has evolved into the world's most powerful grass roots movement to save endangered species. The March provides people from across the globe information and tools to come together as ONE VOICE to demand action for protection of elephants, rhinos and other critically threatened wildlife."
Organizers
march ORGANIZER AMY DONOVAN BRINGS MARCHERS UP TO DATE ON CURRENT POACHING ISSUES AND WHAT AUSTINITES CAN DO TO HELP END THE IVORY TRADE.
The Global March ATX is run entirely by volunteers. Inspired by Global March Co-Founder, Rosemary Alles, Global March ATX Organizers are working to raise awareness of this ongoing crisis in local and surrounding communities and enlist concerned citizens to support this worthy cause.
The Global March: “It’s peaceful, effective, non-violent. It has a deep spiritual core to it,” Rosemary Alles says. “I am of the mind that you do it in a way where the other person is not vilified but you raise a flag about behavior—in a passionate, relentless, and respectful way. I think until we do this, we won’t make a real change about either climate change or animal extinction.” Global March Co-Founder, Rosemary Alles
Rosemary Alles, Global MArch co-strategist and co-founder
"If wildlife that has walked the earth for millions of years vanishes under our watch, what will we tell our children? We are the stewards of planet earth and it is, after all, our responsibility to ensure the health of all species." Global March ATX Director, Judy Brey
Thanks to our March Volunteers this year and former March organizers Amy Donovan, Tiffany Posey, Liz Carrasco and Ashley Tilley for helping lay the groundwork for future marches.
"This journey taught me more than I ever thought. It's imperative we come together to save our most cherished, threatened and iconic wildlife. Humanity is the problem but we can also be the solution." Global March ATX Director, Tiffany Posey
"The natural world opens itself to you like a gift - unguarded and undefended. It is the responsibility of our species to sustain and protect the entire web of life. At present, extinction threatens to remove some of the most spectacular creatures on the planet for good and forever. Can we really let that happen right before our eyes?" Katherine Mahoney, Global March ATX Organizer
"Elephants are living treasures. Nature's gardeners. Nature's great teachers. Tragically some people don't give a damn. They prefer the dead treasure to the living one. The ivory. We must challenge this so-called 'trade' with all our might and shame on those who would condone it." Virginia McKenna OBE, Founder & Trustee Born Free Foundation
"It is very discouraging having to fight the battle to save elephants once again. The 1989 ban helped elephants to recover in most parts of Africa. Now even in Amboseli we're losing elephants to ivory poachers for the first time in many years. The sale of any ivory--legal or not--is creating demand. No one needs ivory. It is a beautiful substance, but the only ones who need it are elephants. Cynthia Moss, Amboseli Elephant Research Project
"The extinction of the African elephant is under way. The question we are asking the decision-makers in Europe is: ‘Do they want to see this happen?' Perez Olindo, Government of South Sudan
Speakers
MARCH SPEAKER Olivia Korensky helps raise awareness including how many years it would take for wildlife to recover from poaching.
Local wildlife advocate and March speaker, Olivia Korensky, shared facts and figures that paint a disturbing picture of how long it will take for wildlife and environments to recover from years of poaching and degradation in the past few decades.
In honor of The Global March ATX's work to save species, City Council Member, Leslie Pool, above, read the Global March ATX Proclamation to a cheering crowd of supporters.
Proclamation received from Austin's Mayor Adler designating September 24 As global March for elephants & Rhinos Day! Thank you!
Pictured above, Member of the Conservation Committee of the Austin Sierra Club and lifelong environmentalist, March speaker, Dr. Craig Nazor, talked about species becoming extinct at an alarming rate worldwide
"As long as ivory is valued as a commodity every tusker is at risk from poachers, and only where anti-poaching efforts are sufficient will elephants survive. Anti-poaching costs money and lives. Banning the ivory trade has been the single-most effective and economical way to slow the loss of elephants across their whole range - not just where they can be protected by anti-poaching units." Ian Redmond OBE, Wildlife biologist and Ambassador for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species
"In 1970 my country was home to 70,000 elephants. Today as a result of poaching, and primarily transboundary poaching, the wildlife law enforcement officers are fighting to protect less than 200 individual survivors. We are really in a situation of crisis and I appeal to the international community to support the range States and protect this charismatic animal." Jean-Baptiste Mamang-Kanga, Director of Fauna and Protected Areas, Central African Republic
"Seized ivory stocks around Africa are recycled back into illegal trade due to corruption. Ivory stocks should be burnt together with the hopes of traffickers for any 'legal' way to allow them to slaughter our elephants." Ofir Drori, Director, Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA)
Marchers ATX
The Global March ATX crowd was from all walks of life and passionate about saving WILDLIFE for future generations.
Visit our Gallery page for images from the Austin March and Marches in over 130 cities around the world.
Nicole korensky, left, and daughter, Olivia raise awareness about the threats elephants face in africa and the work of DSWT.
Attaining national reach, local wildlife and animal advocate hero, 7th grader, Olivia Korensky, spoke with passion to City Hall council members about animal abuse issues and influenced the vote to end the practice of using bullhooks here in Texas. And keeping up the family tradition of working to save elephants, her mother, Nicole, traveled to visit one of the world's most beloved charities the Global March ATX supports, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Now Nicole presents her experiences with wildlife in Kenya to school children in Austin and surrounding communities, sharing our challenge to save elephants from extinction.
Pamela Leal, right, and daughter meghan work to raise funds for DSWT.
Wildlife advocate, Pamela Leal, raises awareness and funds for The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust every year. Pamela is a local hero for wildlife who helps us connect to the poaching crisis in Africa and how we can support the best wildlife conservation organizations working on the front lines to save elephants from vanishing into extinction. She won top honors for her animal welfare work at the International Women's Awards Program here in Austin in 2016. Please read her interview on the dodo.com.
Thyra Rutter raises funds for Elephant charities in Africa and India and helps raise awareness about the crisis wherever she goes.
After a lifetime of involvement in a variety of animal causes, local Austinite, Thyra Rutter. had a chance encounter with an endangered elephant calf while on safari in Kenya that solidified her mission and purpose in life. In 2015, she founded Arte for Elephants, a social retail venture aimed at generating funds through the sale of artwork for existing charities around the globe working towards the conservation and ethical treatment of both wild and captive elephants. Please visit her store at etsy.com.
"Protecting Animals and the Environment is the epic battle of our generation, everyone has a part to play. The clock is ticking, animals are dying, we must all ask ourselves if this is acceptable, did I sit by and do nothing while millions of irreplaceable species plummeted to extinction?" Thyra Rutter, Arte for Elephants, ATX Marcher