There are less than 4000 Asian Elephants left in Thailand, with only 1500 of them living in the wild.
Elephant Parade was set up by father and son, when the father met the founder of the first ever Elephant hospital, in Lampang, near Chiang Mai. Whilst here, he met a baby Elephant , Mosha, who had had her leg blown off after stepping on a landmine. Proceeds from Elephant Parade auctions and merchandise go to the Asian Elephant Foundation, in the hope that the extinction of the Asian Elephant in the near future can be prevented. Elephant Parade holds the worlds largest exhibitions of decorated Elephant statues. The life-sized baby Elephant statues are all completely individual, designed and painted by people all over the world, and exhibited in cities all over the world.
The Art Box, by Elephant Parade, allows the public to purchase a 15cm ceramic Elephant to design and paint. I was bought an Art Box for Christmas, and only just recently got a chance to paint mine. I wanted the design of my Elephant to have some relevance to Asian culture and religion, so I researched Chakras (In Sanātana/Hindu and tantric/yogic traditions and other belief systems, chakras (चक्र) are energy points or nodes in the subtle body.) The Chakra I chose to decorate my Elephant with is Anahata; Physically Anahata governs circulation, emotionally it governs unconditional love for the self and others, mentally it governs passion, and spiritually it governs devotion. Elephants are extremely passionate and loving animals, and have often been know to go to extreme lengths to protect family members, so I found this Chakra extremely fitting.
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