26 minutes: counting down for elephant conservation

Twenty-six minutes.

Such a precise increment of time. To some, 26 minutes feels like a few fleeting moments. To others, it’s an eternity. To IFAW and the struggle to protect African elephants, 26 minutes measures the gulf between death and life.

Every 26 minutes, on average, one African elephant dies for its ivory. This gloomy statistic is fueled by rampant poaching, by the land and water shortages that drive tense conflicts between people and animals, and by the stifling threats of climate change.

Yet, working together, we can achieve wonders in 26 minutes. That’s how long it takes for IFAW and our conservation partners to protect the life of an African elephant through the complex process of translocation, or movement from one place to another.

the drama of 26 minutes

Consider how burdensome it is to pack and move yourself and your possessions across a large country. Then compare that to the magnitude of effort required to relocate the world’s largest land mammal. And complete that feat in just 26 minutes.

From the moment a gyrating helicopter hovers above the unwilling target and a skilled veterinarian shoots the tranquilizer dart, to the moment the jabbed elephant slowly collapses and is safely placed into a transport truck for the journey—IFAW and our partners have exactly 26 minutes to save that elephant’s life.

I personally witnessed this process during the summer of 2022, when IFAW and our partners stepped up to protect hundreds of elephants in imminent danger of poaching. Everyone understood the stakes were high. Could the families of elephants be kept together? Would the tranquilization process prove too dangerous for mothers who stand side by side with their young, ever-protective and hyper-vigilant? Could we safely ferry so many massive creatures into a more secure future?

the Malawi conservation masterwork

In July 2022, in close collaboration with Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife and African Parks, IFAW undertook the astonishing task of translocating 263 elephants over 217 miles from Liwonde National Park to Kasungu National Park. This effort amounted to one of the largest translocations of elephants ever recorded in eastern African nation. 

The logistics of such an undertaking were almost unfathomable. Critical to the effort in moving animals of this size was faultless collaboration, precise coordination, intense skill, and a seemingly limitless supply of patience, matched perhaps only by the ability to tolerate a sense of overwhelm at the magnitude of the task at hand.

The life-saving effort was part of a national conservation initiative to establish viable elephant populations in the country and to maintain healthy habitats in Malawi’s national parks, while simultaneously ensuring the prosperity of local communities living around the parks.

returning home

During the translocation I learned of one elephant born years earlier in Kasungu, who had been translocated to Liwonde while still a calf. She grew and thrived in Liwonde, but her family had become so large that conflicts with humans were now more commonplace and calls to cull her herd were becoming more frequent.

IFAW realized that the time had come for her descendants to return home. The 2022 journey would be a mirror opposite of the trip she once made as a calf.

In just 26 minutes, we would bring a new generation back to their ancestral home in Kasungu to thrive once again.

To have the opportunity to save such a magnificent animal is truly humbling. And although the 26-minute increments we spent with her over our respective lifetimes are indeed finite, the impact that she and the herd she helped to create, will continue to impact us well into the future.

Conservation is a perpetual struggle against a constantly ticking clock, demanding a steadfast commitment from those who choose to engage and bear the mantle of stewardship. This latest translocation—a triumph of 26-minute efforts executed faithfully by committed partners—was a milestone, a significant landmark for conservation efforts in Malawi, an act dedicated to ensuring the long-term conservation of elephants in Kasungu. This feat will not only resonate for generations of elephants to come but it will also resonate emotionally for all those in IFAW’s conservation network fortunate enough to have taken part in the event.

When we choose to pursue the business of saving individual animals’ lives, it allows us to save a bit of ourselves in the process—reinforcing our own humanity as well as our own commitment and understanding that we live on a shared planet.

So, thank you, to all those generations of elephants, past and present, who have been a part of this journey. And welcome home.