On Jan 13th, 2024 LEAP advocates joined up with fellow advocates around the world to hold a candle light vigil for the 61 captive elephants that died in captivity in 2023. We had videos and photos sent in from around the world of their own private vigils.
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On January 6th, founding member group EGLA (Elephant Guardians of Los Angeles in conjunction with 4 other groups held a vigil in front of the LA Zoo
not only remembering the elephants that passed away in 2023, but also the 2 elephants, Jewel (Jan 15, 2023) and Shaunzi (Jan 3, 2024) that passed away at the LA Zoo in less than a year's time.
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Our friends in Mexico, Abriendo jaulas & abriendo mentes, also held a live vigil in Mexico City on January 13th.
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Their photos are included here as well.
Individual Vigil Photos Video
LA Zoo Vigil
Mexico City Vigil
February 1st: Our billboard moved! We were able to secure a new location for our Lucy billboard on the very trendy Whyte Avenue. Old Strathcona is anchored by the funky, bohemian spirit of Whyte Avenue, historic buildings blend with youthful exuberance to make Old Strathcona one of Edmonton’s trendiest neighbourhoods. The city's celebrated arts and cultural community makes its home here, as does a plethora of unique local boutiques, one-of-a-kind art galleries and music shops, and trendy restaurants and cafés. It is a high vehicle area as well as a ton of foot traffic, a great location for it to be seen. Whyte Avenue's vehicle traffic is especially busy at rush hours and on weekends, with a lot of stop and
go traffic, so seeing the billboard from your car is highly likely as opposed as to whizzing by!
This would not have been possible without the generosity of so many. To all of you who donated, we send an elephant sized thank you. We appreciated every donation that came in via paypal, etransfer and through our Gofundme page.
Special thanks to Dina Khan and Louise Lou. Without the 2 of you this would not have been possible!
We also have the option to extend it's stay here, as well as change the graphic to fit the season. Currently, it is Lucy in the snow.
We can extend the timeline if our supporters continue to donate towards the billboard campaign. You can e-transfer to info@leapforlucy.com (if within Canada) or you can also donate through Paypal at the same email address. Please say somewhere that is a donation for the billboard.
In February 2024, LEAP President Mary-Ann was in Thailand visiting Elephant Nature Park. ENP founder, Lek Chailert asked Mary-Ann if she could talk to the ENP volunteers about Lucy. Even on vacation, Mary-Ann is dedicated to advocate for Lucy, stuck at the Edmonton Valley Zoo!
In February 2024, LEAP President Mary-Ann was also asked to present a speech about Lucy to the Stews 4 Elephant volunteers visiting Elephant Nature Park at the same time Mary-Ann was there.
August 31, 2024, LEAP attended the annual Edmonton VegFest and welcomed our guest from California, Thyra Rutter and her company, Arte for Elephants. Thyra and her late husband David have been LEAP and Lucy supporters for years and we were honoured to finally meet her in person. Thank you for coming to Edmonton and presenting your speech on eithical tourism at VegFest (see our video page for Thyra's speech, also on our YouTube channel).
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A special shout out to all the LEAP volunteers that helped us out on that day too. We can't do this without you!
In September 2024, LEAP President Mary-Ann Holm along with members Thinley Choden and Meena Jackson speaks at a couple of Hindu temples educating people about Lucy. The people were very warm and welcoming and seemed concerned abut Lucy. In the Hindu religion, Ganesha is a prominent Hindu god. He is the god of beginnings, wisdom and luck and worshipped as the remover of obstacles. Ganesha is easily recognized from his elephant head. Many made the connection between the god they worship represented by an elephant and Lucy, which is what we had hoped.
Our Mayor is Indian so we are hoping that these Indian citizens will reach out to him on Lucy's behalf. I will be writing an article for their newspaper the Asian Tribune as I met the Editor in Chief Yash Ppal Sharma. I hope to also be interviewed for an Indian radio program.
In September 2024, LEAP members Thinley Choden and Meena Jackson go to the Edmonton Valley Zoo and capture video of Lucy.