FAQ
1) What is Arte for Elephants?
Arte for Elephants is a business that sells art and donates a portion of its revenue to existing charities that are working to make a difference in the lives of elephants both in the wild and in captivity.
2) Is Arte for Elephants a Non-Profit or Charity?
Nope, Arte for Elephants is a business, we sell original works of art to make a profit and donate a portion of the profits to existing charities that are already making a difference in the lives of elephants. If you want to make a tax deductible donation directly to one of our designated charities, there are LINKS all over our website! DO IT! We won't hold you back!
3) Where or how does Arte for Elephants get artwork to sell?
Arte for Elephants gets art to sell from a variety of places. Most of it we make in house (Thyra is a fine artist, David a writer and photographer). We also buy some fair trade materials from groups around the world who live in elephant conflict areas and by buying their materials, we are helping to provide additional income to reduce elephant conflict and exploitation.
4) I want to buy art! What type of payment do you accept?
YES!! WE LOVE YOU! Do it, do it now! Go to our ELEPHANT STORE and buy a ton of stuff. You can use Credit/Debit Cards! While you are at it, why not buy a bunch of gifts!
5) I know a great elephant charity; can you support them?
Give us a shout we will check them out.
6) Is Arte for Elephants Green?
Oh heck yes! Our plushes are stuffed with recycled material, our bags, cards, boxes are all made of recycled material. No trees should die for us! We are proudly 100% vegan- no animal products are used in our products, packaging, or personal lives!
8) Are they dying the tusks pink?
NO! A thousand times NO, they tusks are like teeth, you can't inject any dye, pink or otherwise deep enough into the tusk to prevent it being scraped off. Just work on shutting down ivory sales in your HOME TOWN!
9) Why can't I ride an elephant? And WHAT is wrong with zoos?
Where to start? First of all elephants are designed to carry weight low, their spine bones stick up, not very comfortable for you but downright horrible for the elephant. ALSO the process of "breaking" baby elephants for anything domestic, riding, logging, circuses, captivity in general is horrific, (look up Phajaan, crush or elephant breaking on Youtube. You won't ask again). Zoos? Well, while zoos vary widely in their general conditions, few animals fare as poorly in captivity as elephants, they are meant to walk miles per day, they are as smart as primates (smarter than many humans) they crave family bonds, freedom of choice, they need very specialized veterinary care. Elephants in captivity are prey to horrible diseases. In short, they don't thrive, mentally or physically. Ideally they should be allowed to stay in their natural groups in the wild, captive born elephants can not, unfortunately be released back into the wild, in addition to suffering physical and mental ailments from their time in captivity, they won't have their family group. The best possible future for these elephants is to be placed into permanent, accredited, chain free sanctuaries where they can live out their lives in peace and retire with dignity.
10) You guys look like you have a cool life! I want to start my own "_________" how can I do that?
Yes and no.. you can't live your whole life with us BUT we do offer inspiring retreats to some of the most amazing places on earth. Retreats for compassionate/creative people, like YOU. Check out our Big Elephant Magic Retreat pages and see if anything strikes your fancy. But word of warning BOOK fast, these small groups sell out faster than you can say "Inspired!". We want you to do what we do.. only do it better.. go for it! Make those dreams come true!