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Photo by @FransLanting | The other night I had the great honor of receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from @nhm_wpy, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition during a ceremony in London’s magnificent Natural History Museum. I was given a wonderful sculpture of a bull elephant. When my partner in life and work @ChristineEckstrom examined it closely, she realized it had been modeled after a photo I had made on assignment for @natgeo years ago of a famous elephant named "Survivor" in Zambia’s North Luangwa Valley. Survivor lived through a previous poaching holocaust in the 1980s and he was written up in Mark and Delia Owens' books "Eye of the Elephant" and "Survivor’s Song." The bull elephants depicted here, which I photographed in Botswana one memorable evening, lived more tranquil lives thanks to its government’s enlightened policy of putting a moratorium on elephant hunting, but even there the tide is turning. Nearly one hundred elephants were found poached in an area recently that had been a safe haven for years. I’m sharing this image in honor of all elephant champions including the late Paul Allen, and respectfully ask that you consider supporting the organizations that can turn the current poaching crisis around and secure a future for elephants. Follow me @FransLanting to learn more. @elephantcrisisfund @savetheelephants @wildaid @wildnetorg #elephants #elephantcrisisfund #ivory #nhm_wpy #conservation #wildlifephotography #wildlife.

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