Singer Billy Joel supports elephants

This video from the USA says about itself:

96 Elephants: Take A Stand PSA featuring Billy Joel

16 April 2015

Africa’s elephants have just gotten a powerful new supporter –music legend, Billy Joel. Joel’s voice is heard in a series of new ads supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) 96 Elephants campaign – so named for the number of elephants slaughtered each day by poachers.

With the backdrop of computer-animated elephants coming to life from shards of ivory, Joel’s voiceover warns: “We can’t turn back time, but we can reverse this trend. Don’t be the generation that allowed elephants to go extinct.”

The “Take a Stand for Elephants,” campaign was conceived and developed for 96 Elephants by pro bono partner, Steve Harper, founder of ThisisBonaFide.com.

From Wildlife Extra:

Pop star and pianist Billy Joel sings out for elephants

Singer/songwriter Billy Joel has lent his voice to a series of new ads supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society’s 96 Elephants campaign.

In the ads, computer-animated elephants come to life from shards of ivory and Joel’s voiceover warns: “We can’t turn back time, but we can reverse this trend. Don’t be the generation that allowed elephants to go extinct.”

The six-time Grammy Award winner, who has written 33 Top 40 hits in the US since his first hit, Piano Man, in 1973 has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians in history.

Last year, he published an impassioned letter on his website in defense of elephants, saying, “I am a piano player. And I realise that ivory piano keys are preferred by some pianists – but a preference for ivory keys does not justify the slaughter of 96 elephants every day.

“There are other materials which can be substituted for piano keys. But magnificent creatures like these can never be replaced.

“Music must never be used as an excuse to destroy an endangered species. Music should be a celebration of life – not an instrument of death.”

Elephants are increasingly in danger. At a conservation summit in Botswana in March, the IUCN reported that the African elephant population had dropped from 550,000 in 2006 to 470,000 in 2013.

East Africa has seen the steepest decline, from 150,000 to about 100,000.

In September 2013, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) launched its 96 Elephants campaign to amplify and support the Clinton Global Initiative “Partnership to Save Africa’s Elephants” by stopping the killing, the trafficking, and the demand.

The 96 Elephants campaign focuses on securing effective moratoria on sales of ivory; bolstering elephant protection; and educating the public about the link between ivory consumption and the elephant poaching crisis.

The “Take a Stand for Elephants,” campaign was conceived and developed for 96 Elephants by pro bono partner, Steve Harper, an independent creative director, designer and animator based in New York and founder of ThisisBonaFide.com.

The campaign will appear across television, radio, print, digital, and out-of-home channels and media.