Elephants, the largest land mammals on earth, are disappearing from the wild at an alarmingly rapid rate due to poaching and habitat loss and could face extinction in the wild within 30 years. August 12, 2016 marks the fifth annual World Elephant Day (WED), created by Canadian filmmaker Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand.

On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, people around the world will mark the fourth annual World Elephant Day, a day to honor elephants, to spread awareness about the violent and critical threats they are facing, and to support positive solutions that will help ensure their survival. Today alone, as many as 100 wild elephants will be illegally slain. Within our lifetime, elephants could face global extinction in the wild if current trends continue.