Can you help Mark Oftedal finish this amazing Elephant Education Comic?

WFFT’s long-term friend and supporter Mark Oftedal is creating amazing comic to raise awareness about the plight of the Asian elephant. Some of you may have seen the great gibbon comic he made a few years ago. When completed, this comic, composed of Mark’s amazing illustrations and a great story will educate future generations about the problems faced by these increasingly threatened majestic giants.

Follow Mark’s progress here https://www.patreon.com/markoftedal and please go ahead and like/share his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/elephantscomic

Here are some works from the creator of the comic,

“Hi, my name is Mark Oftedal and I’m a cartoonist with a real passion for wildlife. I’m making a comic book with my longtime friends at the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand. The WFFT is home to 18 elephants, all rescued from the tourist trade. Together we’re making a funny book about the serious issues elephants face in Thailand. The comic is called “Elephants: Wild Again!”. It’s is a story about a young elephant named Maek who is torn from the jungle by poachers and fights against greed and apathy to find his way back home. You can read it as a weekly webcomic here: www.elephantscomic.com

Why Patreon?
I’ve been drawing it as fast as I can, but I need some help to finish it. That’s where Patreon comes in. Patreon is a way for people to support projects they like on a monthly basis. With your support I can pay other artists to help color the book and get it done faster. If you want to chip in, you can pledge a small amount that will be billed at the end of each month. In return you’ll get some little perks from me, not to mention the satisfaction that comes with raising awareness of the problems elephants face in the modern world.

Why raise awareness for elephants?
Elephants are loved and revered in Thailand, where people pay to ride or take photos with them in trekking camps. But the high cost of breeding domesticated elephants fuels trade in wild caught babies. Usually the mother and sometimes her aunties are shot before the baby is captured.

To make a wild elephant controllable it must undergo a brutal training session called “phajaan”, which separates the elephant from their wild spirit. The elephant is bound and beaten for several days, until it loses its will to fight. Once the baby is tamed this way, it can be put to work for the rest of its life.

Please help me help the elephants!
The sooner the comic is finished, the sooner we can print it out and get it in the hands of children in Thailand and around the world. Please join me in this effort, so we can help the WFFT to stop the exploitation of elephants. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the comic.”