Global Rumblings Podcast

Global Sanctuary for Elephants

Global Rumblings is a biweekly podcast dedicated to all things elephant. Featuring Global Sanctuary for Elephants co-founders Kat and Scott Blais, we’ll have in-depth discussions on sanctuary life, the ethics of captivity, physiology, and behavior. Hosted by Nadia Mari of Elephants in Japan, the wide-ranging, intimate conversations are sometimes fun, often frank, and offer listeners insight into the power of healing. We will bring you conversations that make you question what you know and leave you with powerful takeaways about animal and elephant welfare from a holistic point of view. read less

Episode 9: Trunks and Treasures Minisode
3d ago
Episode 9: Trunks and Treasures Minisode
Episode 9 (Minisode) Trunks & Treasures: an online auction and virtual event to support elephants In our first minisode, Scott and Kat share exciting news about their upcoming online auction and live Facebook event. Save these dates: Online auction: June 5 at 11:00am EST to June 12 at 7 pm EST 2023 (Monday-Monday) Live Facebook event: Saturday, June 10, 7-8 pm EST (with giveaways) With this big fundraising event, Global Sanctuary for Elephants aims to raise much-needed funds to take care of their six female Asian elephants, as well as securing funding to further expand the habitat for more elephants in waiting.  Auction items include artwork, handmade crafts, a virtual Q&A with GSE’s international veterinarian Trish, a sunset wine and virtual conversation with Scott and Kat (or just Scott), AND an exclusive trip for two to Elephant Sanctuary Brazil! Check out all details here today at https://globalelephants.org/trunksandtreasures The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants
Episode 8: Sanctuary Sweet Sanctuary
May 16 2023
Episode 8: Sanctuary Sweet Sanctuary
Episode 8 Sanctuary Sweet Sanctuary - Despite much support from the local mayor, Tocantins is just not the right area of Brazil for the sanctuary. Kat and Scott share how they decided to move to the Mato Grosso region and how - after looking at many properties - they always ended up back at the current sanctuary property. With the universe obviously nudging them to this magnificent property and Ramba still waiting for her happy end, the property price of one million USD seemed an unattainable goal. But the magic of sanctuary puts like-minded people with generous hearts on the path of Scott and Kat until finally, their dream of starting a sanctuary for captive elephants in South America crosses its last hurdle. Watch the video of Lady and her bird friends Scott mentions here. The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor are prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 7: Elephant Stories & Communication II
May 2 2023
Episode 7: Elephant Stories & Communication II
In this episode, we take a closer look at elephant communication and explore the intricacies that Kat and Scott have observed during the elephants' journeys toward physical and mental healing. We delve into the concept of face value trauma and examine why sometimes elephants resort to stereotypic behaviors, such as head bobbing and swaying, as a coping mechanism for the trauma they have experienced in circuses or zoos. Although recovery from these overt behaviors can be used to measure an elephant's healing, Scott and Kat also share their thoughts and insights on how they observe a deeper level of healing on a daily basis - one that involves the heart and soul and is much harder to quantify. The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 6: Just Keep Laughing
Apr 18 2023
Episode 6: Just Keep Laughing
Moving to a new country brings many challenges including cultural ones. Scott & Kat share some more funny and entertaining stories and anecdotes on their new home. We look at more properties including ‘Hundred cows’, ‘Fruit tree confusion’, ‘Beautiful birds’ and the shocking ‘Cow graveyard’. Scott’s romantic declaration of love to Kat shows how their strong relationship took them through these challenging times when things were not developing in a linear way, and land deal after land deal was falling through. But we do end on a happy note with GSE finding their current property by chance online. The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 5: How it Nearly All Fell Through
Apr 4 2023
Episode 5: How it Nearly All Fell Through
It’s time to pack our suitcases as we move from America to Brazil on June 24, 2014. In this episode Scott & Kat talk about how only 24 hours after arriving in Brazil, the money they were promised to start the sanctuary wouldn’t be available after all - nor would the car. Most importantly, the deal for sanctuary land fell through. But giving up was not an option as Ramba, the elephant confiscated by the authorities in Chile, was counting on them. The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 4: Keeping an Open Perspective
Mar 21 2023
Episode 4: Keeping an Open Perspective
Episode 4 Keeping an open perspective: Kat & Scott explain how they shifted the focus from captive elephants not only in South America, but globally, thus leading to the founding of GSE. While replicating TES (which Scott co-founded) might have seemed an obvious choice, other options like a halfway home in South America with the final destination in Cambodia were also considered before settling on Brazil, as 35 of the 50 captive elephants were located here. Listen to two funny and interesting stories of the many properties Scott & Kat looked at during their 30-day stay in Brazil. Back home in the US, it soon becomes clear that finalizing land deals via emails and phone calls was not going to work. A higher level of commitment was necessary, and their promise to Ramba was still waiting to be fulfilled. The episode transcript can be found here. Email: We’d love to hear from you podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 3: Elephant Stories & Communication
Mar 7 2023
Episode 3: Elephant Stories & Communication
In this episode, we talk more about the ways that Scott & Kat observed the elephants at TES (The Elephant Sanctuary in TN) on a daily basis and how, as they showed the elephants they were paying attention to what was being communicated, the elephants began to open up and reveal more of themselves over time. We touch on the complexities of listening, seeing, and understanding the nuances of elephant communication (a topic for several episodes). While it is now more common to call for captive elephants to be sent to sanctuary, 10 years ago this was not the case. The individual recovery stories of sanctuary elephants have shaped how society views the life of captive elephants and what their lives in captivity could and should look like. The transcript for this episode can be found here. Write to us: podcast@globalelephants.org Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 2: Leaving TES & the Last Circus Elephant in Chile
Feb 21 2023
Episode 2: Leaving TES & the Last Circus Elephant in Chile
In our 2nd episode, Scott & Kat talk about the face value of elephant trauma and how it wasn’t until they saw the magnitude of recovery possible at sanctuary that they realized how deep the impact of harmful captivity had been on each elephant’s soul. We talk about their brief elephant-free months after leaving the sanctuary in Tennessee, in 2011, until meeting the last circus elephant in Chile, Ramba, made them realize that they were destined to dedicate their lives toward elephant care. The episode transcript can be found here.  Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto! Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.
Episode 1: How it All Began
Feb 7 2023
Episode 1: How it All Began
From working at a safari park as a teenager to needing a change from the routine work in the veterinary field, Scott and Kat’s careers in captive elephant welfare couldn’t have started much differently. Find out how the dark side of elephant care opened Scott Blais’s eyes to their immense suffering and how the violent death of Tyke, a circus elephant, led to him co-founding his first sanctuary, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee (TES). Learn how Kat Blais left New York to work with elephants as an intern at TES and never looked back. Transcript of this episode is available here.  Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants. Website: https://globalelephants.org/ Donate: Global Sanctuary for Elephants is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. Our work is made possible by donations. You can support our work with a general donation, purchasing items from our wishlist, or adopting one (or all) of our elephants for a year. You can also donate with Crypto!  Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter While we encourage and appreciate you sharing our podcast, please note that… This presentation is protected by U.S. and International copyright laws. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation or its contents without written permission of the sponsor is prohibited. © 2023 Global Sanctuary for Elephants A big Thank You to the talented musicians Mike McGill, Ron McGill, & Sean Rodriquez for composing our podcast jingle.