EHEW NEWS & MUSINGS

An Ongoing Collection of News About Elephants, NFTs and EHEW

Watch this space for information on NFT drops and dates, news about upcoming events for EHEW members, and general news about the world of elephants and elephant rescue and preservation.

Update  11-5-2022

Here’s a letter I just shared with our staff of influencers, volunteers, and supporters.  It provides a current update of our plans and progress.

As I’m sure everyone is aware, the overall NFT market took a pretty substantial hit with the crypto correction several months ago.  Some even thought NFTs might go the way of the beanie baby.  Not the case and it looks like an NFT/crypto market resurgence might be pretty soon.

The five biggest NFT platforms have done about $50 billion in sales to this point.  The market isn’t going anywhere, many people made huge sums,  and it seems ready to take off again … I’m predicting sometime after Christmas or early next year.

A new offering a few days ago - Art Gobblers - based on turkey cartoons - sold out at mint for about $50 million.  It was a very well done promotion with a huge staff, resources and promo, but it sure gives me lots of encouragement.

We could mint our NFTs at any time right now and probably do OK for the times, if our growing Twitter interest is any indication. Maybe our uniqueness would allow us to do great … for this current market.  But if we mint about a month or so after the general consensus of those who participated in the last market is “it’s time to get back into NFTs again and make some money”, we will have the great good fortune of minting a well-established, somewhat unique product in the beginning frenzy of an upcoming bull market.  Where the mantra is “buy at mint”. This could give us the capacity to sell our “regular” NFTs at a fixed price, and still command  premiums for designated rarities, with there being no limit on auction items.

Were we to mint in this market, we would have to stick with a fixed price drop to create investor enough confidence.  In a frantically hot, upward market like before the last crypto crash - which is  what I designed our pricing strategy for - we will still have the capacity to sell out quickly, but also realize the increased prices for the designated rarities.

It would be a shame to mint too soon, and have the market get red hot sometime after we mint, instead of right before we mint.  In a hot bull market, I believe we have everything necessary to, first of all, get Sarah the $4.7 million she needs to expand the re-wilding project, and then have enough resources to actually make a substantial difference in the fight against the African poachers.

I read recently that Kenya has actually turned the corner on rhino extinction; their herds are actually increasing.  Same thing for the mountain gorilla, but they aren’t hunted for their body parts.

With enough money, and enough ingenuity, I really believe we can make a world changing difference with our NFTs.  J. D. Is assembling a crew of his scientists who have already been working on bee buzzer technology to help keep the elephants out of farmer’s fields, and there is so much we can do with modern technology in the fight against the poachers.  As soon as the elephants have some substantial resources in their bank accounts, we will be considering and developing every possible technology and strategy to fight the poachers.

I really like the concept of rewarding villages who share the habitat with elephants by giving them schools, wells,  infrastructure, scholarships, etc. if the number of kills in their area is greatly lessened.  This approach can turn the entire village into poacher haters, knowing the community suffers if anyone, either local or from elsewhere, kills in their territory.  This kind of community pressure is intense.  Almost like offering the locals a bounty for poachers eliminated.   This can work with enough money, and does vast amounts of good for the local population while protecting the elephants.  It just takes organization and enough money.  The kind of money that a well done 15,000 piece NFT offering could realize in a hot market.

And then there are the high tech solutions.  Radio collars, drones, monitoring centers etc. and perhaps most effectively, $35,000 hires, trains, and maintains a squad of 12 dedicated anti-poaching rangers for an entire year.  Additional expenditures on Jeeps, walkie-talkies, drones, gasoline, etc. greatly increases the squads effectiveness.

Its good to keep in mind that the first goal is not to eliminate all poaching - that would be impossible in a world where people buy ivory to show off their wealth - but to cut it back enough that the elephants can reproduce faster than the poachers reduce their population.

It CAN be done.  And if our NFTs can thrive like the Bored Apes or the Moonbirds, we can be instrumental in actually saving the wild African elephant from extinction. And, of course, greatly helping the plight of Thailand’s many captive elephants by giving Sarah all the tools and  resources she needs for her new project, and beyond.

I think that we actually can do this. I feel this very strongly.  And, on a personal level,  what a cool thing to  accomplish before Mary Ann & I actually retire for real!

So plans for now are to continue building our brand, clout, and credibility.  And be ready to mint right after the general consensus amongst high risk investors seeking high profit investments is that the NFT market is about to take off again.  I think we will then be perfectly positioned  to realize everything we had hoped for from the market when it was making news every week about the obscene profits 14 year old investors were making, when he next bull market returns.

In the meantime, we just keep building our brand and developing EHEW for the long run.

And should we be fortunate enough to receive  an endorsement or other support from a household name celebrity or influencer, or major media coverage, we can consider minting right away.  I think we could get results like the Art Gobblers just did, even in the current market, if we landed some kind of super endorsement.

Thanks everyone,

Dave

$4.7 Million Dollar NFT Minted by the Elephants!

$4.7 million dollars!  That’s the asking price for EHEW #7 -  a very special,  soon-to-be-minted NFT.  Every cent from this particular NFT is destined for an extremely important elephant rescue project in Thailand.

For the last decade, Mahouts Elephant Foundation has been managing a model elephant rescue project on 50,000+ acres of community forest land in northern Thailand.  They have become the model for the rescue and ethical preservation of elephants, partnering with the Thai government, university research scientists, and the local Karen indigenous people who have lived on the land and cared for elephants for centuries.

MEF has proven the value of their vision of rescuing, caring for, and re-wilding captive elephants.  Recent changes in Thailand’s elephant logging laws have resulted in many elephants and their mahouts finding themselves homeless, out of work, and begging for food on the streets of Bangkok.

Mahouts Elephant Foundation is partnering with the Thai government to expand their proven vision via a new, much larger project which can make a substantial difference for Thailand’s many captive elephants.  Their new project will enable them to re-wild numerous captive elephants into the more remote and dense forests of Thailand, while providing for the special needs of elephants once held captive.

A special NFT is being minted especially to finance this project. EHEW #7 is priced at $4.7 million dollars. Every cent realized from sale of this NFT goes towards this project. The funding is designed to maintain the project for ten years. The project is to be named after the investor who purchases the NFT if he or she so desires.

Here is how Sarah Blaine, co-founder of the Mahouts Elephant Foundation, describes her vision for this extremely worthwhile endeavor:

“We are a unique team of highly-skilled, passionate individuals creating innovative projects to protect captive Asian elephants, allowing them to live in peace and dignity in vast areas of forest habitat - forest that we believe is their birth right. Free from exploitation, they can remain in family groups, naturally foraging as they move through their forest home.

“Having proven our model, we are now in the planning phase for the next step on this remarkable journey. We have a vision to create a unique project with only limited exclusive tourism, located in a vast forest habitat, meaning captive elephants can be re–wilded to live a life of wellbeing and freedom not seen before.

“This model requires substantial funding to turn a dream into reality, but we know this is possible. We are ready – can you help us to create a ground-breaking project for captive Asian elephants?”

Find out more about Mahouts Elephant Foundation at Mahouts.org.

EHEW #7 is available for pre-order.  Interested investors please contact us for full details, and to arrange a visit to the project, if desired.