Ian Somerhalder may be a ruthless, playboy vampire Damon Salvatore on the Vampire Diaries, but he’s a real sweetheart in real life. He is very passionate about animals and the environment, and recently revealed that he has a soft spot for elephants.
“I was staying in Zimbabwe in the bush at this incredible conservation institute. Every morning I got to wake up and have my coffee with a young, orphaned elephant named Dojiwae. Both of her parents were killed by poachers unfortunately.” Somerhalder recalled. Since then, he decided to make it his mission to help save wild African elephants from being poached.
Somerhalder recently partnered with the organization WildAid for its Year of the Elephant campaign. The campaign’s mission is to educate people on how ivory products lead to elephant poaching, and kills about 33,000 elephants every year.
“When the buying stops, the killing will stop.” Somerhalder said. He also has his very own website dedicated to protecting the planet and animals.
[Source]
