Boris Johnson got wooden Indian elephants for his 60th b'day because...

On Wednesday, former British prime minister Boris Johnson was sixty years old. His wife gave him a unique present: three life-size wooden elephants that he could use to help an Indian charitable project.

Images of the herd being offloaded and then setting up shop on the family’s Oxfordshire property, under the watchful eye of their little son Wilfred, were shared by Carrie Johnson on Instagram.

The Great Elephant Migration is a charitable organization that promotes the peaceful coexistence of humans and animals. It earns money for biodiversity conservation programs by selling wooden elephants, which start at approximately USD 8,500.

“A very special 60th birthday present, supporting a wonderful charity @greatelephantmigration,” Carrie Johnson’s Instagram post reads.

One of the most invasive weeds in the world, Lantana camara, is used to make the elephants, according to the charity’s website.

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This toxic shrub spreads quickly and has taken over 300,000 square kilometers of India’s Protected Areas. It drives animals from their forest habitats into cities, increasing conflict between humans and nature.

“The use of lantana to create the elephants helps remove the weed from protected areas, leaving wildlife more space to roam,” the charity explains.

“The beautiful lantana elephants come in four sizes and make themselves at home in all sorts of locations, including gardens, business frontages, estates, and schools," it said.

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“Each elephant has been meticulously created to the highest standard possible using dried lantana camara wrapped around a steel rebar frame and coated with Osmo Oil for protection,” it added.

The Elephant Family, a US and UK registered charity, is the parent organization of The Great Elephant Migration. It was founded to use storytelling and creativity to encourage and facilitate human populations coexisting with wildlife.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a former ally, applauded Johnson’s earlier this week use of social media to back certain Conservative Party candidates in the approaching general election on July 4.

Though Johnson intends to be on vacation and return just in time for the UK election, it appears doubtful that the Tory veteran, who resigned in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown law-breaking parties at Downing Street, will be more actively supporting the election campaign.

In the meantime, his party suffered a further setback when a significant pre-election poll predicted significant losses for the ruling Conservatives and significant gains for the opposition Labour Party.

In the initial multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) model for the 2024 election, IPSOS predicted that the Conservatives will gain 115 seats and the Keir Starmer-led party 453.

It suggests that Labour will win a historic majority of 256, sending the Sunak-led Tories to a record low and their lowest vote share since the 2019 federal election.

Labour has always had a 20-point advantage in surveys, but this is the largest estimate of their potential majority to date from the IPSOS study.

“Labour is increasing its 2019 vote share across the country, especially in Scotland and the North East, while the Conservatives are losing votes in all regions – especially in the East and South of England, and across the Midlands,” said Kelly Beaver, chief executive of IPSOS UK and Ireland.

“What is perhaps most concerning for them are signs in the data that they are particularly losing vote share in the areas where they were strongest in 2019,” she said.