An Elephant Crackup?
Dear All
Quite a few of you may have seen this interesting and depressing article, originally sent to me by a friend.
I am not sure there is anything supernatural going on (though the research doesn't suggest this, the title does) just a very visible reaction to human management of our wild spaces. Very visible due to the size, number and strength of the animal involved, it makes you wonder how many species are suffering a 'crackup' un-noticed?
From a domestic side, it seems more and more people are having contact with elephants and - having just spent a few days on the streets, fewer and fewer real experts (or real mahouts) in charge - we met an aged bull up in the ruins of Sukhothai who had been bought by his 'mahout' whose experience was with cattle, apparently when the TECC vet asked him about his plans for musth he looked with non-comprehending blank stare.
This ele is too old to be working and is, luckily, gentle but when a cattle herd is allowed to be in charge of this tusker's interaction with the public is it any wonder accidents are happening in the domestic population?
There is another bull there who has been working for years and is not ideally but not badly treated by his real mahout but the cattle herd doesn't want to learn from his new business rival.
PS. The ele could probably be bought for 200,000 baht and would probably benefit from donation to the TECC but could possibly live at Anantara for the dry season or Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (more later) - he is very old and ought to be living out his days in a forest.
MAGAZINE | October 8, 2006
An Elephant Crackup?
By CHARLES SIEBERT
Attacks by elephants on villages, people and other animals are on the rise. Some researchers are pointing to a species wide trauma and the fraying of the fabric of pachyderm society.
PPS. Thanks Jane for the link - if anyone else has a link they'd like to send me I like to read about eles in the real world!
Quite a few of you may have seen this interesting and depressing article, originally sent to me by a friend.
I am not sure there is anything supernatural going on (though the research doesn't suggest this, the title does) just a very visible reaction to human management of our wild spaces. Very visible due to the size, number and strength of the animal involved, it makes you wonder how many species are suffering a 'crackup' un-noticed?
From a domestic side, it seems more and more people are having contact with elephants and - having just spent a few days on the streets, fewer and fewer real experts (or real mahouts) in charge - we met an aged bull up in the ruins of Sukhothai who had been bought by his 'mahout' whose experience was with cattle, apparently when the TECC vet asked him about his plans for musth he looked with non-comprehending blank stare.
This ele is too old to be working and is, luckily, gentle but when a cattle herd is allowed to be in charge of this tusker's interaction with the public is it any wonder accidents are happening in the domestic population?
There is another bull there who has been working for years and is not ideally but not badly treated by his real mahout but the cattle herd doesn't want to learn from his new business rival.
PS. The ele could probably be bought for 200,000 baht and would probably benefit from donation to the TECC but could possibly live at Anantara for the dry season or Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (more later) - he is very old and ought to be living out his days in a forest.
MAGAZINE | October 8, 2006
An Elephant Crackup?
By CHARLES SIEBERT
Attacks by elephants on villages, people and other animals are on the rise. Some researchers are pointing to a species wide trauma and the fraying of the fabric of pachyderm society.
PPS. Thanks Jane for the link - if anyone else has a link they'd like to send me I like to read about eles in the real world!
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