Wild Capture of African Elephants - shurely shome mishtake?
Dear All
I have been following this story for a while and thought it might be of interest to you - difficult as it is for someone from the Asian tradition to criticise, after all wild capture of juveniles provided the majority of domestic working elephants from time immemorial until the early 20th century. Indeed I was having dinner the other night with someone who had unearthed pictures of elephant Kraal capture going on as late as 1973 in Southern Thailand. One suspects that it is still practiced in the backwaters of other, more forested, countries.
An old National Geographic documentary shows the capture of rogue wild elephants in Assam the 1980's - though this must have been an exceptional case it shows the knowledge is still there, the Surin round-up is organised with people who have caught wild elephants even though officially the last elephant was caught sometime in the 1930's allegedly using lassos and domestic animals.
The old silent movie 'Chang', by the same people who made King Kong, is the only footage of an actual kraal capture I have seen.
As hypocritical as it may be for someone from the Asian tradition to comment we, of all people, know how difficult it is for an elephant that has grown up away from humans to adjust and be trained (the Assam documentary talked of six months of 'intensive' training until the elephant accepted it's fate).
For me though, moralising aside, the story is more interesting as the commonly held belief is that the 'taming' of an African elephant is impossible - this has been proven untrue in recent years by the hand raising of orphaned babies by legitimate conservation organisations who have paid for their efforts by implementing Asian style elephant back safaris - but this is the first I have heard of wild African elephants being trained and used for tourism.
I wonder how widespread the practice is and how long it has been going on? I guess the message is to ask very carefully before you go on an African elephant safari, it seems no longer enough to assume that you are riding a rescued orphan. A similar situation to Asia then - it is best to only patronise camps with a proven record of looking after their elephants and a proven record of conservation (though it seems that company in question here had also supported conservation efforts).
The more you learn the muddier the waters!
ZCTF STATEMENT ON CAPTURE OF ELEPHANTS
I have been following this story for a while and thought it might be of interest to you - difficult as it is for someone from the Asian tradition to criticise, after all wild capture of juveniles provided the majority of domestic working elephants from time immemorial until the early 20th century. Indeed I was having dinner the other night with someone who had unearthed pictures of elephant Kraal capture going on as late as 1973 in Southern Thailand. One suspects that it is still practiced in the backwaters of other, more forested, countries.
An old National Geographic documentary shows the capture of rogue wild elephants in Assam the 1980's - though this must have been an exceptional case it shows the knowledge is still there, the Surin round-up is organised with people who have caught wild elephants even though officially the last elephant was caught sometime in the 1930's allegedly using lassos and domestic animals.
The old silent movie 'Chang', by the same people who made King Kong, is the only footage of an actual kraal capture I have seen.
As hypocritical as it may be for someone from the Asian tradition to comment we, of all people, know how difficult it is for an elephant that has grown up away from humans to adjust and be trained (the Assam documentary talked of six months of 'intensive' training until the elephant accepted it's fate).
For me though, moralising aside, the story is more interesting as the commonly held belief is that the 'taming' of an African elephant is impossible - this has been proven untrue in recent years by the hand raising of orphaned babies by legitimate conservation organisations who have paid for their efforts by implementing Asian style elephant back safaris - but this is the first I have heard of wild African elephants being trained and used for tourism.
I wonder how widespread the practice is and how long it has been going on? I guess the message is to ask very carefully before you go on an African elephant safari, it seems no longer enough to assume that you are riding a rescued orphan. A similar situation to Asia then - it is best to only patronise camps with a proven record of looking after their elephants and a proven record of conservation (though it seems that company in question here had also supported conservation efforts).
The more you learn the muddier the waters!
ZCTF STATEMENT ON CAPTURE OF ELEPHANTS
ZIMBABWE CONSERVATION TASK FORCE
23rd November 2006
The news of the capture of 12 juvenile elephants by Shearwater Adventures from Hwange National Park is fairly widespread by now. I have just returned from a 3 week trip and was given the distressing information while I was out of the country. I released the story to the media while I was away and now that I am back, I would like to state that the ZCTF is disgusted and disappointed that this cruel practice has been allowed to take place.
For those who have not yet heard the story, Shearwater Adventures of Victoria Falls somehow managed to secure a permit from National Parks to capture 15 juvenile elephants from Shumba Pan in Hwange National Park. Their intention is to train them for the purpose of giving elephant rides to tourists. This is in contravention of the accepted policy that no wild animal will be domesticated. They managed to capture 12 elephants, using the Shearwater helicopter to dart them and one died the day after it was relocated to Victoria Falls.
We have heard that this is not the first time elephants have been captured in the Victoria Falls areea and we have an unconfirmed report that at least 2 elephants died following a previous capture but this is still under investigation.
According to a statement written by scientists from the Ambelosi Elephant Research Project in Kenya, the breaking up of elephant families by removing their young creates a very high level of stress, not only for the captured elephants, but also for the family members left behind. The researchers have witnessed elephant captures where the screams of the captured elephants cause their family members to attempt to rescue them. Both the elephants caught and those left behind were found to suffer physical trauma, dehydration, immune system suppression and long term psycological trauma. They claim that due to the excellent memories of elephants, they are likely to respond aggressively towards humans, vehicles and helicopters in the future.
The following paragraph was taken from their statement:
"Elephants are renowned for their memories, intelligence and sociality. Similar to those of humans, these traits also make them particularly vulnerable to stress and trauma and their long term consequences. These effects would be long lasting both for the animals removed from their families and for those remaining in the reserve. Our strong recommendation is that the authorities order, with all urgency, an immediate moratorium on the capture and training of young elephants, and prohibit all removals of this nature in future"
If anyone would like a copy of the full statement, please email us on the address below.
The attempted domestication of wild elephants is not only unspeakably cruel, but it is also very dangerous to unsuspecting tourists. An elephant that has been trained, will most likely have been subjected to cruelty and abuse. In order to make the elephant obedient, the usual method is to break its spirit. This breeds resentment and in time, some elephants have been known to turn on humans. In Zimbabwe, if an elephant kills a human, it gets the death penalty.
We are enraged at the fact that since September last year, we have been doing everything in our power to get water pumping in Hwange National Park to try and avoid a repetition of the water crisis of 2005. Many of you reading this have assisted us with funds to buy fuel, spare parts etc. and thanks to you, there is now water in the park for the animals. It sickens us to recall that we took a load of tyres to Hwange in a truck which was sponsored by Shearwater Adventures. We are now questioning their motives in assisting us. The elephants were captured at Shumba Pan in Hwange National Park and it's a lot easier to find elephants to capture when the pans are full of water.
The whole operation reeks of greed and corruption. The fact that National Parks is entrusted with the protection of the wildlife, did not stop them from authorizing the capture and what sort of people would inflict such trauma on these very special majestic animals for the sake of lining their pockets?
Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
Tel: 263 4 336710
Fax/Tel: 263 4 339065
Mobile: 263 11 603 213
Email: galorand@mweb.co.zw
Website: www.zimbabwe-art.com
Website: www.zctf.mweb.co.zw
Article at the following link:
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Melissa Groo
Save the Elephants News Service Researcher
For further information on elephants please see Save the Elephants' web site
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