To Cull or Not: The Return of the Elephant Man
The one thing that struck me about the story of Joseph Carey Merrick a.k.a. The Elephant Man was that he could never smile. However, he could weep a lot, so documented Sir Frederick Treves, the English surgeon who rescued him after years of performing in carnival freak shows. His great deformity, now postulated as the rare Proteus syndrome (named for the shape-shifting god Proteus) which affects tissue other than nerves, was allegedly caused by the trampling feet of a rogue elephant, many decades before some wildlife conservationists ever thought of culling.
In his brief autobiographical note just before he died, he wrote: “The deformity which I am now exhibiting was caused by my mother being frightened by an Elephant; my mother was going along the street when a procession of Animals were passing by, there was a terrible crush of people to see them, and unfortunately she was pushed under the Elephant’s feet, which frightened her very much; this occurring during a time of pregnancy was the cause of my deformity”. But that was all allegory.
The Culling Debate is back! Fast track to the 21st Century and focus on the wildlife fields of southern Africa. Do you support South Africa’s decision to cull its elephant population? Do you believe the elephant’s trampling is that bad for the local ecology? This is where animal conservationists (or ain’t they?) differ.
- » See also: Mistaken Identity: Hunters Kill Endangered Pygmy Hippo
- » Get EcoWorldly by RSS or sign up by email.
Elephant population in South Africa has increased to more than 20,000 from 8,000 thirteen years in 1995 when the country was talking tough against culling. With overpopulation, the elephants come into conflict with people as they search for their daily diet of about 300 kilograms of grass, leaves and twigs.
South African environment minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, says: “Our simple reality is that elephant population density has risen so much in some southern African countries that there is concern about impacts on the landscape, the viability of other species and the livelihoods and safety of people living within elephant ranges.” Do you agree?
Here is an opposing view: “Culling is a cruel, unethical and a scientifically unsound practice that does not consider the welfare implications to elephant society as a whole,” says Jason Bell-Leask, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)’s Southern Africa Director. Do you agree?
Dr. Richard Leakey, chairman of Wildlife Direct, famous elsewhere for unearthing pre-historic human skulls and a former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, in an article posted on his blog, says: While I will never ‘like’ the idea of elephant culling, I do accept that given the impacts of human induced climate change, and habitat destruction, elephants in and outside of protected areas will become an increasingly serious problem unless some key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels. A part of the problem is caused by increasing demand for resources by humans and I believe that we have are responsibility to check our own impacts in order to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans by controlling human activities as well.
Reducing elephant populations may therefore, be a necessary part of population management, and this will be done in a humane and considered manner. South Africa intends to reserve culling as a last resort after all other options such as translocations, fertility control have been exhausted. Though I find elephant culling repugnant, I can see the sense in it in some scenarios, as I imagine many others do also. Do you agree?
In Kenya, 14 elephants have been killed in a classic animal-human conflict scenario. Does this give credence to the culling crusade? Does a large elephant population trample on the local ecology with a serious damage to the environment? What’s the larger factor, an equitable food chain balance with the elephant playing an important role or human interference with nature? Can this deform the environment so as to invite the Curse of the Elephant Man?
Resources: IFAW Campaign , BBC - The Green Room, South Africa Dept of Environment
Photo credit: Flickr
As a conservationist working in South Africa, I feel urged to point out that there has been a great deal of debate within the country on ALL the available options, and that culling is not just seen as a quick fix solution. I see many comments about translocation of ellies to places as far away as Kenya, or contraception, and would like to point out that all of these HAVE been considered. The reality is that there is no “ideal” solution. Contracepting is slow and also potentially very disruptive. There is a theory that by performing a vascectomy on the dominant male, who fathers up to 80% of the calves in a populaiton, the population growth can be slowed. Unless we reject the very concept of evolution, we must remember that there is a reason why he fathers so many. To mess with that may well lead to genetic degradation over the long term. The reality is we just dont know, but it is plausible to raise it.
Translocation of ellies to areas far outside their range is not feasible due to thier reliance on local knowledge passed down through generations and, more importantly, due to the fact that geographically distant populations may well be genetically different in ways we are not yet aware of. There are potentially very large threats involved with some of the softer options that may seem to be kinder, but are potentially catastrophic from a broader conservation view. Conservation is about habitats, genetics, whole ecosystems, not just about individuals. No-one likes the idea of culling, and there is a huge amount of work being done on expanding conservation areas, but it is not enough and not soon enough. The problem of lack of suitable habitat is one that faces many species, not just elephants, and wonderful work is being done to address this, but there is actually a degree of urgency on the elephant matter now. Who is to say the elephants are more important than the species further down the web that suffer as a result of overpopulation? The ancient Baobabs, Mashatu trees and Leadwoods along the Limpopo, for example, will take much longer to regenerate than the elephant population that is currently destroying them. What about all the less charismatic species that rely on them? Ecosystem functioning requires focus on more than just one species, and a healthy system benefits all its inhabitants. Even if you are only interested in the ellies and not their habitat, think about which is more horrific; the lights going out or starving to death slowly?
It is easy to sit in a faraway place at a desk and say how dreadful culling is, but at grass roots level it is a different story. When you have seen carcasses of animals that have died of starvation due to unnaturally stressed habitats, then it becomes a differnt story. Yes, the reason they are stressed is human fault, but it is also then up to us take action to remedy it, even if the plan of action does include some elements that are less comfortable.
I am one of the people who is very against the culling.
I have an open mind though and I do read the comments by the experts. I am not an expert, but when I saw a culling video, it ripped my heart out.
Here is one thought that I would like to put forth.
Rather than shooting the elephants and scaring them-a very traumatic death, would a humane euthanasia be possible? Let them go to sleep?
Good question. I am not a vet, so I cannot say for sure, but it may be possible. The problem I could see arising is with the logistics of euthanasing a whole herd. When you dart an elephant it takes a good few minutes to go down, and as soon as you start darting the rest of the herd would be scared away. To dart and therefore euthanise a whole breeding herd would probably take a fleet of choppers with vets in to finish the herd quickly, which would also be extremely stressful. My feeling, and I am prepared to be proven wrong as I am a carnivore biologist, not an elephant expert, is that it would be logistically too difficult to do quickly enough to remove the stress factor. I think this may be one of the situations which is more comfortable for us but translates to little difference in the field. As I said though, I am neither a vet nor an ellie expert, and would love to hear the opinion of someone more informed than I am.
[...] other species and the livelihoods and safety of people living within elephant ranges.” Read more: EcoWorldly, [...]
[...] Africa only recently lifted a moratorium on elephant culling after a 13-year ban saw a sharp rise in population numbers. But the real losers are Africa’s [...]