Following the death of a baby elephant in Sakleshpur, India Wednesday, a herd of 12 elephants remained by the fallen calf, mourning the loss of one on their own day after day.
The grieving mother dragged the body of her baby for one kilometer into the forest and by Friday had not left the carcass; her herd lingered nearby for comfort.
Officials from the Forest Department decided to bide their time, waiting until the herd finish their mourning period and move on before stepping in to conduct a post-mortem to determine the cause of death.
“If we make an effort to take away the carcass, the herd may go violent. We will wait till the herd leaves the place,” said Sivaram Babu, deputy conservator of forests.
Elephants have deeply emotional bonds within their herds and it is well-documented that they mourn for lost members in a complex way which experts don’t yet fully understand.
Although the death of the calf is presumed to be from natural causes, there is a long history of human-elephant conflict in the town of Sakleshpur. Elephants have caused the death of 46 people in the region in the last 16 years and at least seven elephants have died as a result of electrocution from elephant-proof fences. In June this year, two calves were killed after being hit by a train, while in August, a woman was trampled to death by an elephant near her village in the region while grazing her cows in a field.
Locals do not go out at night and are afraid to walk alone during the day. They are calling on the government to find solutions for the ongoing problems, suggesting that the elephants should be relocated. A number of residents have offered to give up their land — an area of 2,300 acres — to provide an elephant corridor, but others are not willing to contribute, with many smallholders totally reliant on their farms for income.
The incidences of conflict began to escalate in the 1960’s, when the creation of the Hemavathi reservoir resulted in 22,000 acres of land being transformed into water, drastically reducing the natural habitat of the elephants. Since then, development of roads and railway tracks have further cut into their habitat.
There have been several relocation attempts, but none were overly successful, with many of the relocated elephants returning to their territories within weeks.
While this herd grieves over a dead baby, this will almost certainly not be the last elephant death in Sakleshpur. As with elephant habitats worldwide, these majestic, emotional animals are running out of places to live, and when it comes to a battle between man and beast, elephants have little chance of survival.
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Very sad.
I don’t want to see obuse to any animal of any description, they are put on this earth for a very good reason, God don’t do frivolous things, u must know!
Sweet baby elephant – Rest In Peace. These elephants need their land. Thank you to those locals who are willing to give up their land to the elephants. Hope a solution is found that benefits both elephants and locals. Do not kill the elephants or harm them in any way please !
Living with Nature is easy, living without is impossible. MJS
Sorry but those humans aren’t endangered and don’t have a problem taking the elephants land. There are fewer elephants than people. My sympathies are with the animals who don’t have a voice.
REST IN PEACE SWEET BABY ELEPHANT,GOD BLESS YOU! )-; PRAYERS TO THE HERD!
Bless the elephants. Poachers are the dregs of the earth. Shoot them.
This is extremely heart-breaking and tragic — SOMETHING MUST BE DONE to help the elephants and the humans — both MUST live in harmony WITHOUT electrical fences OR they must each live a great distance from one another — finding a safe, secure, comfortable place for the elephants MUST be a priority — figure out a way so they do NOT RETURN to their old haunting grounds — I wonder if they can be air-lifted? — Again, what we have presently is NOT a GOOD thing — a solution must be found that benefits both elephants AND human residents.
And people say animals have no feelings or intelligence.
I watched a nature docu about elephant being killed cause they were entering villagers land and trampling their havests. Instead of electric fences they put up lots of bee hives. It worked plus the villagers got honey. Elephants are frightened of bees, the bees are also active at night.
I question these experts intelligence if they don’t understand grief. We all mourn the loss of a loved. All sentient beings grieve.
We have an asset who was visited twice now by the FBI for their part in killing 3 poachers in Zim in 2014.
We were careful and used 2 toxins to kill them.
Killing poachers and trophy hunters is the only answer and we are now becoming more active.
If man goes against man it levels the playing field.
If the FBI wants to try and figure out how we do it, best of luck to them. Walter Palmer in MN is currently being dosed with flourouracil but they will never figure out how. More of this needs to be done.
Kill an animal abuser and you’ll sleep a lot better at night.
Yes. Whatever it takes.
Poachers have no conscience. They are completely useless.
If Homo sapiens had one tenth the intelligence and compassion of elephants, the human race would be a truly superior race. Instead, human beings kill and destroy everything. Man is a mean animal devoid of compassion AND intelligence.
So put your words into action and kill or disfigure an animal abuser