eleblog

“Elephant populations in South Africa are growing so rapidly that within a few years all parks and reserves will be overpopulated with serious consequences for the environment - forcing scientists and managers to consider culling, relocation or contraception. ” - IOL

“PETA was at the zoo to protest the delivery of seven African elephants to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.” - NBCSandiego.com

“Mrs Stratton’s fellow staff nurse Helen Telford told the inquest they were running away from one elephant when she became certain Mrs Stratton had tripped and fallen. ” - BBC NEWS

“Worse, due to the destruction of their habitat, the prolific variety of wildlife including tigers, deer, elephants, monkeys and wildfowls earlier present in the Chittagong hills are no longer visible. ” - OneWorld

“The death of two tuskers by electrocution on the outskirts of Rajaji National Park in Bijnore district has put dampeners on the heartening news of the latest wildlife census in Uttaranchal. The two tuskers were electrocuted near Kotdwar town yesterday.” - National Network

“A new study settles a long-standing dispute about the genesis of an endangered species. With scant fossil evidence supporting a prehistoric presence, scientists could not say for sure where Borneo’s elephants came from. Did they descend from ancient prototypes of the Pleistocene era or from modern relatives introduced just 300?500 years ago? ” - EurekAlert!

“Forget about contraceptives or culling - a mega park for elephants stretching from Mozambique to Namibia is the solution for the over-population.” - news24.com

“Mammals need body hair to keep warm, and lose it only for special evolutionary reasons. Whales and walruses shed their hair to improve speed in their new medium, the sea. Elephants and rhinoceroses have specially thick skins and are too bulky to lose much heat on cold nights. But why did humans, the only hairless primates, lose their body hair?” - NY Times - requires free registration

“Four years ago, government officials did investigate the circus for alleged abuse. Officials ordered Carson & Barnes to pay a $400 fine when a handler beat elephants.” - WTHR Indianapolis

“The National Parks moratorium on elephant culling had not changed, the chief executive of South African National Parks (SanParks), Mavuso Msimang, said on Sunday. ” - news24.com

“South Africa is set to resume elephant culling, a move certain to provoke an international outcry.” - IOL

Elephants will often stand next to their dead kin for days, in silence, occasionally touching their bodies with their trunks. Kenyan biologist Joyce Poole, who has studied African elephants for 25 years, says that elephant behaviour towards their dead “leaves me with little doubt that they experience deep emotion and have some understanding of death.” - Guardian Unlimited

“Four members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were arrested Thursday after they stormed into zoos in San Diego and Tampa to protest the importation of elephants from Swaziland.” - NBCSandiego.com

“The best scientists never lose their belief in mystery, and naturalist-historian Lyall Watson thinks that the magnificent elephant is the most mysterious creature to walk the earth. A memorable experience he had with one as a youth in South Africa affected both his career and his life’s goal.” - Boston.com

“Animal rights activists say elephants have not been treated properly.” - Atlanticville