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The news of the capture of 12 juvenile elephants by a tourism operator 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, this company, based in Victoria
Falls somehow managed to secure a permit from National Parks to capture 15
juvenile elephants from Shumba Pan in Hwange NP. 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 a 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 area 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 Amboseli 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 suffer physical trauma, dehydration, immune
system suppression and long term psychological 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 there are 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 the future."
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 to 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. However, if
sickens us to recall that we took a load of tyres to Hwange in a truck which
was sponsored by the same tourism operator. We are now questioning their
motives in assisting us. The elephants were captured at Shumba Pan in Hwange
NP 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? |
