Elephant Planet

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Comment by SharonAustria on April 17, 2009 at 1:34

Hello all!
This article was first published in the NYTimes Magazine in October, 2006. I think you will all find it just as vitally relevant today. If you haven't already read it to the end (it's 10 fascinating pages long), I thought thatyou might want to now...
< http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?_r=1 >
Sharon

Comment by ozzieowl on February 24, 2009 at 9:43

Hi and nice to meet everyone, I think I first became totally entranced and
intrigued by the family of elephants, when I was a young girl and allowed
to go to the Saturday afternoon movies, at our local Cinema,
where Tarzan used to feature regularly.
I will never forget the fact that they, apparently, know when they are not well,
so they leave their herd and take themselves off to a secret burial ground,
where others had gone before them.
I wonder if they still do that?

Comment by Bonnie Sayers on January 6, 2009 at 23:20

News today that Jack Hanna toured the LA Zoo Pachyderm forest expansion and he did a letter to LA City Council saying he is behind the expansion. He said "it sets a new standard for the care of elephants at zoos". This is conflicting for us since my son is such a fan of Jack Hanna.

In other news - www.twitter.cojm/lazoo they are on twitter and sent me a tweet saying that they will be having docent led tours for those with autism on Thursday afternoons. This will be good news and I am spreading it around to the LA area groups.

I want to get the latest book by Jack Hanna and have it autographed somehow for my son's 14th birthday in march. Any ideas on how to get that accomplished? I am going to check his appearnaces since we are in LA and would be good to see if he is on Larry King Lilve or other night shows here and wait for him to sign it and maybe see animals.

Happy New Year everyone.

Comment by Michael Phil Hettiarachchi on January 2, 2009 at 6:43

Ivory auctions are bad because only few (rare) male tuskers are found in Asia compared to Africa where even females have tusks!

Comment by Jersey Girl on December 31, 2008 at 19:59

Rael-
Wow - I read it thru twice - it is indeed a colossal problem.
I think it was a good idea to remove the fence between the 2 parks but then you brought up the concern regarding the Shangaan families. I don't know enough about how they make their way in life (Are they farmers and if so what do they farm, are they herders of cattle, etc???) I once read and was very interested in lending my support for an effort for elephants (not sure what part of Africa - will look back at my files) that seemed a good "possible" solution for man and ellie.
The farmers grew bananas and the local authorities in conjunction with the nearby "park" - made a deal with the farmers - that as long as they (the farmers) did not harm, poison, or kill the elephants when they encrouched the crops - that the bananas would be issued a special seal that displayed Elephant Conservation and the bananas would then be sold to consumers for a bit more then other bananas. Most folks seemed to get ob board with this and didn't sweat the few extra pennies per pound - due to that good warm feeling they got buy buying a "Elephant Friendly" banana. The farmers made a bit extra from their crop to compensate for any damage they may have sustained during the season. Farmer making a living, Consumer eats good fruit & supports good cause, elephants free and safe! This could also be worked with many other animals : Chimps, Orangs, Mtn. Gorilla's etc.
- Have to run - will return soon.....

Comment by Rael on December 26, 2008 at 18:18

I would be interested to hear your feedback regarding a certain aspect of the elephant debate that I've been grappling with.

As a background, and as many of you will know, unlike other countries in Africa, the elephant population in southern Africa is growing rapidly. This to the extent that there is growing concern within the Greater Kruger Park area, for example, regarding the potentially negative impact that elephants are having on biodiversity. The issue is highly complex and because it is so contentious, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism convened a 'round table' discussion involving a team of 10 of the top elephant conservation scientists in South Africa. The result of this 2 year process was a restructuring of how the South African National Parks looks at elephant management and a new elephant management policy was put into place earlier this year.

While I don't claim to understand all the intricacies, this policy acknowledges the complexity of the problem and identifies the diverse aspects to the debate (e.g. ecological, political, economics, ethics) and the numerous stakeholders involved. While previously the focus was on 'carrying capacity' and managing elephant numbers, the approach now is on managing elephant impacts rather than elephants per se, and managing elephants as a 'meta population' in time and space. The rotation of waterholes, creating sources and sinks, and the manipulation of habitats within different impact 'zones' are some of the tools available to management. Measuring 'thresh-holds of potential concern', seeing what effects different densities of elephants are having and identifying and quantifying impacts are some of the tools available to the scientists. The 'bridge' between the science and management seems to be the key in finding reasonable solutions to the dilemma.

My dilemma is trying to work out how one can equate ethics, economics and ecological aspects to this debate. In other words how can we compare what is wrong or right on the one hand, dollars and cents on the other and (I'm running out of hands!), impacts on biodiversity and other ecological concepts (on the other?). In particular how can one deduce how much people are willing to pay (an economic consideration) to protect elephants 'from harm' (an ethical consideration) in order for there to be an either positive or negative result on biodiversity in that area (an ecological consideration)?

Moreover, is it possible to work out what effect policies on elephant management will have on the ecotourism industry to the regions where such elephant populations occur. I am not talking about possible tourism 'boycotts' if elephant culling were to take place. For those who see 'culling of elephants' as the only worthwhile blanket consideration, these people should be encouraged to read more about the range of other considerations in this debate. Rather I am talking about trying to find a solution which can optimize the economic benefits of elephant conservation in a way that would best benefit the elephants and the people who are most affected by such policies.

For example, the Limpopo National Park is a protected area in Mozambique which borders the eastern boundary of the Kruger National Park. Partly in order to relieve pressure within Kruger where about 13 000 elephants occur, a decision was made to drop the fences between these areas creating one 'Mega Park' as part of a Transfrontier Conservation Area between the two countries. The result is several hundred elephants having moved across into Limpopo National Park from the Kruger. This appears positive, yet within the Limpopo National Park, several thousand subsistence Shangaan families live mainly adjacent to the Limpopo and Olifants Rivers. The result is that there will be growing conflict between the people and the elephants in this region. How bad this is one can only wait and see. Various development organizations and indeed the South African and Mozambique governments involved in this 'peace park' are doing just that.

My question is twofold. Firstly what affect is tourism having on such a scenario? While the option of seeing elephants is a positive factor for the range expansion of the elephants and for the Limpopo National Park authorities as it may encourage more visitors to travel to the park, there surely is a negative factor in terms of the socio-economic impacts. How can one equate these two considerations/ balance these equations? Secondly, how can one quantify and compare the direct and indirect benefits that the region might gain through tourism with the intangible 'existence value' derived through watching elephants or indeed just knowing that they are being protected. Is it practically feasible or ethically possible to work out how much the public may be willing to pay to conserve elephants in this area in the context described above?

I once went to a public elephant debate where these kinds of issues were discussed, and came out with the realization that a debate like this is what they call a 'wicked problem' in complexity theory - a problem which goes round and round in circles, with no clear solution. It is my hope that raising this issue in this wildearth forum might encourage debate and discussion and help answer some of the many questions in this complex but very worthwhile debate.

Yours in conservation,

Rael Loon

Comment by David Keen on December 23, 2008 at 22:30

Thanks, Jersey Girl! May your Christmas be the Merriest, and that your New Year will be one of promise and bounty!

Comment by Jersey Girl on December 23, 2008 at 20:55

David - I also admire and respect both Betty & Bob - but I agree with you....
Regarding Billy - he should be at the santuary.
Hope you have a great Christmas and 2009!

Comment by David Keen on December 21, 2008 at 18:18

Jersey Girl- Evidently, more people watched that special than I first imagined!
I do believe they are functioning quite well at present, and that their alligator is thriving! As far as Billy goes, I haven't heard much about him lately. I'm hoping that the old adage, "no news is good news" holds true in this case. It's interesting to see the polarization of different animal rights advocates in this debate. As much as I love both of them, Betty White (pro-zoo), and Bob Barker
(pro-sanctuary) have a vigorous discussion going on as to Billy's plight. I'm with Bob on this one! Sorry, Betty - you're still my favorite gal!

Comment by Rael on December 21, 2008 at 15:54

Big tusker seen at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Dec 2008.

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