THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS

    THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS

The elephant census: for protection or domestication?

Monday, 19 September 2011 00:00

By chris palmer

The domestication of elephants developed into the life of elephants a matter of heated discussion among environmental groups and the Sri Lanka wildlife authorities in the recent past.

Days before the country’s first elephant census after the 30 year war was to take place, wildlife groups who had earlier agreed to extend their support, later formally announced that they would boycott the census following statements made by the Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S.M. Chandrasena.

The Minister had allegedly stated that 300 tuskers and elephant calves would be identified, captured and domesticated during the elephant census for the purpose of carrying caskets in Peraheras. Since these alleged statements surfaced the question lies as to whether the wild elephants are being removed from their habitat for domestication purposes.

Wildlife groups critisised Minister S. M. Chandrasena’s statements and claimed that the elephant census, which would have been an ideal step towards conserving elephants, was now being used as an apparatus to identify the whereabouts of elephant calves with favourable traits to capture and domesticate them. Environmental groups said the issue called for serious concern over the elephant population of the country and the threats they face.

Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) President Sajeewa Chamikara said the country harbours 10% of the Asian Elephant population and a better part of these elephants are elderly. From 1990 to 2000 there was an average of 150 elephant deaths per year. During the next decade, this number had reached 200 deaths per year. “Ill-planned developmental projects, the ongoing human elephant conflict, elephant drives, railroad accidents and electrocution are among the threats faced by these endangered megaherbivores,” Chamikara said.

The domesticated elephant population in the country is being used for elephant-back safaris while elephants are still used for transporting logs in areas such as Kalutara, Ratnapura and Kegalle. Tamed elephants are often included in cultural pageants and Peraheras carrying caskets. However, elephants are used in pursuit of lucre more often than for the purpose of serving the temple or cultural needs. Furthermore they are used as symbols of social prestige by influential people, Chamikara said.


“It is important to consider the fate of domesticated elephants. Most of these elephants are ill-treated, suffer from malnutrition and many meet with tragic, untimely deaths,” he said. There have been attempts to tame wild elephants which have resulted in them being beaten to death,  he said.

Owners of tamed elephants, sometimes choose not to breed elephants as they have long gestation and suckling periods and cannot be employed to earn money for the owners until two years of age. Therefore elephants sometimes die without contributing to the breeding gene pool, he said.

Height and tusk bearing genes of elephants are now less commonly seen as there is less breeding of wild elephants which in turn is obstructing the circulation of genes in the elephant population, he explained. Consequently, the percentage of tuskers in Sri Lankan has gone down to 7-8% of the males.

He explained that captive breeding is a feasible option to make up for a shortage of tamed elephants. Captive breeding of elephants has been very successful at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and some 50 elephant births have taken place since 1975, he said. The required technical knowledge is available in the country to promote elephant conservation but he said it is not taking place adequately.

Mastercard Priceless Elephant

“Moreover, the material prepared for the reference of the participants of this census indicates that subjective data such as the orientation of the tusks were to be recorded. In a scientific census such subjective data are not recorded. The dubious nature of the objective behind this census is reflected by this.

Capturing elephants from the wild in such a manner paves the way for the extinction of these valuable animals,” he said. The objectives of an elephant census he said should be identification of frequent haunts of elephants, declaration of such identified areas as well ensuring protected areas for elephants.

 Environmental Lawyer Jagath Gunawardena said according to provisions in the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, it is illegal to domesticate an elephant. According to the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, only the Department of Wildlife Conservation has the authority to capture elephants from the wild, if an elephant is identified as harmful to the crops or the public.

The Diyawadana Nilame of the Dalada Maligawa Pradeep Nilanga Dela said the allegations made against elephant owners are unacceptable. “Certain NGOs and other organisations have talked about the captivity of elephants but they have only done so to earn money out of it.

For them it is something to be gambled with. Their allegations are very unfair. It is a tradition that was adopted by the early kings and even by Lord Buddha. They have no means of proving that these animals are brutally harassed although they claim that this is the case,” the Diyawadana Nilame said.

He said history has shown that bestowing elephants as gifts to the Dalada Maligawa had been very common in Sri Lanka for several centuries. Sri Lankan leaders such as J.R Jayawardena, Ratnasiri Premadasa, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge and even the current President Mahinda Rajapaksa have customarily presented elephants to the temple as they are considered invaluable gifts that symbolize the cultural and historical significance of the Dalada Maligawa.

There are nearly 110 elephants in captivity, in Sri Lanka many of which are over 50 years of age. Owing to their old age, the Diyawadana Nilame explained, the fitness levels of the elephants are slowly deteriorating. The temple is consequently facing a scarcity of young elephants and it is impossible to find elephants of a suitable age, ideally elephant calves of about 25 years, to include in the annual Kandyan Dalada Perahera. The Dalada Perahera traditionally comprises of 100 elephants, an age old custom embraced by the temple.

The Diyawadana Nilame is also the President of the Association of Owners of Tamed Elephants (AOTE) which comprises of 85 members. One of the members, Villangoda Mahaththaya owns the biggest tusker while the elephant owner with the largest number of elephants has some 20 elephants, he says.
“Maintaining an elephant is a difficult task and an expensive one at that and therefore requires commitments and resources to own an elephant. An elephant’s meals for a day costs some Rs.1500. Daily wages for the mahouts and their assistants is an estimated Rs.65,000,” he said.
 
To tame wild elephants a number of traditional methods and new methods are employed. He said the use of a cage more than 5000 square feet long will be utilized in future to domesticate, a system, he said, is being used in many parts of Africa today.

Wildlife Department Director General H.D Ratnayake denied that the government had any expectations of capturing elephants for domestication during the survey. The Wildlife Department’s mandate, he said, was not to domesticate elephants although allegations have been made to that effect. “We do not have any intentions of domesticating any elephants.

Our aim is to ensuring elephant conservation, set up a management plan to prevent the damage to elephant habitats as well as to mitigate the human-elephant conflict,” he said.
The purpose of the census and survey in August he assured was to ascertain the elephant population and its composition. Through this method the number of tuskers, sub-adults (4.5 to six feet in height, adults (over six feet in height), juveniles (less than three feet in height) were determined.

He said however that selected rogue elephants and stranded elephants that are currently with the Pinnawala elephant orphanage will be donated for domestication to temples.
For that reason while wild elephants will be conserved and protected in their natural habitat, the wildlife department has identified the requirement of elephants for temples.

Water For Elephants Movie Trailer 2 Official (HD)

Sri Lanka urged not to give Philippines elephant

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- An international animal rights group on Friday urged Sri Lanka to halt its plan to donate a baby elephant to the Philippines, saying the zoo where it would live is decrepit and doesn't have enough space for such animals.

Officials at the Manila Zoo, where the elephant is being sent, rejected the criticism, saying the facility has taken good care of another elephant from Sri Lanka since 1980.
Sri Lanka said Thursday it is donating the animal from a government-run elephant orphanage to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Manila-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia sent a letter Friday to Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, saying that sending an elephant to the Manila Zoo would "surely reflect poorly on Sri Lanka."

"If you care about elephants, you would never send one to the Manila Zoo to suffer for the rest of their life," the group wrote in the letter.

The group said the zoo's barren cement enclosure for its current elephant, named Mali, is about 72 square yards (60 square meters) and doesn't allow her enough "stimulation, room to explore, and everything else that is natural and important to her."

Ironically, PETA Asia also said that Mali is "cruelly denied socialization" at the Manila Zoo, though the group nonetheless objects to sending another elephant to join her.

The new elephant would be temporarily kept in a separate enclosure before being introduced gradually to Mali, said Agerico Sebastian, assistant director of the zoological division of the Manila Zoo, who added that he had no confirmation yet of the elephant's arrival.

Sebastian denied the group's allegation that the zoo was decrepit and said the elephant's enclosure was larger than PETA Asia's estimate, though he did not give a figure.

"We have given it sufficient nutrition, compared to what it would have in the wild, in the forest," he said. "It would not have lived this long if we did not take care of it."
Echo of the Elephants

Govt to go ahead with plans to gift elephant to Philippines, 

despite protests

Animal rights activists both here and overseas have stepped up their campaign against government plans to gift an elephant to Philippines saying that that the animal will be forced to lifetime confinement, boredom and abuse.

The Cabinet on Thursday announced that approval had been given to go ahead with the gift to the Philippines on a proposal forwarded by Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne.

Leading the protest is a US-based animal rights grouping- the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which has called on the Sri Lankan Government to call-off the move for more than one reason.

In a letter to Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne PETA has warned that the Zoo in Manila as come under public fire for housing animals in appalling conditions.

It states that there are better ways in maintaining good relations between the two countries instead of sentencing an elephant to a lifetime of misery to the Manila Zoo and this decision will surely reflect poorly on Sri Lanka.

The elephant who currently resides at the Manila Zoo and known as Mali is cruelly denied socialization, stimulation, room to explore, and everything else that is natural and important to her.

This animal lives a life of  intense confinement, loneliness, boredom and isolation in an area a fraction of the size of her natural habitat and now is known to be suffering from ‘zoochosis’ which goes on to suggest that Mali has been driven insane, it said.

It added that Mali currently spends her days alone in a barren cement enclosure that is estimated to be 60 square metres. “If Sri Lanka transfers an elephant to the Manila Zoo, it will surely be sentenced to the same fate”, it added.

PETA was backed by several local organizations who called for the plan to be shelved at the very earliest.

Sagarika Rajakarunanayake with Sathva Mithra hit out at the move saying it was not only unethical but it also violated international obligations.

“Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) elephants cannot be exported for whatever reason-either the relevant authorities are not aware of this or they just do not care.


Her concerns were echoed with a senior official with the Born Free Foundation who said that there was a court order in 1990 that gave several guide lines before an elephant could be exported.

“This is a harmful concept since the animal and could become permanently damaging to the animal who is bound to suffer from stress, mental depression etc once it is removed from its natural habitat”, the official explained.

“Elephants are not commodities and are due better treatment instead of being pushed around the globe just to better relationships between countries. This a damnable move and should be stopped without further delay”, says Sajeewa Chamikara with nature Forum.

Wild Life Director H. B. Ratnayake said that the preliminary arrangements for the export of the elephant was currently being done by the authorities at the Zoological Gardens in Dehiwala.

Final approval will be given by the Department once this is over. For the moment however we are going ahead with the original plan”, he added.

Pink Elephants on Parade

Elephant enlightenment
Kandula the elephant has a can-do attitude.

As reported in the scientific journal PLoS ONE last month, the 7-year-old Asian elephant at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington amazed City University of New York researchers. The elephant figured out — not by trial and error, but apparently by thinking it through — how to get at some fruit hung too high inside his cage.

In the seventh session of this experiment, Kandula pushed a plastic cube over to the bough, and stood on it with his front feet. He could then pull down the fruit with his trunk — and it was feeding time at the zoo. Later, he expanded on the behavior, moving the cube elsewhere to use as a stool, or using other objects, even stacking them, for that purpose.

Numerous animals have been noted to use tools in elementary ways. Elephants, for instance, will use branches to scratch their backs. But the “tool” of insight, observed in some primates and other species, had not previously been demonstrated in elephants, even though they are generally considered smart because of their excellent memory and other abilities.

Elephants, it should be noted, will never be as intelligent as people. They’ll never be able to, say, super-glue a GPS device onto a stranded penguin in New Zealand and track its swimming toward home in Antarctica. (Nor would they want to.) But then, they’ll never suffer the anguish, for schoolchildren and plenty of others, of the signal suddenly going silent, as has happened in the case of the penguin dubbed “Happy Feet.”

We can only hope human ingenuity failed in this case, and the device simply fell off in the ocean. We’re happy to see Kandula cleverly snag something to eat, but don’t want Happy Feet summarily eaten. That’s what we call human nature.

Baby elephant sneezes and scares himself.

Circus skips elephant parade in Sacramento

For possibly the first time in history, the elephants of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus skipped their public, trunk-to-tail walk through Sacramento following their arrival in town this week.


Instead, the pachyderms stepped off the train that delivered them to the capital and directly into trucks that took them to Power Balance Arena, where they are performing through Sunday.

Their relatively quiet arrival was in contrast to last year, when animal activists and city officials monitored every inch of their three-mile trek along Del Paso Boulevard to the arena. PETA members were ordered to leave the scene, and city officials later tangled with Ringling about whether four of its elephants were fit to perform.

The attention stemmed from the city's enforcement of a new ordinance that allowed officials to inspect and monitor the care of circus animals while in Sacramento.
This year, Ringling opted out of the parade that delights the public, said Tom Albert, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment Inc., which owns Ringling.

"We had some concerns about the weather, so we just decided to truck them this year," he said. "We have taken this approach in other locations as well. Logistically, sometimes it's just easier."
But neither Albert nor Karen Bakula, a local public relations specialist who works with Ringling, could recall another time when the "elephant walk" had been canceled.

In keeping with the new ordinance, city inspectors including veterinarians were on hand at the railroad tracks to inspect the animals and their accommodations, said city animal shelter director Gina Knepp.

"We watched them get off the train and into big rigs, and the CHP escorted them over to the arena," she said.
As of Thursday, inspections had uncovered no major issues, said Knepp. "Things have gone much more smoothly this year," she said. "So far, so good."

The Sacramento SPCA and other animal-welfare agencies this year called for a boycott of the circus, labeling animal performances inhumane and outdated. They cheered Ringling's decision to forgo the elephant parade this year.
"In my opinion, everything about the circus is stressful for the animals, so this is a step in the right direction," said Lesley Kirrene, spokeswoman for the local SPCA. "This is just one more element that they don't have to deal with."

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/16/3914464/circus-skips-elephant-parade-in.html#ixzz1YPZL07Gi

Sit with the Elephants!

Animal attraction of elephant movie

Sep 16 2011 by Kaiya Marjoribanks, Stirling Observer Friday

ROLL up, roll up – the circus is in town.
Or, more accurately perhaps, it’s on DVD.

Twilight hearthrob Robert Pattinson and Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon star in the film adaptation of Sara Gruen’s bestseller “Water For Elephants”.

But could these Hollywood stars be outshone by the first scene-stealing jumbo since Dumbo first flapped his ears and flew on screen?

Jacob Jankowski (Pattinson) is studying veterinary medicine during the Great Depression.
After a family tragedy, however, he loses everything, including the chance to graduate from prestigious Cornell University.

Drifting from place to place, he jumps on a train one night, only to find himself part of the struggling Benzini Brothers Circus.

Ringleader August (Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz) has doubts about Jacob, but eventually takes him on as the circus’ vet.

His eye is soon caught, however, by the beautiful platinum-blond horserider Marlena (Witherspoon), August's wife, when he is called to look at her stricken horse.

While the pair keep their distance, they find themselves increasingly drawn to one another.
Meanwhile, August makes a new acquisition for the circus and for Marlena – elephant Rosie – and enlists Jacob to train her.

But Jacob’s methods are nothing like those of the brutal August, something which does not go unnoticed by Marlena.

Water For Elephants has a feel of old Hollywood glamour and storytelling about it. It is beautifully shot, has more than a hint of the movie romances of yesteryear and features strong performances from its leads.
What it lacks, however, is chemistry.

Whoever cast Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon opposite each other needs to be put on alternative duties – might I suggest slopping out the tiger cage.

Pattinson doesn’t float my boat, but there’s no denying that he has a Rudolph Valentino screen idol look to him ideally suited to this movie.

Witherspoon meanwhile is picture perfect. She has the look and gumption of Jean Harlow combined with the elegance and porcelain features of Ingrid Bergman or Vivien Leigh.

Individually they are ideal for their roles. Unfortunately the spark between the two – the very thing which would ignite this movie into the blaze of glory it could and should have been – couldn’t light a match.

Christoph Waltz gives another complex and menacing performance on the back of his Oscar-winning turn as a sadistic Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.

He too is ideally suited to his role – however, I think he is too good an actor to be pigeonholed so I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing him in something a little different next time round.

I’m not a great fan of the circus. I can appreciate why it’s an attraction for many people, but I’m not one of them.

I’m especially not a fan of any circus which uses animals.

This is, however, a movie set in a time when a circus wasn’t a circus without them.
And this film is all the more interesting for it.

“Rosie” the elephant is the real star and intrinsic to the story. This is one elephant you’ll never forget.
Frankly I was more convinced by her performance (with or without CGI) than by any supposed relationship between Robert and Reese, albeit that wouldn’t have been difficult.

Overall, however, this film is an enjoyable watch, particularly for those fans of Hollywood nostalgia.
It may not be the greatest show on earth but Water For Elephants is no damp squib thanks to some animal magic.

Revenge of the Elephants

Elephant found dead with injuries to ear trunk in Ramnagar

Ramnagar (Uttarakhand), Sep.15 (ANI): A 20-year-old elephant was found dead by forest authorities at the Sarpduli Range in the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand with injuries on his ears and trunk.
The elephant was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday.

The forest superintendent of the Sarpduli Range, R.K. Mishra, said they are yet to determine the cause of the death.

“Blood was oozing out from his ear and trunk, so definitely it is an injury. The cause of the injury would be known only after the post mortem report comes,” said Mishra.

http://truthdive.com/2011/09/15/Elephant-found-dead-with-injuries-to-ear-trunk-in-Ramnagar.html

Forest officials said there were no other signs of injury on any other part of the body.
A 40-year-old elephant had died under mysterious circumstances in a farmland in the state a day earlier.
India has over 50 per cent of Asiatic elephants, considered to be among the most intelligent animals, but their population has dwindled in the recent years. In the last ten years, around 30 elephants died due to electrocution in eastern Indian states.

Elephant phobia

Bull elephants' social behavior varies with the rainfall

Enlarge

More aggression between individuals is measured in wet years, including extreme combat such as this, where an individual could be mortally wounded.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The lone bull elephant is an image as iconic to the African savanna as the lonesome cowboy on horseback is to the American West. Although female elephants form tightly knit groups guided by a matriarch, males are usually thought to be solitary wanderers. Now a striking exception to the notion of bulls always being "high savanna drifters" has been discovered in a study led by Stanford University researchers.

The study, conducted at a waterhole in Namibia, shows that in years of low rainfall, when resources are scarce, some male elephants band together into a social group with a clearly defined hierarchy, much the way females do. Group members associate in wet years as well, but with fewer individuals and a dominance hierarchy that is not as clearly defined.

"This is the first time this social structure has been documented in male elephants," said Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, an ecologist with Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology, who led the study.
"What is also really striking is that in wet years, when there are a lot of resources, the whole thing collapses and you don't have this linear hierarchy."

But when another dry year rolls around, the group resurrects itself, with each individual resuming the place he held in the hierarchy during the previous dry spell.
O'Connell-Rodwell is the lead author of a paper describing the study, published this week in Ethology Ecology & Evolution.

Social animals are thought to form linear hierarchies – in which each individual occupies its own rung on the ladder and the most dominant one sits at the top – to minimize conflict over resources. The theory is that a clear pecking order among the animals reduces the amount of energy squandered in squabbling, thereby enhancing everyone's chance of survival.

The study was conducted in the semi-desert environment of Etosha National Park in Namibia during the dry seasons of four consecutive years. Starting in 2005, the researchers observed all the activity – day and night – at a remote waterhole in an area closed to tourists.

Each night groups of female elephants came to drink, while the days belonged to the males.
"Because the females come at night, when there is a greater danger from lions, they tend to be nervous and don't spend much time at the waterhole," O'Connell-Rodwell said.

But the bulls – like males of a certain hominid species tend to do – spend a lot of time hanging out by the old watering hole.
 
"They spend hours there during the day and you can really get a sense of their social structure.  Plus, the same ones come back every year, so you get a good idea of the stability of these hierarchies."
In the course of the study, the team observed over 150 different bulls at the waterhole.
 
  During the first year, which was drier than normal for the area, they noticed a dozen males of different ages, who consistently arrived in a group. Usually they trooped up to the waterhole in single file.

The dominant bull, christened Greg, always led the way both coming and going.
If the line was not ordered by rank when they emerged into the clearing around the waterhole, it usually fell into the consistent ranked order as the elephants neared the water.

The following year, Etosha experienced its greatest rainfall in 30 years, resulting in a larger than normal number of watering holes available during the dry season. The group structure seen the previous year was never observed in 2006. Two or three bulls would come in together, but never a procession of eight to 12.

The pecking order was similar to the previous year – as evidenced by which bulls asserted dominance over which other bulls in one-on-one encounters – but many more challenges were observed.

In 2007, a dry year, the researchers saw the same hierarchy they had observed in 2005 appear again and persist throughout the dry season.
In 2008, heavy rains caused a 50-year flood in Etosha and the group dissolved again.
Wet year rainfalls averaged 25 ½ inches, roughly 160 percent of the dry year rainfalls, which averaged 16 inches.

Enlarge

Low-ranking bulls Jack and Luke wrap trunks in a bonding moment during the dry year of 2007, when such affiliative behaviors made up much of the interactions between group members.

"Our study just happened to fall into four very unusual years, where there were two incredibly wet years alternating with two fairly dry years," O'Connell-Rodwell said. "That pattern of conditions showed us the kinds of behavior that can happen at the extremes, where much more aggression was observed in wet years and more affiliative behaviors in dry years."


O'Connell-Rodwell suspects that studies showing that bulls tend to be loners reached that conclusion because they were conducted in wetter locales, where competition for water never reaches the intensity seen in Etosha.

"In a very dry climate such as you have in Namibia, the social structure is very different from, for example, Amboseli National Park in Kenya, where rivers flow year-round," she said. "There each bull tends to have one close buddy, not three to five, or even seven consistently close buddies like we see at our field site in Etosha."

Even in the semi-desert of Etosha, not every bull that came to the waterhole joined the hierarchy. The researchers observed some bulls visit the site that clearly knew the bulls in the group and interacted with them, but came and went alone. Such "satellite" bulls were the exception, not the norm.

There was occasional testing of the order in the hierarchy of the group, particularly in the middle and lower ranks, where younger bulls are seeking to move up.  But overall, the pecking order held.
O'Connell-Rodwell said it is difficult to project how stable the hierarchies are likely to be in the long term, as droughts in Africa tend to run in 10 to 20 year cycles.

"When the hierarchy reforms after that long a time, you'll probably get the second most dominant bull being able to supplant the one that used to be dominant, just because of age and fitness," she said.  "But in a shorter term period, the dominant bull remains the dominant bull. The hierarchy is resilient."

The behavioral changes of the younger bulls suggest that being part of a structured hierarchy with mature males might help moderate aggressiveness in younger males, O'Connell-Rodwell said.  That pattern has implications for the health of other male societies, including humans.

O'Connell-Rodwell is also an instructor in the otolaryngology – throat and neck –surgery department at the Stanford School of Medicine. She teaches an online science writing class for Stanford with David Corcoran, editor of "Science Times" at the New York Times. Her latest book, An Elephant's Life, is due out this fall and offers an illustrated look at elephant societies for lay readers.

Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology at Stanford, is a coauthor of the paper in Ethology Ecology & Evolution.

Elephant mating, fighting & pregnancy - BBC Animals

Stop perpetuating animal cruelty

The Cole Brothers Circus came to town recently despite being cited numerous times under the Animal Welfare Act and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

These charges began in 1987, and the charges and fines continue to add up.

 

I would like to think that people just don’t know the truth, rather than thinking that they just don’t care. If you don’t know, I’ll fill you in on some facts.

Arthritis is the leading cause of death for elephants in captivity. That’s because of how they are confined and forced to perform grueling tricks in the circus under the threat of punishment! Elephants in the circus are poked, prodded, shocked and beaten and forced to perform ridiculous tricks such as standing on their head or hind legs, which puts even more pressure on their already-aching joints.

To make matters worse, when these animals are not under the big top, they are kept in heavy chains, barely able to take a step. They are forced to stand for days on hard surfaces. They spend most of their time in filthy, cramped box cars or trailers. All of this causes lameness and stiffness in their legs that makes even walking a struggle.

They are truly subjected to a lifetime of misery for a few cheap tricks.
And here is a little history concerning the circus. In the 1700s and 1800s, people who were not considered “normal” were used as sideshow attractions. People with birth defects were used and made fun of simply for being different. Now, that’s considered inhumane.

Change came about because someone said, “This is not right.” To make another life suffer for any reason is simply wrong. No one life is so important that a person can usurp the rights of another.
All life has the ability to feel pain, and you can disguise it as entertainment if you choose, but it is – and always will be – wrong, cruel and inhumane to inflict pain on an innocent life.

So tonight, when you stretch out in your bed and prepare for a good night’s sleep, just remember that those animals that were forced to perform for you do not have that luxury of relaxing. They are still standing, unable to move more than an inch or two. They are still in pain. They are still suffering.

So please just think about it. Is all that suffering really worth a few moments of inhumane entertainment? No living thing on this planet should be forced to give up its very existence to perform silly tricks for humans. And look at the message it sends our children: It’s OK to mock and enslave a sentient being for our entertainment.
This is cruelty, plain and simple – and cruelty is a tradition we can do without.

Sacred Elephants

One elephant for every 3,300 persons in Lanka

Results of jumbo census out

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

The numbers are out - there are 5,879 wild elephants including 1,107 babies in the country, the first-ever National Survey of jumbos has found. This figure is more or less correct, but you cannot count elephants siyayata siyayak (100%) like you would do in a population census where you go and knock on doors, Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S.M. Chandrasena told a crowded press conference on Friday at the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) at Battaramulla. Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation H.D. Ratnayake (R) hands over the report of the First National Survey of Elephants to Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S.M. Chandrasena . Pix by M.A. Pashpa Kumara Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S.M. Chandrasena shows the country map marked with the elephant quantity made from the detail collected from the First National Survey of Elephants on a provincial basis  The initial results are being released due to media requests from the time the survey was conducted from August 11-14, DWC Director-General H.D. Ratnayake said. Media focus on the elephant survey heightened after Minister Chandrasena got embroiled in a controversy over alleged remarks, denied later, that the survey would help identify 300 baby tuskers for capture and domestication for use in peraheras. This resulted in most conservation groups which had agreed to extend their support in the counting pulling out. Referring to the controversy, Minister Chandrasena said on Friday that he loved elephants and will not allow the capture of tuskers from the wild. He would also never break the law which clearly prohibited such action. Among the wild elephants are 122 tuskers, the survey costing Rs. 23 million conducted in six of seven "wildlife regions" which comprise elephant habitat, has found. The number of baby tuskers found in the wild has not been specified yet. The survey used the "water-hole count method", a technique heavily questioned by many scientists and given up as unreliable in other countries. We also confirmed the presence of elephants at Sinharaja and Sri Pada, Mr. Ratnayake said. Two elephants have been spotted in the Sinharaja rainforest and 18 at Sri Pada, which are the only wild elephants in the wet zone. (See graphic for elephant distribution) While stressing that the survey was to get athyavashya daththa (vital data) which would be the basis of future action, especially in the management of wild elephants and the mitigation of the human-elephant conflict (HEC), DG Ratnayake, however, pointed out that the actual figures could be slightly different with a few elephants being missed out. This is the very point that elephant conservationists have been protesting about loud and clear not only in the run-up to the survey but even now. The survey figures, from what has come out of Friday's press conference, may be exactly the actual number of wild elephants or way below or way above, a conservationist said, questioning why the DWC uses methodologies that are outdated and questionable. Does not the DWC have more pressing matters to attend to rather than spending not only time but also money and manpower on a survey which has yielded data which may be accurate or wrong, but which it is no one would know asked another activist, bringing to the fore issues of double-counting and missed elephants. Female Elephants Rescue A Drowning Baby Tackling a different angle, many conservationists also asked how this data could be used in the conservation of elephants or mitigation of the HEC as claimed. They voiced concerns such as - on what basis the DWC will decide whether the number of elephants counted in Sri Lanka, in a particular region or in a specific locality, are insufficient, enough or too many and what will be done if it is too low or too high. Elephant numbers are elusive and there could be severe consequences of using flawed survey data for management, echoed another environmentalist. A "detailed report" is being prepared and should be ready within three months, it is learnt.

Among the elephants  

Riding on an elephant at dusk, I can peep at birds roosting in the treetops - a sweet and intimate sight. It is a remarkable feeling to have my feet in stirrups, to be astride this huge animal.

Jabulani - who was the first of the orphaned elephants to be rescued by Camp Jabulani - treads so quietly I can’t hear his footfall. It is surprisingly quiet, considering his vast bulk, until he spots his favourite tree and turns to crack off a branch.

He has been trained to pick any object the riders may drop, for which he receives the reward of pellets - the ellie equivalent of Lindt chocolate balls.

I have a good laugh when he picks up a bone in the veld and extends his trunk to the groom in hopes of food. What a spectacular way to experience a sunset.

Female Elephants Rescue A Drowning Baby

Before I rode Jabulani, I was allowed to touch him, and slide my hands over his lightly hairy trunk. It was astounding and humbling to be so close to a wild animal and to look into his intelligent eyes, as he patiently waited for his pellet reward for tolerating my awed gaze and hesitant embraces.

Although I have seen the mud marks on trees where elephants have rubbed their immense sides, nothing prepared me for the size of Jabulani, as I stood on tiptoe to pat his tall shoulder.
“It was an awesome experience,” agrees James, my seventeen-year-old son.
“I could feel Sebakwe, my elephant, calling her calf with a low rumble when the baby walked too far from her side.”

The evening has turned cold when we get back, and we are escorted into the dining room and across to a blazing fire. Our dinner is outstanding - beautifully presented and carefully prepared. Each course is a masterpiece and we rave to Andre, our chef, when we meet him.


He tells us that Camp Jabulani is a member of the Relais & Chateaux group, which is so strict that they send anonymous guests to check the food standards. James is so taken with the chocolate mousse that he asks if he may have some for breakfast. “With pleasure” responds Andre without even blinking.

Vegetarian food is my preference, which often causes concern in South Africa where we are so meat oriented. Here, I am served creative, appetising fare.

Our suite, poised on a dry riverbed, is uber-luxurious and totally private.  Despite the cold, James hops into the plunge pool. I have my trusty binoculars out and am trying to classify all the birds that are foraging in the area. A special sighting for me is the notoriously shy grey-headed bush shrike with it’s bright yellow underparts faintly washed with orange.

A Southern Boubou is calling and a white-browed robin-chat is hopping in the riverine thicket. I am one happy and contented woman.

The elephant theme is sustained throughout the lodge and we have fun spotting the ellies: etched in gold on our personalized welcome card, clipped into a leaf placed on our facecloths, in silver on our serviette holders, small bronze statues and in paintings.

Baby elephants play

Our up close and personal experience with wild creatures is not over. We are driven through the bush to Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, where we walk into an enclosure with baby cheetahs. One hisses at me as my silky skirt blows in the wind, then as I sit, he approaches me and begins to taste and chew my skirt.
What an emotional experience for me to stroke these little mammals and hear them begin to purr.

They purr as they breathe in and as they breathe out. We can’t believe we are playing on the ground with baby cheetahs.

It has been a deeply fulfilling experience and we feel that our souls have been refreshed and restored after our close encounter with habituated, but wild animals.
For more information, and to book online, visit http://iafrica.safarinow.com/go/CampJabulani.

Water for Elephants, DVD review

Water For Elephants combines the transient glamour of circus life with the murky world of Prohibition, animal cruelty and Depression-era desperation.

Reese Witherspoon in Water For Elephants Photo: DAVID JAMES

By Sarah Rainey

05 Sep 2011

1 Comment

12 cert, 20th Century Fox
 

Set in storybook America of the 1930s, this nostalgic tale pays homage to the bright lights and colourful characters of a travelling circus.
Beneath the sequinned glare of the big top is a story of frustrated ambition, forbidden romance and the noble plight of Rosie, a 640-stone elephant who all but steals the show from the film’s stellar cast.

Robert Pattinson, teen heart-throb from the Twilight trilogy, struggles to shake off the undead look even when he’s not playing a vampire – and is moody and sullen as the young animal-loving vet.
His love interest,

ORIGINAL Elephant Painting

Marlena, played by Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama), is the platinum-haired star act, downtrodden by her pitiless ringmaster husband (Christoph Waltz).

Based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 bestseller,

Water For Elephants is told through the eyes of a doddery old man, Oscar nominee Hal Holbrook, who leaves his nursing home in the middle of the night in search of work at the circus. Cue weepy eyes, wistful music and a blurry time warp that transports us back to his youth.

Pattinson's Jacob Jankowski is a Cornell graduate who runs away from home after his Polish-born parents are killed in a car accident. As if by magic, he finds himself aboard a freight train owned by the Benzini Brothers’ travelling circus (“I don’t know if I picked that train or if that train picked me”), whose tent-peggers invite him to try out for a day’s work.

After ingratiating himself with fearsome ringmaster August (who, along with "Camel", is one of the sillier-named characters in the film), Pattinson secures himself a job as the circus vet, and sets about winning the affections of August’s doe-eyed wife, who despises her husband’s callous way with animals.


While the Pattinson-Witherspoon combination is more fizzle than sizzle, their romance is a mere sideshow to the film’s main attraction: a 42-year-old diva called Tai, who plays Rosie, the fiendishly clever elephants who answers only to Polish and runs rings around an increasingly sidelined August. 

elephant.wmv

Directed by Francis Lawrence (

 and written by Richard LaGravenese (The Horse Whisperer), Water For Elephants sets an unlikely romance against darker themes of Prohibition, domestic violence and "red-lighting", the practice of throwing workers off moving freight trains.


The film is far from faultless. Witherspoon’s circus choreography fails to shine, while Waltz’s character is often far too likeable; and Pattinson is more awkward son than dashing young lover. The DVD offerings are also meagre, with two short, self-indulgent clips praising the cast: “Rob becomes a leading man”, one quips. Anyone hoping for funny animal bloopers will be disappointed.

 Elephants in the Namib desert - Wild Africa - BBC

Water For Elephants is charming in that syrupy, Hollywood romantic way, but lacks the gritty realism that made Gruen’s novel a bestseller.the life of elephants If you’re looking for a happily-ever-after animal yarn with none of the moral conscience of Lassie, this is the film for you.
Buy Water for Elephants DVD 
 

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