Humans vs the African Elephant: Losing the Environmental Caretaker

Yesterday, i spoke on how conflict between humans and elephants has caused an unprecedented number of deaths that in the first place could have been avoided. Today am focusing on the conflict between the African elephant and well, Africans.

The African elephant used to roam free and wild. This came to an abrupt stop when humans began to 'interact' with them. This interaction led to two things: the elephants running away and the humans taking their land. This is the ongoing trend, however, these animals don't have a place of refuge. Naturally, elephants love to roam, its in-born so sharing isn't really an option. They require to feed almost endlessly daily and this cannot be possible if humans are around. Its been reported that elephants have learned to differentiate a Maasai herder from another human being. In fact, in Amboseli where this occurred, the elephants ran away at the sound of these men approaching them. Yes, this may be because they are intelligent but it does not change the fact...they know danger when they see it, or in this case, hear it.

This is just one of many cases. As i pointed out in a previous post, elephants enjoy bananas and rice. Occasionally, due to this human encroachment issue, they would go into farms and basically tear up the place. This is a common occurrence in Central Kenya. Do we blame them? Do we actually think elephants would do this unless prompted?  Since we are encroaching on their land, isn't it fair that we at least acknowledge we are wrong and do something about it? I'll leave you to answer that.

Organisations the world over are determined to find ways of keeping elephants at bay. Is this working? Yes. The only problem is, some people have taken matters into their own hands and are using very inhumane ways to 'chase' these animals from their farms. These practices are killing them. Am i getting through to anyone? If you've seen this kind of treatment, what would you do? I know am asking too many questions but maybe that's what we need to hear. Maybe we also need to hear what elephants do for us? Would this change our mind?

Elephants are a key stone species mostly because they create and maintain the ecosystems they live in making it possible for other plant and animal species to live in those environments too.This same ecosystem is what we humans rely on for our needs. Could i make this point any clearer? Elephants need us and we need them. Period. The order in which that happens is entirely up to us. Do we need them first or do they need us first? This shades light on the chicken and egg question, doesn't it?

We need to help protect these species. Hard pill to swallow? Well, maybe when we realise that we need them more than they need us we'll put this into perspective. Sorry today's blog sounds like the diary of a mad conservationist, but who said the truth is all colour, its black and white. I rest my case.