Humans often live in close proximity with wildlife, and there have been several conflicts between the two, some easy to solve and some not so easy. Currently I live in Canada, where the sighting of wild coyotes is more common than in other Western countries. People here have been living with these wild animals for a long time and enjoying their company. At first sight, there seems to be no serious conflict between wildlife and people in Canada, the conflicts seem light and easy to solve. But in a poor country like Nepal, where people and wild life battle for resources, there can be serious conflicts between wildlife and people. One of the major causes of such conflicts is wild elephants.
Recent news regarding Dhrube, a wild elephant, indicates that wild-life conflict management is really poor in Nepal. Elephants are marvellous creatures that humans are often in awe of, and sometimes also fear. People who have had conflicts with elephants often say that they are more afraid of elephants than any other creatures in the jungle, even though elephants do not eat people: elephants are vegetarians and will only kill people if they are on their way. But if a person does get in an elephant’s way, there is very little he/she can do, and even climbing a tree is not an option. No other wild animal can match an elephant’s sheer weight and speed.
PHOTO: COLUMNBUSMAGAZINE.NL
Female wild elephants live in groups known as ‘herds’ led by the oldest female in the group. These females travel a lot. Most of the elephants in Nepal come from Indian forests. Elephants that go on rampages and kill are normally not from these groups of female elephants, but single male elephants in search of mates. In order to understand why these single wild elephants kill people, one has to understand a bit of the science of stress and endocrinology.
Hormones play a major role in determining behaviors in animals. A general link between androgens and social dominance and reproductive behaviours has been shown in several animals. The period when male elephants have high amounts of androgens is known as ‘musth’. The obvious manifestation of musth in elephants is a sharp rise in aggressive behaviour, copious secretion from and enlargement of temporal glands, and frequent discharge of urine. The phenomena of musth are central to understanding the dominance behavior of free ranging elephants. Musth males are more successful in mating oestrous females than are non-musth males. The elephants that tend to kill people are generally elephants in musth. It is better to get away from such elephants. But one should also remember that elephants are not forever in musth. Musth period can last from weeks to months, but not forever. Dhrube could become calm after some time.
In order to solve any human-animal conflict, the first step is to find out where the problem lies. We have to ask the question: “Do we really have a problem?’ Many times we find that the problem is not a problem at all. If we find a real problem, then we should search for a humane solution. Terminating the animal should be the last resort to any problem related to animals. By deciding to terminate the elephant Dhrube, the government of Nepal has displayed a lack of foresight and good reasoning in tackling human-animal conflict. There will be more such Dhrubes in the future, and the conflict will go on and on. Furthermore, the termination technique used by the government is not humane. Elephants do not die from a few bullets, and the shots instead lead to immense suffering to the animal.
Regarding Dhrube, we first need to find out how the conflict arose in the first place. Elephants generally do not victimise humans unless the humans are on their way. The first priority should be to get out of their way. However, it so happens that elephants often enter the villages near forests to raid crops. In these cases, the conflict is not easy to solve. Electric fencing to protect crops may be a solution, but it is expensive and difficult to maintain. Another solution could be growing crops that elephants do not like, but again, this may not be entirely feasible as farmers need many crops to survive. The solutions to this situation seem hard to find, but experimenting with different solutions can lead to a positive outcome.
Regarding the case of Dhrube, the problem is with a solitary animal and not groups of elephants. As such, it may seem to be an animal welfare issue rather than a conservation issue. However, many times conservation and welfare overlap. Research questions in one area often address problems in another. Solving the conflict at an individual level provides a perspective on solving the problem on a larger scale. So, Dhrube’s case should be seen as both a conservation problem and a welfare problem. Animals are sentient beings and both conservationists and welfare specialists subscribe to that view.
We need an expert panel including both conservationists and animal welfare specialists to solve this conflict in a humane and practical way rather than take the decision to terminate the animal immediately. The government should try to implement humane and practical ways to solve the human-animal conflict rather than looking for the fastest solution. There will be more human-animal conflicts in the future, and the government’s current approach to the conflicts cannot provide a long term solution. The government should form a research panel immediately to solve it rather than taking everything into their own hands.
The author is Phd Student of Animal Welfare at University of Prince Edward Island, PEI, Canada.
ketan_dulal@hotmail.com
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