The Elephants in the Living Room

If you are interested in elephant problems, take a look at Elephant Care International, an organization "Dedicated to the Healthcare & Conservation of Elephants." 

As the site notes, in Asia, where elephant populations are very low as compared to Africa:

... elephants and humans are increasingly in conflict as elephants continue their search for food. 

You may be surprised to read of the levels of destruction caused by elephants. 

In India alone, Bist reports that elephants kill some 170 people per year and damage 10,000-15,000 houses and 8 million to 10 million hectares (one hectare = 2.5 acres) of crops.

What I particularly like about this web site is that it keeps coming back to the core problem for elephants:  too many people on the land.  

Elephant Care International notes that in Africa, where there are still about 500,000 elephants in the wild, the countries with the largest percentage of elephants are those that have a relatively small percentage of Africa's total population.

Note that over 70 percent of the elephants in Africa are found in just 5 countries that contain less than 10% of the human population of the continent.

Clearly, reducing the speed of human population growth is vital to the long-term health and welfare of elephants. 

But, of course, increased funding and support for family planning programs does nothing to solve elephant problems that are happening in the real world today.

What are we to do in a country like Vietnam where the population of wild elephants declined from over 1,000 twenty years ago, to less than 100 today? 

What are we to do a country like Zimbabwe where the wild elephant population has doubled from 50,000 to 100,000 in that same twenty-year period of time? 

Yes, human family planning programs are desperately needed in both countries, but what about the elephants today? 

Can we afford to demonize captive elephant populations in Vietnam?

Can we afford to demonize culling in Zimbabwe?

And what role are elephants in zoos and circuses to play?  Is an elephant laboring in a logging camp in Assam, Northern India, always a "good thing," while an old circus elephant in a zoo in Toledo always a "bad" thing? 

Why?

And really, should we be listening to anyone in the world of elephants today who is not banging on the drum for increased support for international family planning?  

Yes, there are TWO elephants in the living room now, not just one.  

If we fail to address both issues, then the fate of elephants is sealed.

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