Elephant Relocation
An attempt to avoid conflict between elephants and human by relocating the elephants in Sri Lanka had failed. The attempt did the opposite of what it intended. Instead of killing less humans, the elephants ended up killing more people in their new habitats than they did when they were in their old habitats. Instead of living peacefully, they wandered away from their homes. This relocation led to more elephant deaths than when elephants had stayed in their natural location. As one can infer, this did more harm did good. Scientists were baffled. Peter Leimgruber, a research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute said, "We were stunned that translocation neither solves the conflict nor saves elephants."
The reason behind this relocation was that elephants and humans often got into conflicts, which usually ended in death. A common solution that should've benefited both was elephant relocation, either to national parks or other areas. Later, it was obvious that it wouldn't improve the situation. Within days of relocation, some elephants had already wandered away from their new location, either returning to their old habitat or settled down in a new location. Either way, the majority of them had encountered humans, and ended up killing five people in eight months. In addition, five elephants had also been killed within that time period. However, the elephants that haven't been relocated and stayed in their original habitat didn't kill anyone, though one of them was shot and killed.
This article shows that the relocation wasn't beneficial for either the human or elephant. If anything, it made things worse. I think that we should just leave the elephants in their natural habitat, and let them be. Elephants are gentle, benevolent creatures that normally don't exhibit violent behavior. I think it would be best if we found ways for the elephants to not run into humans or human areas, instead of relocating them into places like national parks to "protect" them which just made matters worse.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elephant-relocation-scheme-fails/
Article in source written by Stephanie Pappas on December 11, 2012
The reason behind this relocation was that elephants and humans often got into conflicts, which usually ended in death. A common solution that should've benefited both was elephant relocation, either to national parks or other areas. Later, it was obvious that it wouldn't improve the situation. Within days of relocation, some elephants had already wandered away from their new location, either returning to their old habitat or settled down in a new location. Either way, the majority of them had encountered humans, and ended up killing five people in eight months. In addition, five elephants had also been killed within that time period. However, the elephants that haven't been relocated and stayed in their original habitat didn't kill anyone, though one of them was shot and killed.
This article shows that the relocation wasn't beneficial for either the human or elephant. If anything, it made things worse. I think that we should just leave the elephants in their natural habitat, and let them be. Elephants are gentle, benevolent creatures that normally don't exhibit violent behavior. I think it would be best if we found ways for the elephants to not run into humans or human areas, instead of relocating them into places like national parks to "protect" them which just made matters worse.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elephant-relocation-scheme-fails/
Article in source written by Stephanie Pappas on December 11, 2012