ELEPHANT NEWS

[Guest guest]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/Horizons/03Nov2005_hori83.php  

Elephants are tied to the `hitching post' by using a chain around one of their

forelegs.

 

Ride 'em changboy

The solo rider throws his leg over an elephant and finds the going a bit rough

 

In America, if you want to stop a horse with your voice you say, ``whoa.'' Just

about everybody who's ever seen a cowboy movie knows that. What you may not know

is that you don't generally use your voice to stop a horse. Or to make it go, or

turn, or back up, either. When on horseback, if you're any good, you just use a

little pressure. Hand pressure, leg pressure, even pressure from the seat of

your pants. The idea is that the animal moves away from pressure in the

direction you want it go. That's pretty much how it is with elephants, too. But

with elephants it can be a bit more complicated.

I was at a small training facility on the Yuam River south of Mae Hong Son

learning how to ride an elephant, being taught by a young guy named, Ae Tu, a

Burmese Karen refugee who was himself in training.

Riding an elephant was one of two things I'd wanted to do in Mae Hong Son, but

when I say, ``riding an elephant,'' I don't mean getting up into the passenger

seat behind the mahout and taking a tourist elephant ride. I mean I wanted

somebody to teach me a few elephant riding techniques so I could jump up on the

big pachyderm's neck and take her out for a spin by myself. I wanted to do an

elephant solo, you might say. Mae Hong Son seemed like a pretty good place to do

that.

 

I didn't know where the elephant camps were exactly, just that Mae Hong Son had

a few of them. At the suggestion of my landlady, Thai, at Pana Huts, I went down

to the Rose Garden Travel Agency the morning after I'd arrived in town and put

my query to a man named Ning. I told him I was looking, not for an elephant

ride, but for an elephant riding instructor. I wanted to ride a ``chang'' by

myself, I told him. ``Hmmmm.'' He had to scratch his head on that one.

 

He told me to come back that afternoon about two o'clock. He was taking a couple

of Japanese clients out to an elephant camp and if I wanted to I could follow

him and we could put the request to some of the trainers there. See if they

wanted to make a few extra baht. (I didn't tell Ning this at the time, but where

elephant riding instruction was concerned, I was prepared to dig pretty deeply

into my pocket).

 

I met Ning and his two clients at the appointed time and followed them out of

Mae Hong Son for about 20 kilometres to a back road over by the river. It became

obvious that we were coming into elephant country because the ``road apples'' we

encountered on the highway close to the camp were the size of pomelo. Elephants

eat a lot of the same things horses eat, but they eat a lot more of it and

consequently they crap a lot bigger.

 

We parked on the shoulder of the road and walked down the hill to a holding area

where two elephants were chained up to what I'll call a mounting platform, heavy

log scaffolding with a second story wood platform under a corrugated metal roof.

 

Ning talked to the two resident mahouts, got his clients assigned to one of them

and when they were safely aboard and seat belts fastened, they were off toward

the river. Ning looked at me and I nodded and he began to explain to the other

mahout what it was I wanted to do, but it was all a bit confusing. Ning spoke

Thai, Northern Thai, English and some Chinese, but he didn't speak White Karen.

The mahout, just a kid about 19 or 20, spoke Burmese and White Karen, but didn't

have much Thai. We weren't getting anywhere. On an inspiration, Ning tried

English and suddenly everything clicked. Ae-tu, it appeared, had learned enough

English at his refuge camp to allow the three of us to work out a plan.

In the end, Ae-tu said he would give me twenty four hours of instruction in

elephant riding technique for 500 baht. That's what he said, 24 hours. In other

words, we could begin immediately and work at this little challenge all day and

all night until 2:30 the next afternoon for about US$12.50. Nobody asked the

elephant what she thought of this idea. I looked at Ning and Ning looked at me.

It was obvious that Ae-tu didn't know what he was saying. Even if he did, I

didn't want to spend 24 hours on an elephant, I wanted to spend a couple of

hours. I wanted to learn how to make the animal go and stop and turn around.

What I really wanted was enough time elephant-back to make an educated

comparison between elephants and horses so that the next time I was at an

embassy cocktail party or a debutante's ball and somebody asked me to run down

the relative merits of each form of transport, I could speak with some

authority.

Ae-tu was happy to agree to a couple of hours of instruction for the same price.

In fact, if necessary we could work until dark, he said, at which point his

elephant would want to stop for dinner. I suspected we'd all want to stop for

dinner by then.

Ae-tu went to work saddling up our ride, a 35-year-old matriarch named

Maragapha, while I took several snapshots. Then we too set out toward the river.

The first thing I learned was not how to say ``stop,'' which, in White Karen, is

``ou'' (like ``ouch'' without the ``ch'') but how to say ``go.'' I needed ``go''

a lot more than I needed ``stop,'' because Maragapha, with a novice elephant

rider suddenly astride her leathery neck, had decided she didn't want to wait

until dark to eat dinner, she wanted to eat dinner now. ``Oo ah, Maragapha,'' I

said. ``Go.'' She responded by pulling up a bushel of tough grass from the river

bank and stuffing it into her mouth.

So this was how it was going to be, was it? Well, all right, I said to myself, I

think I can deal with it.

 

Any good animal trainer will tell you that though animals themselves may differ

widely in character, disposition, intelligence and willingness to please, the

techniques one employs to get them to do what you want them to do are not so

different as one might suppose. Though elephants and horses could hardly be more

dissimilar and still be four-legged herbivores, they share a desire to find

release from pressure (as indeed do we all) and so it was foot pressure I

applied to the backs of the old girl's ears rather than word pressure that

ultimately did the trick. Maragapha moved on down the trail.

She didn't need any encouragement to stop and one doesn't ride an elephant with

a rein in any case, so ``ou'' worked perfectly well when I wanted to cease

forward momentum, but I didn't have to use it much. I wanted her to go and I

wanted her to turn around and then go some more and leg and foot pressure worked

pretty well all around.

Ae-tu had ceased being an instructor at this point and was now down there on the

river bank, my own personal photographer, retreating before us, snapping away

with my digital camera, recording for all posterity (I prayed the gods) the

advent of Sullivan The Elephant Rider.

So, how would I compare riding an elephant to riding a horse? Well, when one

sits on a horse, whether in a saddle or without, one sits on the animal's back

just behind his withers (shoulder blades). It's a comfortable spot when the

horse is walking or running, and even at the trot where the rider gets bounced a

bit, it's decent seat. Riding an elephant, however, one rides the neck, with the

animal's shoulder blades just behind one's buttocks. Each stride brings a

scapula upward into one's rump so that the rider is always being jostled from

side to side.

If one's ambition is to ride into battle and terrorise one's enemies, I'd think

an elephant would be the way to go. But for a nice ride across the countryside

on a lovely spring day, give me a horse every time.

On second thought, why not make that a motorcycle.

 

Copyright 2005 Lloyd Sullivan. If you wish to contact the author of this series,

write an email and send it to lsulli2.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=15896 & n_tit=Puttur%3A+It's+Jum\

bo+Feast+Time+-+Elephants+on+Rampage+Spree+near+Uppinangady

News -- Puttur: It's Jumbo Feast Time - Elephants on Rampage Spree near

Uppinangady

 

 

Daijiworld News Network - Puttur/Uppinangady (GA)

 

Puttur, Nov 2: Three elephants which left their abode in the thick forest and

came to villages to celebrate Diwali were on rampage spree damaging banana

plantations, betelnut gardens etc in Uppinangady, Panjala, Bedrodi and Neerkatte

areas near here threatened to spoil people's celebrations.

 

Two baby elephants and a mother elephant, which came down from Sorankimale

forest area, were first traced near cashew plantations at Bedrodi. They reached

the place after crossing River Netravati at Mogaru near Bandar. From there

their royal march towards Uppinangady created flutters all along. People too

were put into confusion and fear as elephants damaged many betelnut gardens,

banana plantations on their way to Uppinangady.

 

If 3 elephants were moving ahead, another 300 people followed them throughout in

order to keep an eye on their movements. But the elephants seemed not to be

bothered about the huge gathering around them as they continued their royal

ride. At last people gathered in large numbers used crackers to drive them away

to forests back.

 

Though the forest officials came later in the evening to drive the elephants

back to the forest, elephants had already disappeared in the forests after

crossing River Netravati at Neerkatte. However, later speaking to the press

persons, the forest department officials said that the elephants need to be

chased a lot more so that they reach their original place in the forest lest

they may turn back and come back once again.

 

Posted on 02 Nov 2005 # ANI

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews & id=46362

Elephant camps, Siliguri’s latest fad for tourists

By Pallav Basu, Siliguri (West Bengal) : A visit to the Gorumara National Park

in West Bengal provides a refreshing change from life in the fast lane. These

days the newly set up Gorumara elephant camp is attracting many domestic and

foreign tourists and all nature lovers.

 

Set amid lush-green foliage at the outskirts of the Gorumara National Park, the

special camp has emerged as a novel initiative by the State Forest Department to

attract tourists to this land of tea and timber.

 

Elephants of all ages, shapes and sizes welcome the tourists at the camp that

was opened earlier this month.

 

If interested, the tourists can give a leisurely bath or feed the pachyderms or

simply play with the “babies” of the group. The specially established tree-huts

renders an unforgettable experience of being close to nature.

 

“They can see with their own eyes and even have a practical experience also.

They can know how we manage the elephants, how we bathe them, how we feed them,

and even how we patrol with them. All these are included in the total package,”

said Tapas Das, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division.

 

The camp has come as a boon for the many resident of this area. “Things are a

lot better than before. Earlier, we were in the territorial department, where we

were assigned plantation of trees. But after felling of trees was banned in the

forest area, we were left with nothing. We joined the EDC (Eco Development

Committee) and this work has brought back our prosperity,” says Inder Pika, a

member of the Eco-Development Committee.

 

Cottages have been fitted with modern facilities to provide a comfortable stay

for tourists. Officials of the camp said the camp has already earned revenues of

about one lakh rupees.

 

Officials said one fourth of the total earnings of the camp would be distributed

among the EDC members to uplift their economic condition and make them less

dependent on the forest for their day-to-day earnings. The involvement of locals

would also help to keep a check on smuggling and poaching in the forest areas.

 

 

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2 & cat1=5 & cat2=89 & newsid=190176 & RF=Defaul\

tMain

Row over elephant burial

- By Manoj Anand

 

 

 

Guwahati, Nov. 2: The wildlife department of Assam government has expressed deep

anguish over the report that the Army has buried an elephant in its cantonment

area without informing them which is a clear violation of the Wildlife Act.

 

The Army says it wasn’t aware of the law but now the wildlife department wants

to know whether the elephant was killed as well. However, no senior officer of

the Army was available for immediate reaction on the subject.

 

" A few days back I got information that a calf was buried in the Army campus, so

I asked the divisional forest officer of the Assam state zoo to investigate the

matter. Then some Army officials came and said that such thing had happened. A

written confessional statement from the Army said that they did not know the law

and it was entirely due to ignorance, " said M.C. Malakar, chief wildlife warden.

 

The cantonment is situated in outskirt of the Guwahati city, which witnesses a

lot of elephant movement. Frequently, herds come down from the nearby hills and

cross the paddy fields, destroying them in the process. Often their target is

the foodstuff stored in the Army supply depot.

 

" In normal process, the Army used to take help of the forest department to chase

away the elephants but surprisingly they did not inform the department about the

dead elephant, concealing the fact for a month, " the forest officials said.

 

" If insiders are to be believed the Army has dug traps in and around its golf

field to trap the elephants which frequently enters the cantonment areas and

upset the golf playing routine of senior bureaucrats and Army officials of the

state, " said wildlife activist Sangeeta Goswami who alleged that several such

incidents have taken place in past also. " We have reported the incidents of

killing of deer by the Army personnel, " she said.

 

Posted on 02 Nov 2005 # IANS

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews & id=46243

Injured pet pachyderm dies

Trissur (Kerala) : A pet elephant lying injured on a road after being knocked

down by a speeding bus and whose owner had refused mercy killing for the

pachyderm, has finally been put out of its agony after it died.

 

Kuttikrishnan, the pet elephant of Unnikrishnan and Swarnakumari Warrier was

knocked down by a speeding bus last week here. With the hip and thighbones

broken, Kuttikrishnan was unable to stand on his legs and had been lying on a

road here.

 

A grieving Swarnakamari said though Kuttikrishnan, who was in his 40s, had died

Tuesday night, her husband had only informed her Wednesday morning.

 

" We gave him the best treatment and it included both allopathy and ayurveda

drugs. I was told last evening that my Kuttikrishnan was responding to the

treatment and now early morning I am told that he is dead. No, I won't go and

see him, I can't see him, " a sobbing Swarnakumari told IANS.

 

Experts, seeing the pitiable condition of the elephant, had mooted the idea of

mercy killing. Veterinarian Jacob Cheeran had warned that there was a

possibility of body sores leading to septicemia. But the Warriers would have

none of it.

 

The Warrier family, which owned two elephants since the past 38 years, are now

left with one just one pet. For them, especially Swarnakumari, the two elephants

were like family.

 

The Elephant Owners Association was overseeing the treatment of the elephant. It

had erected a tent on the road so that the animal was spared the scorching heat.

 

According to reports, Kuttikrishnan does not have any insurance cover, so the

Warrier family will have to shell out money if they want to buy another

elephant.