Improving the lot of captive elephants
KUMARAN SATHASIVAM
THE ASIAN ELEPHANT IN CAPTIVITY — A Field Study: Fred Kurt, Marion E. Garai; Foundation Books Pvt. Ltd., Cambridge House, 438/4, Ansari Road, New Delhi-110002.
Rs. 695.
It is fairly common in parts of Asia to encounter elephants in captivity. Note that the term used is "elephants in captivity", not "domesticated elephants". One typically finds elephants involved in strange situations: caparisoned and leading religious processions, moving heavy loads like tree trunks in forest camps, and playing football or riding bicycles in circuses. But these large, powerful and intelligent animals do not indulge in these alien activities of their own volition or for love of the mahout. They have been overpowered through the use of fetters, the ankus, other elephants and possibly starvation.
A look at how `rogue' elephants are `broken in' can be particularly instructive. The truth is that captive elephants are not domesticated animals like cattle or dogs. There are no sustained captive breeding programmes and no selection for particular characteristics. They remain wild animals in captivity. The number of such Asian elephants in the world is estimated at around 15,000 and most of them are in Asia.
On the one hand animal welfare organisations and individuals would have them returned to the wild, but, on the other, there are no habitats in which they can be released and their living conditions are worsening.
Studies
Between 1997 and 1999, a team of 111 biologists and veterinarians carried out extensive studies on wild and captive elephants in Sri Lanka with the main objective of formulating guidelines for improving the lot of captive elephants. This book is a product of their endeavour.
The work deals entirely with the elephant in Sri Lanka, with an emphasis on the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, despite the broader-sounding title.
Most of the bull elephants of the country are maknas — they are tuskless. Starting with an exploration of the reasons for this, the book goes on to themes such as body size, growth, hair, depigmentation and demography, all basic to an understanding of the animal.
There is a chapter devoted to food, tool use and sleep. The book is scholarly in "stylistic tuning", replete with data, graphs, maps, figures and reference citations. However, in the chapters on "keeping systems" and musth, for instance, sympathy underlying the objective science rises to the surface.
Behaviour
In place of technical language that becomes obfuscating in an attempt to avoid anthropomorphism, there are references to "cold-blooded mahouts" and "the most horrible conditions". But given the horrors of captivity, how are they avoidable? In a zoo, the authors found that the elephants were made to stand on a concrete floor under a corrugated iron sheet roof, tightly shackled, for 23 hours a day.
Commonly, elephants bore scars and ulcers caused by chains, the ankus and knives. In one instance members of a group of elephants wanted to reach out to a cow that had just given birth but were prevented from doing so. Elephants fettered for long periods daily displayed stereotypic behaviour — repetitive invariant behavioural patterns with no obvious goal or function.
The book suggests a number of steps for the welfare of captive elephants in general and those in Pinnawela in particular. These include simple measures such as provision of sand for dusting. What will happen to these recommendations?
As Bearzi bewailed in a different context in a recent issue of Conservation Biology, "Scientists and conservationists spend much of their life frantically writing documents and recommendations, but little or nothing happens in the real world... " Let us hope the proposals made in the book will be taken seriously and acted upon for the well-being of the elephants.
The thorough research and compilation of data that has gone into the book makes it a valuable source of reference for all professionals involved in the study and upkeep of elephants.
It has a lot of information on the fascinating animal for the general reader as well, though the writing style may slow down the reading.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Book Review
