3/1/2006: Poisoned elephants die

[xoxoxoBruce]

She has. I sent it to her before I came to the Cellar today and saw it was the IOtD.

[Leah]

Ok it's my say now, Bruce did forward the photo to me this morning, cheers Bruce, but I've just logged on and saw the whole story.
Everyone who knows me knows that I love elephants and go to Thailand once a year to be with them, train with them and indeed help them (I'm going again in June for 3 weeks).
All I can say is that I hope the remaining elephants in that park/reserve have the courage and the will to find those responsible and take out revenge, big revenge.
Elephants are very clever animals, they will know who did this by the smell and the tracks of the hunters. They will, in time hunt those hunters responsible for this and trample them to death. I want to read about the revenge plot taken out. You go girls, you go. Take your revenge, I have no sympathy for anyone who does this kind of crime. Cowards, bastards, monsters.

[capnhowdy]

I told you.

[Leah]

Ah, you know me well. If I had known it came from the Cellar, I would have been on earlier. Work could have waited, this is much more important then borning work.
Bruce always keeps me up-to-date with things he finds, especially anything he finds about elephants, Sorry Bruce if I've told everyone about your soft spot. Love that guy heaps, he looks after me.
Still pissed about the elephants murdered, just wait for the revenge.

[wolf]

I sincerely hope that in this case karma works in the most people misunderstand it to work. (i.e., immediate, fitting retribution in this lifetime)

[York]

I hope they cath the killers and pull out their teeth one by one and than leave them without water or food...

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think of the people who did this as horrible monsters, but I wonder if I'm capable of doing it? If I was a desperate villager with a dying child who needed food or expensive medicine, I'd kill 6 elephants without hesitation if it would get me what I needed. Especially if I was fairly sure I wouldn't get caught.

But sitting here safely behind my clean desk, I think the people who did this are monsters.

I started to go with you there glatt, and imagine myself in that place, but then it started to seem like i was imagining what shit might taste like. there are other ways.

[chrisinhouston]

Interesting that they used potassium cyanide, this is what is typically used to kill off coyotes. The farmer or rancher places a type of gun in the ground and loads it with a dose of potassium cyanide and attaches a form of bait. The unsuspecting coyote comes along, starts sniffing the bait and the gun is triped and fires the dose of poison into the nostrils of the animal, killing them within a few minutes in a painful way. I used to goose hunt in rice fields west of Houston and it was a common practice in some areas so we had to be real careful if using retrievers to get downed birds. Farmers were required to post lots of warning signs.

I would wonder if they did something like this for the elephants as I don't think potassium cyanide has a particulary good taste so it needs to be administired in a way like this. I wonder how much you need to kill an elephant?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by chrisinhouston

The farmer or rancher places a type of gun in the ground and loads it with a dose of potassium cyanide and attaches a form of bait. The unsuspecting coyote comes along, starts sniffing the bait and the gun is triped and fires the dose of poison into the nostrils of the animal, killing them within a few minutes in a painful way.

Wow, that is so stupid in so many ways.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Elephants, plural? If the poacher had used a gun, the elephant with tusks would probably have been the only one killed, since they obviously didn't want anything else from the bodies. Five fewer dead would have been a bit better. And one dead elephant might not have made IOTD.

From The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust:

In residence at the time was Tsavo's "DIKA", a little Elephant who at 3 months old had witnessed the brutal massacre of his entire family by Somali poacher/bandits, and whose grieving had spanned four long months.

I've always been under the impression that poachers tend to wipe out everything possible, guns or not. I've seen documentaries that detailed the destruction of entire herds, baby elephants and all, with any weapon that would permit it by groups of people. Guns are the norm, but so are deep pits with sharp spikes. The means vary, but the end is always the same.

I find it very sad, but the emotional reaction to it is interesting. I could grab a semi automatic rifle, walk into the woods, and slaughter deer for nothing but fun and be praised as a great sportsman. Posion some elephants to get ivory to make some cash in a country where the economy has all but died and people somehow draw a parallel to domestic abuse.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I could grab a semi automatic rifle, walk into the woods, and slaughter deer for nothing but fun and be praised as a great sportsman.

Praised as a great sportsman? No. Accepted as a hunter? Yes.
Because;
It's legal.
You're killing one.
You're not killing babies
Deer are more than abundant.
Presumably,either you or someone else would eat it. Although that's not required, it is expected.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

I look at this, and just don't get it. ...

Well, I guess after thinking about it, I do know what this is about. The person(s) who did this want money. ...

This is about money and laziness. It makes perfect sense. ...

But sitting here safely behind my clean desk, I think the people who did this are monsters.

One need only go back to the mid 1800s and what the white man did to buffalo. One scene in 'Dances with Wolves' demonstrates the inhumanity.

Elephants are rather intelligent creatures. Park Rangers has determined that elephants somehow knew where park boundaries were. The elephants would sneak off the park at night to go on feeding raids. And then get back inside the park before sun up.

Unfortunately, in some locations, the elephant population has become too large. Too many in the wrong place - too few elsewhere.