Elephant Valley
Menu- WELCOME TO THE ELEPHANT VALLEY!
- FROM ASIA OR AFRICA?
- FROM THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS
- WATER OVER GOLD
- BIG EATERS
- ELEPHANTS ENDANGERED
- HARD LIFE WITH ELEPHANTS
- HARD LIFE WITH PEOPLE
- PARTNERSHIP OF PEOPLE AND ELEPHANTS
- ELEPHANTS IN CEREMONIES
- ELEPHANTS AT WORK
- ELEPHANTS FROM PINNAWALA
- GANESHA
- ELEPHANTS IN HINDUISM
- THE SOVEREIGN WHITE ELEPHANT
- THE DREAM OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT
HARD LIFE WITH ELEPHANTS
Humans are pushing wild elephants into ever smaller regions and occupying their territories. The elephants have nowhere left to retreat to, and so the number of conflicts is increasing. In Asia every year elephants kill several hundred people, and within a territory only the size of Wales they destroy harvests with a value of approximately 200,000 Euros!
During a night’s rampage, a single bull elephant can eat up to 75kg of corn or destroy dozens of trees on a plantation. Moreover, the animals can often cause great damage despite the fact that they’re not interested in an actual crop. When elephants take a short cut to a destination through a field, they trample and destroy many plants.
Many fatal accidents occur in the forest when a person unexpectedly disturbs an animal. An elephant attack, however, is usually preceded by the threat. The most frequent victims are therefore people who do not respond sufficiently to it, e.g. drunk people or tourists who haven’t understood the warning signals.
To get to food, some elephants won’t hesitate to break into shelters where people have stored harvested crops. Efforts to scare off the animal, however, are very risky for the villagers. A disturbed elephant can attack or go berserk, rampage through the village and destroy people’s homes.
