This is a classic example of human-animal conflict in a wildlife park. The video went viral. I’m not sure where it was made. Clearly it is somewhere in Asia. I do not think that it is India. It might be Indonesia or one of those Far East countries.
It seems to me that this is an example of human-animal conflict when tourists encroach upon the territory and habitat of wild animals in a reserve and finally, in this instance, the elephant has had enough. There is a delicate balance in maintaining harmony between paying tourists who help to keep reserves open and the inhabitants of those reserves who want to be left alone to live their lives in peace.
Sometimes tourism can encroach so heavily upon wild animals in reserves that their behaviour changes the behavior of the animals to the detriment of their health and welfare. For example, the presence of tourists may stop them breeding, which clearly impinges upon their survival in the wild.
The driver of this jeep has been praised for reversing his vehicle quickly and efficiently to avoid harm. There might have been significant harm if the elephant had reached the vehicle and charged it. And that harm might have occurred to both the elephant and the humans.
Make sure that the sound is switched on. The elephant is impressive and well pissed off. Humans really need to respect animals more. Look, there are millions of great people in this world who care deeply about animal welfare but, in general, do you feel what I feel? I feel a disrespect for animals particularly wild animals who share the planet with us. I take this from the massive amount of abuse that takes place annually.
The billions of US dollars which are made out of wild animals in trading their bodies and body parts et cetera. It is quite disgusting. When are we going to respect animals? The video shows a mild form of disrespect. It is just one symptom of what is often a dysfunctional relationship with animals. When are we going to learn to live with animals in a more respectful way?
This is a twitter video and the comment is as follows: “But I thank the gentle giant for just demonstrating what he is. Why should we venture close to his kingdom to be trampled? Allow space that they deserve. Avoid such close contacts in the name of Safari”.
He saying what I’m saying. Tourists need to keep their distance from animals in safari parks.
The home range of elephants, as is the case for other animals living within nature, depends upon food supplies and seasonal changes. It will also depend upon the availability of water resources and the existence of human-made barriers.
A study conducted in Borneo estimated that the home range size of Bornean elephants to be 250-400 km² in a non-fragmented forest and 600 km² and a fragmented forest. These are enormous areas.
They are areas comparable to the home range size of Siberian tigers, for example. These creatures need very large areas in which to live and it is almost certain that many reserves are simply too small for their inhabitants. This forces home ranges to overlap which I suspect causes antagonism or at least potentially between the wild animals, in this case elephants.
When you add to that potential problem the issue of tourists getting too close to wild animals in order to capture those precious photographs you can see stresses potentially building up which is against good conservation and wild animal husbandry.
Below are some more articles on elephants.
