A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of salt, but with more than a grain of truth!

It is strange the things one remembers from childhood. A solitary child, I read a lot, and at the age of nine I read a book which was to stir an interest that came back to change my life some thirty-five years later. The book was called The Elephant God by Gordon Casserly, first published in 1920. It told the story of elephants in India in tea plantation areas. These Asian elephants were used for transport, hauling logs and numerous other tasks. The Elephant God, or Ganesh, was worshipped by those who lived and worked with them, and there was a healthy respect for their ability, loyalty and gentleness, and respect also for their awesome power if turned against humans.

It was but a novel, dedicated to a rogue elephant that the author had encountered, but it had a profound effect on me. I never forgot the title or the name of the author. Some 35 years later, I traced a copy with the aid of a book search company and read it again.

That was about the time that poaching for ivory made headline news around the world, as thousands of elephants, mostly the African species this time, died for their tusks. Poaching was rife, and vast sums of money were being made by the dealers, though little by the poachers, though they made a better living from that than from their usual activities. My fondness for elephants came to the fore and it was that which made me join a wildlife charity as a volunteer.

My encounters with elephants in the flesh have been with captive animals only, in zoos around the country, and once in a circus. As a teenager I went behind the scenes at a circus to view the elephants. They were chained by one foot to a peg in the ground, and rocked back and forth, a bit like a human suffering mental illness. One touched me with its trunk, and I was struck with the gentleness and sensitivity. I looked into its tiny piggy eyes, and there was a connection. It seemed to be telling me that if it chose it could uproot the chain and peg and walk away, doing untold damage at the same time. It didn't, because where would it go in this hostile, unnatural world in which it found itself?

Subsequent meetings with elephants in zoos brought great sadness. However well cared-for, they were restricted to pens and a walk round the zoo if they were lucky. There was always a sadness about them, resigned to their fate perhaps, but even if happy enough to breed, it was an unnatural existence.

Then I read a book by Daphne Sheldrick, widow of David Sheldrick in whose memory The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was formed in 1977. I followed the trials and tribulations as she laboured to find a suitable milk formula for orphaned elephant babies, which took some 28 years to achieve! If my memory also serves me right, her book also told me that a kilogram of elephant dung can support as many as 2,500 different insect species, though if anyone has a better memory on that, or the book to hand, I would gladly stand corrected!

I was so very sad to read that one of her early orphans, Eleanor, had died of a snake bite to her trunk. I can't think about the agony she must have suffered, but it was heartening to see the concern and affection shown by her family, and other elephants. Many, many orphaned elephant babies owe their life to Eleanor's mothering skills and she will be sadly missed.

Later still, I read books by 'Elephant Bill', or Lt Col JH Williams OBE, to use his correct title. I remember him writing that poachers would leave their dead elephants for a few days and come back later as it was easier to pull the tusks out from the shrinking flesh. I seem to remember also that it was said that an elephant has two stomachs, one containing sweet cool water which is quite drinkable and which sustains the elephant for quite long periods.

Over the years I have read many books about elephants, some factual and some fictional, but all repeat the same thing: that elephants are gentle, loyal and harmless, if left in peace with a loving relationship with their families, and have many of the emotions experienced by humans. They are the only other mammal which cries tears, and many of them must be weeping copiously now, as African elephants suffer persecution and loss of habitat and domesticated Asian elephants are 'dumped' because their owners no longer have a use for them or cannot afford to keep them. The wild Asian elephants are becoming vicious, attacking people and villages, stealing and wrecking crops as their natural migration routes are disrupted.

'An elephant never forgets' is not a myth - it has been shown many times that they remember kindness and they remember cruelty. Is it any wonder they are turning against people who used to worship them.

A friend asked recently, 'Why in the name of God would anyone want to kill an elephant to make a stool from its foot?' Well, the answer is, as always, money. They make good wastepaper baskets too, and the hide makes excellent brief cases, as can be seen from the thousands of such products confiscated from travellers at UK airports. The ivory is used for many, many carvings and trinkets, and it has to be said that the workmanship is excellent.

How much longer are we to continue abusing an animal that has so many of our better qualities, but is now learning some of our more vicious traits? Elephants are invaluable to the habitat of their choice, breaking down vegetation and finding water for other species, transporting seeds to grow elsewhere, providing food for insects, including butterflies, and bringing tourist revenue to many poor areas.

Writing this article, I surfed the Web to refresh my memory and found one elephant by-product which is sustainable and very amusing. Did you know that paper is being made from elephant dung? I didn't, but I do now. Notepaper, envelopes and notepads are selling all over the place, much of the proceeds going towards elephant conservation. Just put 'elephant dung' into Google and a fascinating list of sites comes up!

The icing on the cake for me was one news titbit telling that President George Bush was given a gift of a box of writing paper, envelopes and name cards made from elephant dung! How I would have liked to see his face! The gift came from Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe during a visit to Washington in July 2002. The purpose behind the gift, apparently, was to ask people to buy and use such products to help the country's dwindling elephant herds. Paper made from elephant dung apparently has a unique colour and texture depending on the diet, age and dental health of the elephant
donor.

Oh dear, oh dear, I shouldn't laugh, but I do hope he used some of the paper, etc to write to his 'best friend'! Should the relevant elephant meet either gentleman in the future, I do hope it will remind them of the gift. After all, 'an elephant never forgets', and would surely recognise its own scat!

Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World Archive

Websailor

07.09.06 Front Page

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