Elephant attack on vehicle

[mouseinthehouse]

I read that the woman in the car had her upper thigh penetrated and torn open by a tusk through the door.

To me, shooting the elephant is akin to our moronic West Australian government deciding to shoot all Great Whites over 3m who come near beaches....to prevent on average...the death of one person per year who chooses to go into the sea in a known Great White area.

If we go into the bush, we take on the risk of harm and we take on the responsibility of minimising the chance of harm as much as possible. So do we now shoot every elephant which mock charges vehicles? This particular elephant may well have been known for its' aggressive behaviour but once you start down that 'managment' path you are on a hiding to nowhere....or the poor animals are anyway.

[okie]

Well , the reports do mention that this ellie had caused problems previously Not sure how they would have identified it as such , but , yes , if indeed , it is a problem animal , then steps could and should probably be taken as far as that specific animal is concerned , in the same way that a farmer would take steps if he has a dog that kills his sheep
On the other hand however , certainly one should examine the reason/s why the animal behaved in that manner , and in this instance , it appears that he was in musth , and had been chucked out of a herd by another bull ellie .
Now , firstly , IMO , any elephant should be considered as a potential threat if approached too closely . Secondly , an elephant in musth , should strictly be left alone . Full-stop . Don't mess with him , and keep a long , long distance away from him .
Now , it appears these tourists had been following the ellie , video-taping him . I can understand that , because by the size of the holes in the vehicle doors , it appears this boy had quite big tusks , and therefore naturally something to be filmed . But , once again , we come back to keeping the distance between you and the ellie .
If , as per reports , he mock-charged a couple of times before actual attack , then it tells us that probably the tourists may have been too close to him , and once he flattens his ears , and charges , then certainly , IMHO , any distance less than 100 meters is too close for comfort
Sadly for the elephant , he was put down , but somehow , I do not think his tusks and story will be displayed in the elephant Hall of Fame .
Rather , the incident will be swept under the carpet as quickly as possible , just like all the other incidents earlier in 2013 .
By the way , how many incidents were there in 2013 , and will 2014 maybe surpass that number

[Richprins]

Good points, okie!

Here's another "musth" related killing: http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/201 ... t-in-musth
Google presents wildly differing articles on the length of time bulls are in musth, the only common denominator is that the phenomenon is not clearly understood at all...

The point is, it is an easy excuse to present for killing an animal. The one in question is claimed to have been a repeat offender...was it in "musth" all that time?

[okie]

RP .

And the question comes up , how many " musth-related " killings take place every year , how often , why , is it on the increase , etc , etc .

BTW , your link still relates to the current thread

[Richprins]

Fixed the link, okie!

[Sprocky]

2014-01-01 13:19

Mbombela - Several people have reacted with outrage at the Kruger National Park's decision to kill an aggressive elephant bull that attacked a couple on Monday.

"It was completely unnecessary to kill the elephant bull that damaged a car and injured a person yesterday in the Kruger Park. SANParks must provide us with the details of who took this decision and on what management level this utter stupid decision was taken," Robbie Botes wrote on the park's Facebook wall on Tuesday, a Sapa correspondent reported.

Lous-Roger Higham wrote: "There are no credentials necessary to state the elephant should not have to be killed, its (sic) their land, we are the intruders!"

Morne Theron however agreed with the decision.

"We do 'visit' their land, however I am sure the correct channels where followed to authorise the 'kill'. We still as visitors require a safe park to visit, and it is sad but the bull would have probably done it again."

Attack

A couple was injured when an elephant bull attacked their car near the N’waswitshaka water hole, south of the Phabeni tarred road.

"The elephant was walking in front of the couple’s vehicle whilst they were videoing it from behind for a period of time and it suddenly stopped, turned around and rapidly walked towards the vehicle which was stationary at that time," park spokesperson William Mabasa said.

"The elephant charged at them, attacked the vehicle and flipped it over off the road into the thick bushes."

A passing motorist came to their aid. The Pretoriuskop section ranger was alerted and informed the park's operational commander.

A helicopter was dispatched to the scene and airlifted the couple to the Skukuza camp to for medical treatment. After being stabilised, they were flown to the Medi-Clinic private hospital in Mbombela.

Mabasa said the woman was seriously injured when one of the elephant’s tusks ripped open the back of her thigh. The male tourist suffered minor injuries.

"The bull elephant was euthanised and upon inspection it was discovered to have been in musth which is probably the reason the aggression levels were higher," Mabasa said.

He said the elephant's aggression was also caused by an injury he had suffered.

Nelspruit Medi-Clinic spokesperson Berdine Malan said the woman was in a stable condition.

"The patient is stable and recovering in a general ward. By Thursday the doctor will decide when she can be discharged from hospital."

At the time of enquiry, the couple's identity was being withheld until their families had been informed.

SANParks spokesperson Ike Phaahla said the elephant bull had to be put down because it had shown such aggressive behaviour before and posed a safety threat to other tourists.

"The elephant had to be put down. Since it was in its musth phase, the elephant had gotten into a fight with another dominant bull before and was very aggressive," Phaahla said.

- SAPA

[nan]

they will have a lot of work to put down all the Ellies in musth

is it reasonable to follow an Elephant for a long way
I followed one once... and let a lot of place... but it seems it was not the best I did
(not in musth, but everybody don't always knows... we have to have a good forum to learn that )

[Richprins]

As predicted, the Waterhole is not near Pretoriuskop after all...

My speculation is that this is PR damage control. The lady is a foreign national.

The bull was wounded, PRESUMABLY from a fight.

That is all concrete evidence available at the moment.

[Richprins]

“Apparently the South African couple were following the elephant bull to videotape it and suddenly the animal turned on them and pushed their car into the bush for about 400m., Phaala said

Only the male is South African, and not even an olympic team of elephants will push a car for 400m. (Hopefully that's a typo!) SP cannot make these sort of "apparently" releases, with international and other tourists/media expecting reliable results!

[Toko]

As usual one will never know what exactly happened