Elephants: They like it East to West
I will never forget the moment when we were surrounded by herds of elephants crossing the road in multiple directions, I was in heaven as I soaked in the sites of elephant family life. I couldn’t help myself from speaking baby talk with my window fully rolled down as I snapped my photos of the babies eating with their mothers. Their ears would spread as they heard my voice and they would wave their little trunks as if saying hello; it was in that moment I knew I would never forget my time in Kruger National Park. Kruger is one of South Africa’s largest game reserves with 7,523 miles squared of land and an unfortunately large abundance of elephants that is making it difficult to maintain a healthy environment. The ideal number of elephants for their size of the land is approximately 6,000 to 8,000 elephants, but unfortunately, Kruger now has over 18,000 elephants (Rice, Xan). Culling has officially been stopped, and measures like contraception and elephant relocation are expensive, which is why new humane and cost-effective ways to trim down the elephant population is being implemented, however the biggest issue to address is their natural migration patterns. The current land free for them to roam goes north to south but they are naturally migrating east to west which only gives them 30 miles of roaming. We need to take down fences and give elephants their natural migration pattern, and it would then cut down on the population of elephants naturally.
Conservation is a special practice and working on a balance of keeping animals separate from humans to protect one another, but sometimes good intentions become political choices. The barriers can take many forms but the most frequently used are electric fences and with those fences for land also come landowners (Evans et al, 1). Kruger is a national park but the neighboring lands that go East to West are owned by private landowners that operate private game reserves. The political reason these private game reserve owners refuse to voluntarily take down their fences is due to money from their captive audience of tourists. They worry that if they take down their fences, they will lose the animals on their land that they market as more of a guarantee for tourists viewing (Evans et al, 3). However, during our time at the Southern African Wildlife College, we discovered that some private reserves were being mandated to take down their fences to help restore the natural migration routes. During this mandated take down of fencing we learned that the private game reserve owners have nothing to fear and that the animals won’t leave for long, it just creates a new and more natural flow for their migration (Somerville Sustainable Conservation).
Lastly, but most importantly we were taught by the Wildlife College that fences are not meant to keep animals in, but to set boundaries for people to respect their needs for migration. Kruger informed us that they have already implemented shutting down watering holes that are close together to make the elephants have to walk farther for their water which leads to a natural selection process of those dying off from the journey or being killed by lions. By combining these two conservation measures and allowing the elephants to roam, the other well-known intensive management practices like culling, contraception, and constant elephant relocation will no longer ever need to be used. The overwhelming elephant population will slowly decrease with time and help keep balance with the environment (Mega Parks and Meta Populations).
Works Cited
Evans, Lauren A., and →William M. Adams. “Fencing Elephants: The Hidden Politics of Wildlife Fencing in Laikipia, Kenya.” Land Use Policy, vol. 51, 2016, pp. 215–228., doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.11.008.
“Mega Parks and Meta Populations a Cure for Elephant Overpopulation.” Http://Www.krugerpark.co.za, www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-2-2-elephant-overpopulation-19037.html.
Rice, Xan. “Too Hungry, Too Destructive, Too Many: South Africa to Begin Elephant Cull.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Feb. 2008, www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/26/environment.
somervillesustainableconservation, Author: et al. “South Africa — Animals Spread out as Thornybush Takes down Fences with Timbavati.” Africa Sustainable Conservation News, 20 June 2018, africasustainableconservation.com/2018/06/20/south-africa-animals-spread-out-as-thornybush-takes-down-fences-with-timbavati/.
