UTILISATION OF WILD ANIMALS

Evening Star, Issue 19346, 4 September 1926, Page 22

UTILISATION OF WILD ANIMALS

THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT (From ‘The Times.’) A question asked in tho House of Commons last week raised, although in not tho most happy way, the interesting and important matter of the utilisation of wild animals. Sir Gerald Strickland asked the Colonial Secretary to refer to a committe dealing with the exploitation of whaies the utilising ol elephants and elands in Africa. Mosl persons, except those whose local into rests are directly affected, must de sire the preservation for the benefit o the future generations of some of th< magnificent wild animals now in danger of extinction. Every one mustwisl that somehow or other tho giant stay of Ireland or the superb wild ox u aurochs of Europe had been preserved These and many others are gone. Tb American bison was preserved by ; great effort, when the total numbers it the continent had been reduced to : few hundreds. Tho European Bisoi Society is attempting tho harder tas ! of recovering a species reduced not i hundreds, but to dozens. Strict pie tection in Norway may still save th< European beaver, and the chamois, ii great danger a few' years ago, is nov believed to be safe.

In no part of tho world are larewild animals at present more unique m more in danger than in Africa. From the Sahara towards the Capo are many species found nowhere else on the globe, even in recent years abudant. but now disappearing rapidly, partly from deliberate destruction, even mon fpgm tho encroachment of . cultivatioi and civilisation. Game reserves nov being established or about to be established will do much, especially if then is adequate watching by game wardens But there would bo a secure future for animals that could bo turned to economic uso under conditions of semidomestication. Sir Gerald Strickland cited tho elephant and tho eland as examples, but _ the _ zoological information supplied in his question was inadequate. It is no new "experiment to breed elands. On many private estates in this country and elsewhere, and probably in all zoological gardens, elands have been bred successfully and without any difficulty. They are gentle and hardy, and require no more shelter from the ,weather than many breeds of cattle. In Africa their resistance to tho ngama disease carried by the tsetse fly might make them useful in regions in which cattle cannot thrive. Their hides are suitable for tanning, and their meat is well-flavored. Before the win experiments were made in this country in castrating young males and fattening them for tho table like oxen and there is no reason wbytbis should npt be done on an extensive scale ii Africa as the species is polygamous, and any herd would produce more mat calves than would be required. THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT.

Elephants both in Africa and A si: are in a different category. I hoy au not capable of domestication in tin true sense, as it is the rarest of eventfor them to breed in captivity. I'm some unknown reason captive elephant. l have bred rather more often in Sian than in India, although in the lattci country tho management, of elephant. 1 has been extremely efficient for many centuries. In actual fact elephants ii India, Siam, and Burma are tamed will' animals, each individual caught in it: native haunts whereat was bred, am not born in captivity. Experience therefore, suggests that if elephant: are to bo used on any large scale inieconomic purposes in Africa tho supply must lie drawn generation after generation directly from tho wuld stock. Tho maintenance of a sufficient wile stock would require extensive reserve: abundantly supplied w'ith water and sufficiently far away from the wheatfields and sbambas which these wideranging animals like to ravage.. pTr Gerald Strickland exaggerated when he said that the possibility ol utilising tho African elephant was a “rediscovery” of the Belgians. There is no differences between the docility or the intelligence of African or ol Indian elephants. In many zoological gardens African elephants have, beei trained to carry children and to obey their' keepers quite as well as those from India. They are loss familiar in captivity simply because ot the greatei difficulty of transport and the absence of organisation for capturing thorn in Africa. In prehistoric times, and possibly even in historic times, elephants were found far north of the Sahara, and were at least as familiar in the arenas of Romo as the Indian species. Now they are all separated from the Mediterranean by wide stretches ot dosort across which the transport of elephants would be impracticable. The occasional examples captured in the tropics or from tho few survivors in South Africa have to bo brought long distances to African seaports in charge of persons with little experience of elephants. If any serious attempt is made to uso African elephants on a large scale the first step will ho to transom to Africa Indian, Burmese, or Siamese natives of the elephant caste. With experienced management 1.-beie is no reason to doubt that the African elephant could bo used for the same purposes as the Indian species. Certainly they were used on a large scale in ancient times. The Ptolemies used them. Ptolemy Philadelphia had an elephant kraal somewhere on the Red Sea, probably in Somaliland. About the time of Hannibal a Pctolemy had seventy-three elephants in a great battle against Antiocbus the Great, who had 150 Indian elephants. The Carthaginians employed elephants in such very largo numbers that it is incredible to suppose them to have been brought from India when there were plenty near at hand in Africa. The ancients were well acquainted with both species, noting the difference in the quality of their ivory . On coins of undoubted genuineness Indian elephants are figured, and also African elephants with their riders. Although Mr Amery could not suitably refer the exploitation of the African elephant to the Whale Protection Committee, tho matter should not bo dropped.