AFRICAN ELEPHANTS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 132, 27 July 1911, Page 6

AFRICAN ELEPHANTS.

’■ If we should loose al! our horses or Cows, or any other useful animals, and then amuse ourselves by hunting them to dcatii for their horns or hoofs, the economic advantage would not he apparent. .But according to a writer in the “Tour du Monde,” that is what is being done with the elephant. In India and some other parts of Asia, lu' is one of the spost valued domestic animals, hut in Africa lie is kept wild and is slaughtered by thousands annually. In consequence, the African elephant is menaced with tiie early prospect of total destruction. Tho ligin cs of the Antwerp and London ivory markets show that the annual exportation of tusks aggregate roughly 800 tons. And most of this is what may lie called new ivory, as it is known that the stocks accumulated by the slave-dealers in tho neighbourhood of the great Lakes and Mount Bom on have been exhausted. Tiie same thing; has happened to tho stores supposed to have been’ held in tho Congo Free State, the French Congo, and the Canieroons. Tho fine tasks, 18ft. long weighing 1301 bs, which were seen at one time, are now memories only, the average weight of the tusks known to commerce being only 131 bs or 141bs. The natives once had the good sense to spare tho young and kill only old males carrying good tusksi. Now natives and Europeans alike, in their blind cupidity, massacre indiscriminately all that pass within range. It is believed, the writer states, that about 60,000 elephants are killed each year; this is an approximation only, and probably far .below the reality, since it takes no account of tho number of,trunkless elephants that fall before the hunters. As tho extremely slow growth of the elephant is well known, it can be imagined easily that years only will pass before the elephant ceases, practically, to exist in Africa. Up to the present time there has been no effective attempt on the part of any of the. authorities made to enforce a

scheme of protection. Lest any should believe because the attempts at domestication made by Ismael Pasha and Leopold 11. wore failures, the African elephant is untameahle, an instance is given of a Belgian officer wiio gathered together forty young animals and trained them until they could be used in the performance of all the tasks that are required of their Asiatic relatives.