Botswana: Elephant Attack Victim Missing Body Parts


The Voice (Francistown)

22 April 2008
Posted to the web 22 April 2008

Francinah Baaitse
Francistown

In a dramatic twist to the lead story The Voice carried last week, the Police investigators have revealed that the half bottom of one of the victims of the Mokolodi elephants was missing.

Last Tuesday, we reported the tragic deaths of two Sri Lankan handlers, killed in the line of duty by either one or all the four elephants they took care of at Mokolodi Nature Reserve.


The Voice leant this week that after a thorough search by both the police and the park's employees, it was concluded that the hyenas or other wild animals must have eaten body parts of one of the dead handlers. The search for the missing body parts was conducted Thursday after the rampaging elephants interrupted the Wednesday inspections. The police hurriedly left the scene with one body and only the upper part of the other corpse when it was reported that the four unsettled elephants were returning to the scene of the incident.

This week, it was reported that one male elephant, Shaka, had been killed. But confusing is why one elephant was singled out to be destroyed as the Police insisted that their investigations had not revealed which one of the four elephants had actually killed the handlers. According to assistant superintendent Balibadzi Boy, management of the Park figured that the oddly behaving male, which even refused to go back to the barn, was the culprit. It was the only male within a herd of four. He said the remaining three females are calm and back at the barn.


A press release from the Serendib elephant project and Mokolodi Nature Reserve stated that they killed Shaka at the instruction of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Boy also stated that there is no hope on establishing the cause of the attack as there were no other witnesses apart from the dead handlers - Chandana Alahakoon and Piyal Pedige.

Experts on elephant behaviour say little things such as boredom can lead to social tension, aggression and abnormal behaviour in elephants. It is said this can easily be recognized, as the animal would start weaving, that is, it stays in one place while slowly moving its head from side to side.

A funeral service for Alahakoon and Pedige would be held this Sunday at the Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center in Gaborone North.

You'd have thought that the elephant would have taken more than the backskin if it wanted a trophy.

could be that it just needed a new trunk

Indian takeaway?

I ran Mokolodi for a while. What I’ve heard was that the two guys were basically squashed beyond all recognition. The area had all the trees torn up over a ½ acre. It’s a tragic event but the missing half body is more likely due to poor looking since there are no hyenas in the park and the incident was discovered in the evening when the handlers and elles didn’t show up back at their barn. A third local handler was back at the dam where the elephants water so luckily missed all the action.

Shaka was the same elephant that back in 2003 gave President Bush a little show when he mounted one of the females. Laura gave all George an elbow after he whispered something into her ear.

It just goes to show you can never really trust a wild animal. The same male wanted to crush my son when the 4 year old went running up to it. Luckily the man who raised the elephants was there and scooped my son up in time. It only takes a second. Still walking through the bush with the elephants was incredible.

There are also two “tame†cheetahs at Mokolodi that you can go in with a pet. Really cool by the way. The police will probable put an end to that now too.

Peter Durkin
African Excursions

I think that some animals are prone to pathological behaviour (just like some humans), and that might very well be the case here, and this may also have been born from boredom, frustration and he may have been coming into musth at the time too which would explain a lot. It sounds like this bull was always a bit dangerous from the start though.

I know Indian elephants too have a habit of pummeling their mahouts from time to time, even trusted animals that have been loyal to their owners for years. I think that in most cases it is because the animal is coming into musth, and it is obviously very dangerous working with an animal during this stage, and if you don't notice the signs in time...it could end up messy.