THE ELEPHANT´S PAIN: VULTURE BEAKS AND HUMAN HANDS

By Hugo M. G. von Österreich und von Toskana
Member of the Union of Concerned Scientists (USA) 
May 1, 2013

Source: Dangerous Creation - for thinkers

                                                                   

Vultures know what to do with the body a dead elephant. These scanvengers play a very important role in the well-being of the natural ecosystems. They are adapted to feeding upon decomposing animal matter and by doing so they get rid of any source of pathogens and disease. In other words, vultures help keep the whole ecosystem clean and fit. 

Furthermore, vultures are links and channels for the energy flux in the food web. They are not only the cleaning crew in nature but also the transformers of matter in the ecosystem. And their ecological services are free of charge.

So dead elephants in vulture beaks are spokes of the wheel of life and keep it spinning along with the other living creatures on this planet (Video 1).

                                              Video 1. Vultures feeding on an elephant carcass.

Enter humans in the picture and what you get is a totally different equation. 

This "wise" primate could very well be the guardian of life on Earth but instead he has become the major agent of nature destruction wherever he pokes his nose into. Humans are generally speaking spokes of the wheel of death.

Thus, elephants in human hands become objects of greediness, business and sport in unnecesary bloodshed (Video 2-3).

                                                 Video 2. Butchering of an elephant by people.

                                                            Video 3. Ivory trade in Africa.

Humans are like maggots on this planet. They eat, disturb and contaminate the natural world and their pollution disrupts life cycles in any ecosystem whereas vultures contribute to the maintenance of the temple of life.

Thank God there are exceptions, people who make elephants living monuments of admiration, for these pachyderms are indeed other nations and as such they do deserve our deepest respect.

Let us not forget that the elephant´s pain is also our pain. 


References

CITES (2012). Elephant Conservation, Illegal Killing and Ivory Trade. Sixty-second Meeting of the Standing Committee, Geneva, Switzerland. SC62 Doc. 46.1 (Rev. 1): 1-29.

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Moss C. (1992). Echo of the Elephants. The Story of an Elephant Family. William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, NY, USA. 192 p.

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Stiles D. (2011b). Elephant Meat and Ivory Trade in Central Africa. Pachyderm, 50: 26-36.  

Stiles D. (2011c). Le commerce de la Viande d´éléphant en Afrique Centrale. Rapport de synthèse. UICN, Gland, Switzerland. 109 p. 

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