11 slain by Elephant god in Nepal

[Nectar]

An elephant has gone on a rampage in Nepal, killing 11 people in the past two weeks.

One of the villagers who was killed was attempting to worship the animal as Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god, he said.

That reminds me of this story from Joseph Campbell's Myths to Live By.

There is a popular Indian fable that Ramakrishna used to like to tell, to illustrate the difficulty of holding in mind the two conscious planes simultaneously, of the multiple and transcendent. It is of a young aspirant whose guru had just brought home to him the realization of himself as identical in essence with the power that supports the universe and which in theological thinking we personify as "God." The youth, profoundly moved, exalted in the notion of himself as at one with the Lord and Being of the Universe, walked away in a state of profound absorption; and when he had passed in that state through the village and out onto the road beyond it, he beheld, coming in his direction, a great elephant bearing a howdah on its back and with the mahout, the driver, riding — as they do — high on its neck, above its head. And the young candidate for sainthood, meditating on the proposition "I am God; all things are God," on perceiving that mighty elephant coming toward him, added the obvious corollary, "The elephant also is God." The animal, with its bells jingling to the majestic rhythm of its stately approach, was steadily coming on, and the mahout above its head began shouting, "Clear the way! Clear the way, you idiot! Clear the way!" The youth, in his rapture, was thinking still, "I am God; that elephant is God." And, hearing the shouts of the mahout, he added, "Should God be afraid of God? Should God get out of the way of God?" The phenomenon came steadily on with the driver at its head still shouting at him, and the youth, in undistracted meditation, held both to his place on the road and to his transcendental insight, until the moment of truth arrived and the elephant, simply wrapping its great trunk around the lunatic, tossed him aside, off the road.

Physically shocked, spiritually stunned, the youth landed all in a heap, not greatly bruised but altogether undone; and rising, not even adjusting his clothes, he returned, disordered, to his guru, to require an explanation. "You told me," he said, when he had explained himself, "you told me that I was God." "Yes," said the guru, "you are God." "You told me that all things are God." "Yes," said the guru again, "all things are God." "That elephant, then, was God?" "So it was. That elephant was God. But why didn't you listen to the voice of God, shouting from the elephant's head, to get out of the way?"

The situation also reminds me of Princess Mononoke.

Elephants are among the world's most intelligent species. Be thankful they are herbivores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_intelligence

[Shane R. Monroe]

You actually have to stand by an elephant to understand just how bad one of those things could f' you up. Those bitches that beat them and stick/whip/barb them to train them are the ones that should be trampled ....

[javierdlopez]

I wonder if Elephants steaks are any good...

[Flare]

I wonder if Elephants steaks are any good...

We can cook them in my rocking chair grill...

[Flare]

You actually have to stand by an elephant to understand just how bad one of those things could f' you up. Those bitches that beat them and stick/whip/barb them to train them are the ones that should be trampled ....

Reminds me of your similar quote regarding geese

http://www.monroeworld.com/forums/sh...8076#post48076

[Tally]

about time mother nature fights back against the hunters..

[Nectar]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6950949.ece

Wildlife officials in southern Nepal are hunting an elephant that has reportedly killed eleven people in the past two weeks — including one who was trying to worship it as an incarnation of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god.

The adult male bull is thought to have crossed the border into Nepal from the tea-growing northeastern Indian state of Assam, and started its killing spree after being attacked and wounded by villagers trying to chase it away.

The rampage is one of the most extreme illustrations of how wild elephants in South Asia are increasingly coming into conflict with humans, as their natural habitat is consumed by farmland and industrial development.

The first killing was reported on November 24, after which the elephant is reported to have trampled to death a further ten people, including at least three women and a seven-year-old child — most of them while they were gathering firewood in the forest. The elephant is also reported to have killed an 18-year-old man who tried to pray to it, and offered it a garland of flowers.

Several others have narrowly escaped, including Lilamaya Bhujel and her four-year-old daughter, Devika, according to one Nepalese newspaper.

It said that Mrs Bhujel fainted at the sight of the beast, which then picked up Devika with its trunk, sniffed her and carefully put her down again unharmed.

Forestry officials said that they were hunting the elephant, and awaiting instructions from the Government. Elephants are protected in Nepal, which has an estimated 120 living in the wild, and they can be shot only with orders from the Forests and Soil Conservation Ministry.

The Government is under increasing pressure to prevent elephant attacks on people after a sharp increase in fatalities in recent years.

This year, it began offering compensation of 150,000 Nepalese rupees (£1,200) to the family of anyone killed by a wild elephant.

However, many wildlife experts say that the money would be better spent teaching villagers not to attack elephants, and compensating them for any crops or property destroyed by the animals.

“We need to educate villagers,” Santosh Nepal, of the WWF, was quoted as saying.

“They tend to irritate the elephants and attack them to make them go away.

“An injured elephant mostly turns rogue, and begins to counter-attack indiscriminately. We have to teach them to let the animals go their own route unhindered.”

Man: What are you doing there?
Elephant: Just passing through.
Man: Nobody said you could pass through. Get off my hole.
Elephant: I am!
Man: Fore!
Elephant: Five!

[WorknMan]

I saw this topic and I didn't even have to look to know who posted it... I knew instantly it was Nectar

BTW: Do you know what the elephant said to the naked man? He said, "Damn, how do you breathe through that thing!?!?"

[Nectar]

Elephant Altruism

Altruism may be defined as a selfless concern for the welfare of others. Elephants are particularly altruistic. However, their altruism extends not only to other elephants, but to many other species in distress as well, including humans.

Elephants truly demonstrate their incredible insight and ability to read the needs and desires of other living creatures. Not only do they perceive these; they also act in such a way as to accommodate certain needs and even satisfy these in some cases. At times, elephants will assist another creature at the risk of its own safety. This capacity to act based on compassion and not survival instincts is even rare in human beings.

There are many examples the world over of elephants who have displayed this advanced sense of altruism with no benefit to themselves. One is that of a cow who relentlessly worked to save a baby rhinoceros that was stuck in the mud despite the attacks of its mother on the elephant. Another astounding record tells of a ranch herder who was struck off his camel by a charging matriarch. His leg was broken and he was alone. When the search party was dispatched and eventually found him that evening, he had been dragged to a shaded area and protected all the while by one of the other cows, who had split from the herd to return to him and regularly touched him with her trunk in a gesture of comfort and reassurance. A working elephant in India refused to lower one of the logs it was carrying that day. When the elephant trainer walked in front of her to see why she was not cooperating, he found a dog sleeping in the hole in which she was to drop her log. She would not lower the timber until the dog had moved out of danger.

This sense of altruism is also clear amongst the members of the herd. The birth of a calf is a herd activity, as each cow participates and celebrates in the event. Even after its birth, the calf is cared for by the other cows; being allowed to suckle from any female able to provide it with milk. Not only does this ensure that the herd is as strong and healthy as possible in a physical sense, but it also strengthens the individual bonds and reinforces the sense of altruism.

The matriarch, which is usually the strongest, largest and oldest female of the herd, has the responsibility to protect her herd. In true altruistic style, she will defend and protect them at any cost, even at that of her own valuable life.

Despite the sheer horror inflicted on such magnificent animals by human beings, elephants have even been known to either avoid harming a human, or even protecting them, as shown by the example above. In some cases, the elephant has had to retreat from the situation itself in order to ensure that the human is not afraid or harmed. Considering the elephant’s memory and insight, it is remarkable that it would choose not to harm the beast that has contributed so much to its slaughter and mistreatment. This is further testimony to the intellectual and social superiority of the beautiful elephant.

[Nectar]

Hunt on for serial killer/rapist elephant

Wildlife experts in Kerala are hunting a rogue bull elephant who is thought to have gored 12 female tuskers to death because they spurned his sexual advances.

The Times of India said yesterday that a 15-member taskforce has been set up to catch the aggressive male, called Alpha, who has been on the run in the jungles of Kerala for the last three years.

Kerala’s chief wildlife warden, K K Srivastava, said eight female elephants were found dead in the vast Periyar reserve between February and June last year.

“Postmortem reports and other evidence suggested that these were caused by the same tusker. Two more females were found dead on March 12 and 21 this year. The nature of injuries point to the same culprit,” he told the daily.

Two other deaths have been blamed on 25-year-old Alpha, he added, without specifying when the females were found.

Alpha’s behaviour has been blamed on “musth,” a surge in the male reproductive hormone testosterone in bull elephants that leads to aggressive behaviour.

Forensic tests have shown that all the victims had puncture marks, indicating that they resisted a male who tried to force himself on them. The wounds matched the dimensions of Alpha’s tusks, the newspaper said.

The former deputy director of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, P P Pramod, said Alpha needs to have his tusks trimmed but they had to catch and tranquilise him first, which was risky.

“If it fell flat on its chest it will die instantly. So we need to follow it and lift it as soon as he collapses,” he was quoted as saying.

Slay him like warriors.