HUMAN CRUELTY THAT HAS TURNED ELEPHANTS AGAINST US
A well-known naturalist survives shocking, unprovoked charge in jungle, and asks...
mation, their pace quickening at the sound of human voices.
One elephant, who was drinking, spotted the team and broke ranks to check them out.
It then returned to the safety of the herd and, Redmond believes, communicated the humans’ presence to the other elephants.
He recalls: ‘The females walked on ahead but the last elephant of the group, a bull aged about 30, peeled off. He didn’t look angry or agitated, but started to run at us with his ears out and trunk up. The books say this display is a bluff. We backed off but he didn’t stop. Turns out not all elephants have read the books.
‘As he closed in on me, it was like time slowed. My hand went up to his face. I remember his cold, hard tusk against my knuckle and the softness of his upper lip.’
The impact sent Ian reeling in a backwards roll, and he found himself upside down underneath Kali. ‘There was a confused few seconds during which he played football with me. His feet were very muddy.’
Redmond lay on the grass and heard the crack of the rangers’ guns shooting in the air. The elephant immediately fled. Redmond managed to stand but his neck hurt. Fearing a spinal injury, his team crafted a stretcher from poles and jackets and made the agonising two-hour journey down the mountain before driving to the nearest hospital.
He had partially dislocated his shoulder, had soft-tissue damage and suffered severe bruising to his ribs and sternum but had not broken any bones. Seven weeks on, he is still in pain but recovering well. He knows he is incredibly lucky to be alive.
‘I was fortunate to avoid the pointy bits and the weight,’ he says. ‘I survived because the ranger fired that gun. I’m told that Kali had turned and was coming to gore me.’ Redmond says: ‘Something frightened Kali. All the rangers had guns – maybe the smell triggered a memory? Perhaps he has seen his friends killed by poachers. It’s not just what you do, it’s what the last person the elephant has met has done.’
A number of research papers have published findings that, like humans, elephants suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Redmond agrees that this is not an unreasonable argument, but insists that elephants, who supposedly never forget, can learn to trust again, adding: ‘Elephants have shown themselves capable of mirror recognition – they have a complex multi-layered society.’
And he says: ‘What happened to me is a symptom of a problem. We have to tackle the problem.’
‘There was a confused few seconds when he played football with me’
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