Elephant conservation news 23 - 29 May 2009
An escalation in conflict between elephants and humans in Sri Lanka is being taken seriously by the country's government, a minister has said.
According to the national Daily News, 536 people and 1,369 elephants have been killed in Sri Lanka in the last decade.
Having declined for much of the last 200 years, Sri Lankan elephant populations have recovered in recent times and are now thought to total some 6,000 animals.
However, the government's Department of Wildlife Conservation believes the "carrying capacity" of the country's suitable habitat to be no more than 4-5,000 elephants.
Ian Redmond from Born Free, which carries out conservation work in Sri Lanka, said: "The incidence of human-elephant conflict is certainly on the rise, but this seems more attributable to the rising demand for agricultural land as human numbers rise.
"Sri Lanka, however, is a country that famously loves its elephants", he added.
"If any nation can demonstrate how humans and elephants can co-exist peacefully, Sri Lanka is the place."
Moscow Zoo baby shown off
A baby elephant born in Moscow Zoo made an appearance outdoors for the first time this week.
The animal is said to the first Asian elephant born at the zoo in its 144-year history. Now, staff at the attraction have decided to run a public competition to find a name for the new arrival.
Baby elephant gets 'stuck in the cookie jar'
A nine-month-old Asian elephant at Oregon Zoo, was in a tight spot last Sunday when he got caught behind bars while reaching for some bread.
Samudra, a 1,000-pound calf, was in such a hurry to wolf down his vitamin-enriched food that he climbed up and over three cables that are designed to keep him safely within his enclosure, ending up stuck behind the supports.
However, his keepers helped him back to safety, and a fourth cable has now been added to keep him from getting up to any more mischief.
A zoo spokeswoman said: "It was the equivalent of a child getting his hand stuck in the cookie jar.
"We're keeping him baby-proofed for a while longer," she added.
