Fourteen badly burnt young elephants rescued from a wildfire in the Pilanesberg National Park are caught in a tug of war between conservationists about whether they should be put out of their misery.
The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) sent a high-level delegation of five veterinarians to check on the elephants after one of them died of its injuries. They have been treated at a private quarantine facility north of Pretoria since the rescue late last month.
Manager of the NSPCA’s wildlife unit Rick Allen said some of the elephants had third-degree burns over up to 80% of their bodies and were in obvious distress, but were not receiving any painkillers. The vets had recommended that at least three of the elephants be euthanised, he said.
But the North West Parks and Tourism Board, which has been funding the rescue operation, said the vets treating the elephants were wary of using painkillers because these can cause fatal stomach problems.
“There is debate about whether these elephants are being caused undue suffering,” said Peter Leitner, Pilanesberg’s manager. “But rather than the NSPCA dictating that this one or that one should die, we have decided to do clinical tests. If the tests indicate organ malfunctioning or other serious problems, we will decide whether to put them down.”
Leitner has been criticised by several conservation organisations for rescuing the youngsters in the first place, particularly at a time when parks around the country are considering plans to cull elephants next year.
The youngsters were among at least 20 elephants presumed to have been trapped against fences when a fire that started outside Pilanesberg raged into the reserve. Unable to get away from the fire, they turned their backs to it and waited for the flames to pass through their legs.
Because they are close to the ground, the youngsters — which range from semi-weaned babies of a few years old to teenagers — were badly scorched, and were found abandoned and wandering around hopelessly in the torched veld.
Leitner told the Mail & Guardian that no decision has been made about whether Pilanesberg will need to cull its elephant population. “Even if a decision is made to cull, it has to be distinguished from this humanitarian exercise. The public would not have liked to see these elephants in the park.”
Leitner said the elephants are looking worse now than when they were rescued because their skin is peeling as it is healing. Concerns about the loss of pigmentation, as well as whether they will be able to cool themselves with their burnt ears, have added to the heated debate about the future of the youngsters.
Some groups argue those that survive should be returned to the wild. They say there are precedents for elephants in this age range to be adopted back into herds.
“We need to ensure that the young elephants are released back into the wild and do not end up in a situation where they might be used in elephant-back safaris or in a similar ‘hands-on’ captive situation,” said Liezel Mortimer of the Wildlife Action Group.
Leitner said the parks board had taken a “principled decision not to farm these elephants out to safari outfits or commercial ventures”, but it was unlikely they would be returned to Pilanesberg because they have interacted with humans and could pose a danger to tourists.
“The first prize would be to put together a group of elephants and relocate them to a place where they could live the rest of their lives as naturally as possible,” he said. “But at the end of the day we might not be able to find that ideal solution.”