Fascinating Thing about Ivory on BBC News

Basically, report about what happens, audio interview with the poachers who said they felt heroic for killing elephants as they destroy their farms.

Really, you can throw as much money as you like it trying to stop it. If you aren't going to pay these people to put up with elephants, they're going to kill them.

Yes, but why would it be looking for a job in banking?

From The Guardian:

The Bank of Queensland announced that it will remove gender from resumes to boost the number of women in its workforce.

A great move, but what about the elephant in the room?

"Angry bull elephant tramples and flips car carrying British couple"

From The Evening Standard:

Footage of an angry bull elephant over turning a car in which a British teacher was travelling has emerged.

The elephant was filmed attacking the vehicle as it drove through South Africa's Kruger National Park.

Sarah Brooks, from Lincolnshire, was on safari with her partner when the incident happened. Their vehicle was slowly following the elephant down a road.

"Australian woman killed by pygmy elephant"

Spotted by JuliaM in The Guardian:

A pygmy elephant has fatally gored an Australian tourist in a remote Malaysian wildlife reserve on Borneo island.

Jenna O'Grady Donley died of injuries from the attack on Wednesday at the Tabin wildlife reserve, the first known fatal attack (1) in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, said the region's wildlife department director, Laurentius Ambu.

The wild male elephant had been roaming alone around a mud volcano when Donley, a friend and their Malaysian guide saw it while trekking near their resort, Ambu said.

Donley, 25, a vet, (2) is believed to have gone within 10 metres of the animal, which might have charged at her because it was alarmed by the unfamiliar humans, Ambu said.

Rangers had not seen the elephant but planned to drive it back into the forest, Ambu said. (3)

1) Ha! That's what the Malaysian tourist board would have you believe.

2) She's a vet? She's used to dealing with animals and merrily approaches a wild elephant?

3) How does that work then:

"Hey, fellow ranger, have you seen a wild elephant roaming around?"

"Nope."

"Right, shall we drive it back into the forest?"

"Why should we drive it? Can't it walk?"

The War On Humans/Animals* Daily Update

* Delete according to whether you are animal or human.

From the BBC:

Two wild elephants have gone on a rampage in southern India, killing at least one person, officials say. The elephants left a trail of destruction in a suburb of the city of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka.

Officials say the animals walked into the city from a nearby forest, leaving residents running for their lives. Officials say that one elephant barged into a women's college compound and wandered the grounds, while the other wreaked havoc in a residential area.

Spotter's Badge: Ross

From The Register:

An Adelaide-based entrepreneur has hit upon a novel method of fighting global warming: he intends to exterminate Australia's vast population of feral camels by means of gunfire from helicopters and jeeps, so preventing the beasts from unleashing a deadly planet-wrecking miasma of greenhouse gas from their rumbling guts.

The idea is that the War On Dromedaries would be paid for – and indeed, turn a profit – by selling government carbon credits issued on the basis that a dead camel cannot be emitting methane by means of belch or trouser cough. Methane is a vastly more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, so the elimination of even quite small sources of it can equate to a substantial carbon-emissions reduction.

According to the FT, a camel's annual farts contribute as much to global warming as one ton of CO2, for comparison, a car doing 12,427 miles a year emits about four tons of C02, and "All “removals” will be humane, the company says, with shooting done by “animal welfare trained and accredited marksmen”."

Spotter's Badge: View From The Solent

Are elephants the new cows?

Asks Anti-Citizen-One after spotting this tale of woe:

A 47-year-old telecommunications engineer died on Tuesday night in a freak accident when his car rammed an elephant at Nkunga forest on the Meru-Nanyuki road. Mr Dalton Mwachenga, who was travelling from Uganda, hit the elephant that then fell on his car...

Highway officers, who were manning a roadblock near the forest, rushed to the scene but could not rescue the man as there was a herd of about 50 elephants hovering around the scene...

Meanwhile, another car overturned as its driver evaded an elephant crossing the road...

What is puzzling is that people are complaining about the lack of road signs warning drivers that they are entering a forest. Wouldn't the fact that there are tall trees on each side of the road be a bit of a clue?

Train 7: Elephants 0

From The Metro:

A speeding Indian train killed seven elephants who were crossing a set of tracks in West Bengal. The herd was hit while attempting to help two calves that were trapped on the tracks near Binnaguri in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Hey elephants! You're not doing it right! Or try the old "Hey look at me! I'm Ganesh!" trick. Or something.

Elephant in stealth attack on keeper

From The Daily Mail:

Anne Baker, the zoo's director, said it's not clear why Louie, turned on the keeper. The elephant and Mr Redfox had been together nearly every day since the animal's birth seven years ago. It looks as if Louie was startled and then started play-fighting, as elephants do in the wild, Ms Baker said.

Mr Redfox makes it a habit to talk to the animals before he approaches so he doesn't surprise them, Ms Baker said. She thinks he didn't do it this time because he didn't know Louie was around the corner when he walked into the enclosure carrying a bag of carrots...

UPDATE: I've now watched the video, there was no "corner" involved, the elephant was in full view at all times, and there's a funny jump at 47 seconds in:

"Elephant Kills 11 People On Two-Week Rampage"

From Sky News:

Wildlife officials are frantically hunting for a wild elephant which they believe is responsible for the deaths of 11 people in Nepal.

An Indian elephant is thought to be responsible for the deaths [well, duh]. The animal has gone on the rampage across three districts in the south of the country for more than two weeks.

One victim, an 18-year-old male, was killed while attempting to worship the animal as the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh...

Via Anti-Citizen One.