Friday, February 02, 2007

Please Don't Feed The Wildlife

Raider elephants hit Thailand highway Thu Feb 1, 5:46 AM ET

Reuters

They give a whole new meaning to things that go bump in the night. Elephants have recently taken to blocking a highway frequently used by produce trucks in Thailand but which also runs through the Ang Lue Nai wildlife reserve.

Drivers say the wild beasts have raided trucks on the road, which links Bangkok with three eastern border provinces.

"It was one night when six vehicles were attacked, my lorry was in the third incident that night," said Manoon Srisalao, a tapioca lorry driver.

Some drivers said the elephants head-butted their vehicles when they could not get to the produce they were carrying.

"Sometimes the whole elephant herd, six or seven of them, stand in middle of the road... some of them try to pull sugar canes from the lorry, when they can not, they just break the wind shield," said driver Puern Meksan.

Officials at the natural reserve said they were surprised by the accidents, since the elephants are not normally aggressive. But they have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the road.

Many visitors to the reserve sympathise with the elephants. In the past few years, three were killed and seven injured on the highway, reserve officials said. More than 14,000 animals, including endangered frogs, birds and deer were also run over.

Three motorists have so far died in animal-related crashes.

"People have to accept the conditions here, because we are reaching into the animal habitat, so we have to be more careful when we travel on the road," said You Senatham of the reserve.


This is a genuine Reuters news story. This is how we teach bears to come to camp sites in national parks looking for food, and end up upset when the bears seem to attack a campers. If you hold out a piece of bacon for a bear, they can't tell where the bacon ends and your hand begins. It's all food to them. Surprise.

17 comments:

Itsnopicknick said...

hmmm! This truck tastes like chicken...

Deb said...

When I first moved to Savannah, I always got a laugh at the public service announcement on tv.. "Please do not feed the alligators."

MJ said...

Awww these are the times that I wish I was an elephant

Wicked H said...

Lead my pachy to the lorry but the lorry was dry…….

Glamourpuss said...

Elephants are smart. Truck drivers are not. Go figure.

Puss

Lee said...

I can't stop trying to figure out what a "tapioca lorry driver" looks like! Isn't that a pudding?

M@ said...

There was once an incident where hundreds of dolphins barracaded an island for three days to prevent Japanese fishermen from getting out to fish and slaugher more dolphins.

Might have been a book called "Animal Mind." Or some variation on the title.... Interesting....

Claudia said...

Ambushed by elephants! that's great!

Claudia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The CEO said...

We just keep tearing down their habitats and their food sources. We are just so fucking smart.

mist1 said...

I could go for some bacon right now.

Cindy said...

Sorry, I was hungry. It'll never happen again.

Claudia said...

I deleted my double comment...
Yes, and building road through what's left....I mean, really, it's just asking for it!

The CEO said...

One elephant to another, "I wish they'd send a better brand of tapioca already, don't you think they've gotten the message yet?"

Pickled Olives said...

it's rather like children running to the icecream truck...

Odat said...

Hope the elephants dance more often on trucks!
Peace

Crankster said...

The kind of thing that makes you love elephants. And Darwin.