Communities and NGOs lock horns over roaming ellies

With no clarity on an area to relocate a herd of about 35 elephants roaming in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is ready to put them down if they pose a threat to human life.

A meeting with all interested parties — including affected communities, NGOs and representatives of Mawana Game Reserve (MGR) — in November failed to come up with an alternative solution for the elephants in ward 4 in Ulundi.

Ezemvelo’s head of biodiversity conservation Vuyiswa Radebe said on Wednesday there have been numerous complaints of threats to life during encounters with the herd of elephants, which now numbers 30-35, this year.

In January they were reported to be chasing schoolchildren in Ithaka (Ulundi) while residents of nearby Ekudubekeni also complained of elephants encroaching on their homesteads.

“The real wake-up call was an attack on Lungelo Buthelezi by Mawana elephants in March.”

Buthelezi, 21, was left disabled when the animals destroyed crops and trampled him while he was herding cattle. A compliance notice was issued, but MGR said the animals no longer belonged to them and in May they were declared res nullius — belonging to no-one.

Nine elephants were subsequently “destroyed” in September under the permit that Ezemvelo has to kill “damage-causing animals”, after complaints that they had invaded a farm in Nhlazatshe, Ulundi.

The provincial wildlife authority has a permit to kill “damage-causing animals ” but they have applied for a “roaming permit” from the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment (DFFE) which would allow them to kill the rogue elephants.

After more sightings of these elephants in the rural community of Ekudubekeni, a meeting was set for November 19 to find immediate solutions and a concrete plan.

At the meeting, communities raised a number of grievances including  the slow pace of obtaining a roaming permit by the DFFE, the apparent failure of a contraception method, funds donated to an elephant project only enriching a few and a need to produce title deeds for land which home a proposed wildlife sanctuary.

“The solution they agreed was for the NGOs to relocate them away from the communities,” said Radebe.

Humane Society International made submissions including: a helicopter be used to push elephants into an “emergency area” the fencing for which will be completed in three months, immunocontraception, collars to track and monitor the animals and to have a reaction unit from Nhlazatshe, Esidakeni and Ithaka to provide proactive response as well as mitigation tools such as drones and controlled noise (deterrence).

The meeting could not find an immediate solution. The bottom line is that the elephants are still roaming as they are not fenced in

—  Vuyiswa Radebe, Ezemvelo’s head of biodiversity conservation

Another NGO, Elephants Alive , submitted that they had engaged the community on an area to which the elephants could be homed, and proposed elephant shepherd training.

Radebe said, however, the NGOs had yet to provide the name or map of the “identified property/emergency area” which they were considering.

Ezemvelo spokesperson Musa Mntambo said tensions ran high during the meeting and the representatives of the Loziba project did not make their submissions.

Radebe said they sought expert opinion on whether it was sustainable to herd elephants using a helicopter or drones, and whether it had any traumatic effect on them.

“Using a helicopter to herd elephants is effective because it frightens them and can be used to drive them in the desired direction. The drawback is that it leaves them in a state of panic, potentially leading to accidents and putting any people who encounter them soon afterwards at greater risk. Other less intrusive methods such as drones that sound like bees would be preferable and much less expensive,” she said, quoting the expert opinion.

However, they noted that all this pushing with no destination will cause “confusion and fear” and that stressed animals “are more dangerous”.

“The meeting could not find an immediate solution. The bottom line is that the elephants are still roaming as they are not fenced in,” she said.

“Should elephants escape and there is evidence of substantial loss of livestock and crop[s] or of them posing imminent threat to human life [then] the DCA permit shall be used.”

She confirmed that they will use the permit at any time should a need arise.