Did a threat cause this elephant to attack?
By Debra Durham • May 19th, 2008 • Category: NewsHere’s an excerpt from one news story that addresses why Swarna the elephant attacked the “keeper” at the Calgary zoo:
“It’s possible Swarna considered Van Hooft a threat when it came after him, zoo staff said.
Van Hooft, meanwhile, is out of the hospital and recovering from the incident.
The zoo is looking into what led to the run-in and could change its elephant-handling procedures because of Sunday’s incident.”
It makes sense to use predation and other natural risks as frameworks for interpreting the behaviors of non-domesticated animals, especially those in captivity. Elephants (as well as other animals) have evolved mechanisms for detecting and responding to risk (or perceived risk).
The close relationships between adult females and babies is especially well known for elephants. The social motivations for the attack make much more sense than the elephants anger about the man getting too close to a fencepost or merely irritating her with the noise of the sweeping.
On another note, the author uses a strange mix of pronouns to relay this story:
- The elephant who knocked a zookeeper into a wall… (who - with the elephant as a subject/agent?
- Later, both adult and child are referred to as “it” (it - with the elephants as objects rather than agents)
