Tobias Ndlovu had not been as lucky. He lost his life on June 21, 2005 when he was trampled to death by the same bull.
On Saturday, the Knysna Elepehant Park’s Harry turned on Ndzwanana for no apparent reason. The elephant repeatedly flung the handler into the air and trampled him, in the presence of understandably shaken visitors to the park.
"Four brave men stood in front of the elephant and saved Arnold’s life," said Greg Vogt of the Knysna Elephant Park where the incidents occurred. Two guides were instructed to look after the visitors.
According to Vogt, the guides assigned to the visitors are distraught that the initial newspaper reports stated that the guests were not looked after. These guides had wanted to help save their colleague, but were instructed to look after guests, which seemed like a 'lesser' job.
Their ‘lesser’ job can be considered well done, as there were no physical harm done to visitors to the park.
Contrary to initial reports that the bull weighed six tons, Vogt stated emphatically that Harry weighs a mere four tons and stands about 2.90m tall. Thanks to sound management practices, Vogt believes a far greater tragedy was averted.
According to Vogt, the elephant bulls are moved to a secluded area and fed daily at lunchtime, following interaction with the incoming tour group. He said that Harry was walking away from the group at a distance of about 40m when the attack took place.
Vogt explained that this day’s operational activities were no different from any other. There were two guides (elephant handlers) at the gate of the enclosure the bulls were being moved to and two guides following, one of whom was Ndzwanana.
The guides were calling, "move up" and directing the elephants to said enclosure. "At this point, Harry turned around and targeted Arnold," said Vogt. Harry trumpeted and went for Ndzwanana, explained Vogt. Four of the guides took Harry on and faced him. "That was traumatic to watch," said Vogt.
Shortly afterwards Geoffrey Phiri, the head guide arrived on a tractor, pushed Harry away and blocked his access to Ndzwanana with the tractor.
The entire ordeal lasted about 10 minutes. Vogt maintains that Harry was not entirely out of control as, had this been the case, the guides would not have been able to make him release Ndzwanana, and thus enabling the resident veterinarian to administer emergency first aid to the injured handler.
According to Vogt, there is always at least one person with strong first-aid skills on duty at the park. The resident veterinarian made a tough call and risked her own safety when she ran to Ndzwanana only moments after Harry had been dissuaded from continuing the attack.
Both Ndzwanana’s ankles were broken and he suffered numerous fractures to his legs. There had been significant blood loss from the damaged main artery in his left leg, which was reportedly amputated. "It only takes one step to shatter a leg," said Vogt, referring to the impact a blow from an elephant’s foot can have.
Vogt visited Arnold on Tuesday between 11:00 and 12:00. "He is very sharp and although he cannot speak due to pipes etc, communicates via use of hands and vigorous nodding of the head. He is an amazing guy and his light is shining brightly," said Vogt. Arnold began speaking on Tuesday night when the breathing tube was taken out of his mouth. The following day, he spoke to his wife for the first time since the incident.
According to Vogt, in-house trauma counseling has been ongoing since the event, but due to all staff members’ personal involvement with this tragedy a mental health professional, Hennie Swanepoel, will be on site for intensive trauma counseling as from Monday, June 13. Ndzwanana’s family will also receive counseling.
The visitors who witnessed the traumatic event have been contacted by the park’s management and kept abreast of the situation, said Vogt. He said that they had been feeding information back to the guests who had been answering their phones, and that he would seek advice as to the best way of ensuring that their trauma is addressed.
The bulls have all been taken out of circulation with guests. "We cannot just single out Harry; he is part of a bachelor herd and will be out of sorts if we just remove him," explained Vogt, "He will not be managed hands-on by our team, although he is very relaxed with most of our handlers."
"Whilst our immediate energies are focused on Arnold and the team’s recovery, we are still running tours with the female group. They are managed in a free range environment and are not told where to go or what to do, so this minimises conflict zones that might arise between handler and elephant," said Vogt.
"Not one tourist has been attacked by an elephant in captivity," said Vogt, this in contrast to the numerous incidents involving wild elephant attacks in game parks.
"We strongly believe that the Knysna Elephant Park is a leader in its field of practice and that the staff and management at the park are authorities on elephant behaviour management. The park has long been an iconic attraction in our area and we have always proudly promoted the park as an example of an exemplary tourism operation. We compliment the management and staff on the pro-active, honest and transparent way in which this situation is being handled. We also sympathise with the injured handler and his family, and wish him a speedy, full recovery," said Shaun van Eck, CEO of Knysna Tourism.
Gareth Patterson, author of The Secret Elephants’, and who spent eight years studying these elusive creatures, speculated that there were three possible scenarios which could have prompted the attack.
Firstly, musth, a periodic condition in bull elephants characterised by highly aggressive behaviour. Scientific investigation of musth is reportedly challenging, as during this period of sexual aggression elephants that are otherwise placid, may try to kill humans. Musth most often takes place in winter.
Secondly, "Elephants don’t forget," said Patterson. If there had at any stage been a problem between Harry and a handler, it could have been triggered by any number of circumstances and led to an attack.
Thirdly, it could have been a simple hierarchy issue. Harry may have for a moment viewed Ndzwanana as a rival elephant bull.
According to Patterson, the majority of elephants in captive programmes are the orphans of culls and as such these elephants have witnessed their entire families being murdered. He says that elephants are comparable to humans in that they have a tendency to display symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
Many questions regarding the suitability of a captive environment for wild animals have been raised by the public following this tragic event.
At the time of going to press, Doctor Debbie Young and the African Elephant Research Unit were busy analysing the data gathered in order to compile a report as to a possible reason for this attack. Details of this report will be published once they are made available.
"We are also rewriting our protocol of managing mature bull elephants at our facility. Whilst Harry is not yet fully mature, we certainly have applied our research unit to draw on the data they collect daily to guide us on future management styles. Thank goodness we have this capacity to assist us; otherwise we would be just thumb-sucking," said Vogt.
Brave Knysna Elephant Park guides (from left) Mac Juwa, Julius Mwale, Aubrey Magoro and Resistance Manyepera, faced Harry to save their colleague. The handlers were photographed with Sally, the park's female matriarch on Sunday, June 5, the day after the attack.
ARTICLE: CANDICE LUDICK
