The staff of ElefantAsia were saddened to hear of the death of ‘Somneut’, a four-year old Asian elephant working at the XL Camp, Luang Prabang, Laos. Somneut died on Sunday 15 March 2008 from a currently undiagnosed medical condition.

A press release (Link to XL press release) issued by the XL Camp, a tourism venture also known as the Elephant Park Project, stated that the elephant died “probably due to incorrect medication” administered by ElefantAsia. ElefantAsia absolutely refutes giving Somneut any medication likely to kill an elephant. The statement of XL Elephant Camp Management is unfounded, scientifically incorrect and considered by ElefantAsia to be libellous. It is the studied opinion of ElefantAsia that the cause of death was probably a combination of factors, including severe diarrhoea and improper care.

ELECTRIC FENCING has hardly proved a shocker for Assam ’s marauding elephants, so authorities have turned to a cheaper — and hotter — option. They are erecting rope fences dipped in chilli powder around paddy fields and plantations to reduce man-elephant conflicts.

Operation Gajendra was launched to drive away a herd of nine wild elephants which had crossed over to Andhra Pradesh. But the project has backfired, following the death of an adult pachyderm. This has prompted the Orissa chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik to send a letter to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, requesting him to stop the operation.
Pachyderms do not stay within a specific limit. It is their natural instinct to roam freely, observed Mr Patnaik. He made it clear that it is necessary for the concerned state government to protect the animals. Mr Patnaik did not approve of the steps taken by the Andhra Pradesh government to send back the elephants, and described the death of a female elephant yesterday as most ‘unfortunate.’

African elephants can tell a human friend or foe by their scent, a skill which may be unique in the animal kingdom, a study released on Thursday says.
Researchers who set out to explore reports that elephants behave differently around members of Kenya 's semi-nomadic Maasai people than around others were surprised to find that the animals appear to distinguish human groups based on their different scents.

He was tall, dark, handsome and wild at heart. She was city bred, not all that coy. And it was love at first sight. A huge tusker, straight out of the jungle, raided a circus in the wee hours of Wednesday, freed a female elephant and eloped with her to make a cosy home by a pond in Raiganj.

Over the last few years Robert Mugabe has pursued the so-called “Look East” policy which increased trade between Zimbabwe and China. It has now been revealed that Interpol and the wildlife watchdog CITES are looking in all directions for evidence of illegal deals between the two countries, which involved tons of ivory and military hardware. According to The Zimbabwean newspaper this week, Zimbabwe has been secretly bartering tons of ivory with China in exchange for rifles, bullets, anti-riot gear and other military hardware.

Nepal's government has been accused of "inaction and apathy" after it emerged that 10 out of 250 endangered elephants are suffering from tuberculosis (TB).

L’unité mobile de soins vétérinaires est un véhicule spécialement aménagé pour le traitement des éléphants dans les zones difficiles d’accès. Elle se rend sur les sites d’exploitation de bois, les centres touristiques ou dans les villages où des éléphants sont employés.

Un relief en terre cuite du dieu Ganesa à corps humain et à tête d'éléphant qui devrait remonter au XIe siècle a été découvert pour la première fois dans la province centrale de Binh Dinh, a fait savoir le musée provincial.