The elephant bandit in Orissa is at it again. He won’t let cars go by until the people stop to give him food. If he is not given food, the elephant pushes the car and stands in front of it.

Weird Asia News

“Zimbabwe’s wildlife is being decimated by the impact of its economic crisis, conservationists claimed on Thursday.” – Gulfnews

“Elephants in Zimbabwe are being shot and eaten as wildlife is decimated by the impact of the country’s economic crisis, activists claimed today.” – Telegraph

“Indonesian villagers are threatening to poison rare wild elephants that are destroying their palmoil plantations in search of food.” – Yahoo! News UK

“India’s captive elephants will soon be able to live out their twilight years at a retirement home in the southern state of Kerala where there will be an abundance of good food, the company of other tuskers and professional veterinary care.” – The National Newspaper

“Zimbabwe plans to kill hundreds of elephants and turn them into biltong, a local dried meat snack usually enjoyed with a beer in front of a game of soccer or rugby, officials here have said.” – The Australian

“I want the sandy white beaches of southern Thailand but also yearn to see the jungle-like rain forest and elephants for which northern Thailand is famous.” – Winston-Salem Journal

“There is such an acute food shortage in Zimbabwe that people are resorting to shooting elephants to stave off the hunger.” – News24

“With food and water becoming scarce in the forests, wild animals like elephants, monkeys and bears continue to change their habits. It has become a cause of concern for the people who live in rural areas of the district. Instances of crops being damaged by elephants have become quite common.” – The Statesman

” They are intended to ward off marauding herds of wild Asiatic elephants descending on human settlements, breaking houses, killing people, and feasting on standing crops like paddy and sugarcane. Some pachyderms even wash down the food with the fermented rice beer that locals brew in abundance.” – outlookindia.com

“When resources are scarce, who you know and where you’re positioned on the social totem pole affects how far you’ll go to search for food. At least that’s the case with African elephants, according to a study led by ecologists at the University of California, Berkeley, who collaborated with researchers at Save the Elephants, a non-profit research organization based in Kenya, and at the University of Oxford in England.” – Science Daily

“No wonder they don’t sell beer at the circus. Apparently, elephants like to get wasted. In fact, an outpost of the Indian army in the jungle region of Bagdogra has been under attack ever since a local herd of elephants raided the base in search of food and discovered the soldiers’ entire winter rations of rum.” – CNN.com

“First, circuses are inherently cruel to exotic animals. It does not take rocket science to figure out wild animals belong in the wild. Elephants, a common animal kidnapped for the circus, roam up to 30 miles a day in large social herds in the wild. They have the freedom to bathe in mud holes, forage for food and live their own lives. In circuses, they spend their lives in confinement being carted around from town to town in all weather extremes. It is very saddening to think they are deprived of everything natural to them just to do a few tricks to entertain us.” – OpEDNews

“The elephant, who was a fixture at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden from the 1950s to 1999, remains in a secluded area of Tennessee, where she has room to roam and plenty of food and friends” – Evansville Courier Press

“Flouting well laid-out guidelines enunciated by the Supreme Court, forest officials at the Bandipur National Park have left the carcasses of wild elephants as food for other animals, an official inquiry has revealed.” – The Hindu

“The elephants at the Cincinnati Zoo eat hundreds of pounds of food a day.But it’s not what goes in that makes up poo poo paper, it’s what comes out. ” – KLTV 7

“The conservation of a species necessitates the provision of all resources (habitat, security, food, water etc.) necessary to maintain a stable population into the long-term future. Conservation has two aspects; one is the protection of the species and the other, scientific management of the species and the resources necessary for its conservation. The continued existence of the Asian elephant in the wild is threatened not only by the actions of some but also due to others not taking any action.” – The Sunday Times Online

“In a bid to contain elephant intrusion into human habitations, the Orissa government has initiated a series of measures including easy availability of food and water inside jungles for the pachyderms.” – The Hindu