Trauma of Culling

Running a National Park means keeping animals in specific areas more beneficial for their survival. There is also the matter of keeping populations of specific species under control. In the mid 1960s through 90s in South Africa culling of elephants was a regular activity, and the orphaned young were relocated to the Pilanesberg National Park.

A study conducted Graeme Shannon and Karen McComb of the University of Suzzex compared the reactions of elephants at the Pilanesberg National Park to those of the ones residing in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The elephants in Kenya had no trauma of culling in their past and responded as expected to recorded calls from familiar and unfamiliar elephants.

The bunched attentively when they heard high level threats but relaxed when they heard low level threats. On the other hand when the same recordings were played to the elephants in South Africa, the elephants responded in a most abnormal manner. There was no clear connection between the threat level and the reaction that they exhibited.

These animals were survivors of a culling and showed the symptoms experienced by people diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. While officially it is not possible to diagnose an elephant with PTSD, its a good thing that following this science project the cullings have been stopped.