Elephant Management
Knysna Elephant Park have been bold in their claim to be one of the leaders in Elephant Management in South Africa!
Here are a few facts to support the claim:
- Knysna Elephant Park was the first captive elephant operation of its kind to open in South Africa - 1994
- The Knysna Elephant Park team, lead by Lisette Withers, were invited to stabilise the Tuli elephants during the Tuli Elephant debacle
- The Knysna Elephant Park team, lead by Lisette Withers, were invited to assist leading vets to stabilise the burned Pilansberg elephants
- Knysna Elephant Park directors were founder members of EMOA (Elephant Managers and Owners Association)
- Knysna Elephant Park directors were founder members of ETA (Elephant Tourism Association)
Before any other operation had begun in South Africa, Knysna Elephant Park sent their staff to various elephant husbandry training courses abroad, including the renowned Riddles Elephant Husbandry Training Facility in the United States.
Introduction
Knysna Elephant Park is foremost an elephant orphanage. This claim is supported by Knysna Elephant Park’s constant aim of placing elephants living in poor welfare conditions in an improved environment. Lisette and Ian Withers have been selfless in their consistency in providing this service to captive elephants all over South Africa. The elephants at Knysna Elephant Park play a huge role in supporting their cousins who often enjoy facilities of poorer standard. The financial support needed to obtain, transport and place these elephants is enormous.
In November 2008, six elephants found new homes due to Knysna Elephant Park’s efforts. In January 2009, the fruit of Lisette’s efforts paid off and two ex-circus elephants now have a new home with extensive natural surroundings in which to wander and simply be elephants.
Our elephants’ contribution to science and research has been consistent over the years. Numerous research projects have been conducted at Knysna Elephant Park to learn more about wild elephants and certain dynamics that will undoubtedly assist in their management in the future. Famous Harry has spent time at other ecosystems, giving researchers the opportunity to observe his preference in edible vegetation, sodoing providing invaluable insight into elephant populations possibly inhabiting in those ecosystems in the future.
Care
Elephant care at Knysna Elephant Park is of the highest in the country. Our facilities are world class and our style of management ensures that our matriarchal herd only interact with guests on their own terms. Knysna Elephant Park have developed a system referred to asa “free-range controlled environment”. The matriarchal herd is free to range across the Park as they please. If they wish to receive food from guests, they know to gather at certain points at the Park. It is at these points, or barriers, where they have been taught to accept carefully prepared fruit and vegetables from guests. The barriers are there more for guests’ comfort than their safety as most guests have not previously encountered elephants at such close quarters - their sense of safety is enhanced by the presence of the barrier and they are more relaxed which in turn relaxes the elephants.
Once the elephants have received the food, they move off and graze. Guests then get the opportunity to observe this natural phenomenon up close, instead of from afar in a car as they would in the Kruger Park or Addo. During this natural interaction our guides add value through the interpretation of the elephants’ behaviour.
It is an amazing experience to see guests walking through the field alongside our elephants with our elephants doing what comes naturally - just being elephants.
Training
So, how are our elephants trained?
Harry and Sally arrived at the Park in 1994, they were around 5 years old at the time and had not had a great life up to that point. On their arrival, Knysna Elephant Park was simply a farm; Lisette Withers’ natural tendency to care for any orphaned animal kicked in and Harry and Sally became part of the household; they gradually adapted to life under Lisette and Ian's wing, soon learning what they were permitted to do or not. There was no urgency at the time to involve the public in their upkeep, although there were many curious visitors who came to visit Lisette and Ian’s new family members. And this led the Withers' to the conclusion that a possible solution to the large food bill could be that visitors pay for the elephants' feed.
The Withers’ fast realised their responsibility required a more formal approach. Lisette embarked on a journey of learning by visiting anyone and anything that could teach her more about elephant care. This included visiting Daphne Sheldrick in Kenya and attending an internationally acclaimed elephant Husbandry course in the United States of America. It was however Harry and Sally who taught Lisette and Ian most of what they know today and who still assure the newcomer elephants to the Park that life here is going to be good!
Newly arrived members of the Park family are slowly integrated to the already established herd. This process has no time limit and is very gradual. In fact, there are elephants at Knysna Elephant Park whom have never been formally trained. Whilst these elephants have learned the rules of the Park and are no threat to visitors, it does become difficult to treat them when, on rare occasions, they need to receive vet care. It is for this reason that Knysna Elephant Park has recently adopted the policy that all elephants at the Park be trained to receive veterinary attention.
Harry and Sally have played a major role in calming and settling new arrivals to the Park, the process formally referred to as Instinct Behaviour Modification. Translated into laymen’s terms this means to change the instinctive reaction of fear a wild animal has of man. By gradually showing an elephant that you mean it no harm, the elephant learns to trust you and you are then able to reward target behaviour with treats. The elephant quickly catches on to this and strives to perform such target behaviour for further reward.
The process has been relatively easy considering that our elephants were already habituated. It has simply meant that each day, for only a short period of time, the team hold what we refer to as Cognitive Stimulation Sessions. These include the handlers each working with a specific elephant that day, never only continually with one elephant but spending time with different elephants. The objectives during these Cognitive Stimulation Sessions are:
- That each handler learns the individual character of each elephant
- That the elephants get to know all the handlers
- Each session, or group of sessions, has a specific target objective or goal; these targets range in their objectives but predominantly focus on building trust between the elephant and handler
- It is worth noting that 80% of the effort is focused on the handlers rather than the elephants
In this concluding paragraph on training, Knysna Elephant Park denounces any statements made by animal rights groups or welfare organisations who claim that the training of our elephants includes cruel methods. A top NSPCA representative who visited the Knysna Elephant Park at our invitation commented on how well the system worked, saying, “There should be more operations like this one.”
Norms and Standards
At present the Norms and Standards document governing elephant management has not yet been promulgated. It will be released by national government by the end of March 2009, and will subsequently be uploaded onto our site.
