Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1919-08-28
sbepherdsown Jefferson County, Virginia. Thursday August 28 1919
Baby Elephants Hard To Raise.

soon be as nearly extinct as is the
buffalo of the American plains?
Cable dispatches state that the
South African cape council has de-
cided to exterminate elephants, which
are regarded as a menace TO the farm
ers, whose crops they despoil and
whose employees they sometimes kill.
Sir Harry Johnston, famous African
authority, tells of his experiences with
African elephants in communication
to the National Geographic Society, as
follows:
"if after many years of trial the
African elephant pronounced to be
hopeless as a domestic animal land it
should be remembered that most male
African elephants in captivity have
shown themselves 10 be hopelessly
savage,) then at least for its mag
nifcent ivory the creature is worth
preserving as an asset to the state. II
the Indian elephant shows himself to
be more docile than the African ele-
phant, it must be remembered, on the
other hand, that he is OF very little
value for his ivory.
zone day a baby elephant was pre-
sented to me by a Uganda CHIEF. II
is sad thing to relate, but three men
were killed in attempting to capture
the first elephant. had expressed a
wish one day for some elephants to
experiment with in domestication, and
the natives, with their usual desire to
please me, were so ardent in their
determination to crafty my wish and
so determined in their pursuit of the
young elephant that the mother ele-
phant knocked over and killed three OF
them. But, finally they succeeded in
their object, capturing the calf, and to
my great surprise it trotted into camp
behind one of the men.
"Ths little creature was at the time
only four feet high. In two days it
had become perfectly tame, and would
follow human being as readily as his
own mother. 1t was easy enough TO
feed him with milk, because all that
was required was a bottle with a long
neck. This bottle was filled with cows
milk diluted with water and poured
down the elephants throat. Soon all
that one had to do was to place the
neck of the bottle in the elephants
mouth, and the intelligent creature
wound its trunk around the neck Of the
bottle, tilted il up, and absorbed the
contents. For several weeks the ele-
phant throve and became a most de-
lghtful pet. II would allow any one
to ride on its back, and seemed to take
pleasure and amusement in this exer-
else. II would find its way through
divers passages into my sitting room,
not upsetting or injuring anything, but
deftly smelling and examining objects
of curiosity with its trunk.
"At the sme time we had in captiv-
ity young zebra, which was also to
be the pioneer Of domesticated striped
horse. These two orphans, the ele-
phant and the zebra, became greatly
attached to each other, though perhaps
there was more enthusiastic affection
on the part of the elephant, the zebra
at times getting little bored with con-
slant embraces. Alas and alack! both
elephant and zebra died eventually
from the unwholesomeness, to them,
Of cows milk.
"Several other elephants Of the
same age-that is to say, about four TO
six months old-were delivered into
my hands, but all eventually died.
Cows milk appears to give these cre-
atures eventually an incurable diar-
rhea, while all attempts at that early
age to substitute for milk farinaceous
substances have also resulted in a SIM
liar disease. do not say that it is
impossible to rear young elephants by
hand, for we have not made sufficient
number of experiments, but it is very
difficult. j, therefore, favor the plan
Of attempting to catch elephants OF
perhaps a year old, at which age they
do not require milk as an exclusive
diet. One specimen of this age was
caught and was readily tanned, and for
aught know is still alive in captivity"