When left to their own devices, elephants can quite quickly outgrow their habitat and become destructive and a danger to themselves and the other wildlife that share the habitat with them. Although the Kruger National Park is huge, having an elephant management strategy in place is of utmost importance, to ensure the longevity of the population.
Generally speaking, the population is more than capable of keeping itself in check. This is why many conservationists don’t believe that culling is a necessary practice, which is also why this practice has not been carried out in a long while.
The most recent strategy that has been implemented to keep the elephant population in check, referred to as The Elephant Management Plan, was designed to cover the period of 2013 to 2022 and it was compiled by experts in the field of conservation as well as some of the world’s most experienced scientists.
The plan is highly detailed and it is meticulous in its approach to ensuring that the population is kept in check using a plan that focuses on the healthy management of the animals while also taking into account the health of the environment and the wildlife that share it with the elephants. The plan included some 82 pages and to date it has been quite successful.
The whole point of the strategy was to mostly minimise the impact of the conservationists as well as the elephants themselves. The whole premise of the plan is to allow the natural process to run its course, and in doing so allow nature to determine the size of the elephant population as well as its movements.
This new plan went completely against the plans of the past, where the conservationists tried to be a lot more hands on with the way in which the population was managed. The new strategy took into consideration various historical factors, such as the migration of the elephants as they went in search of food and water, and how the fences and the construction of manmade water points have prevented the elephants from being able to properly regulate their own numbers.
Many of the manmade factors that have influenced the population numbers in the past have now been removed, and while it has taken some time for the elephants to grow accustomed to the new approach, in the long run it will certainly benefit them.
The one thing that the management plan does not include is hunting or culling, a practice that has drawn a lot of criticism in the past. And while in the past the elephant populations were huge even with culling, with the new approach to the management of the population, the numbers remain small and the elephants are thriving thanks to the new, more holistic and wholesome approach.
At the 24th elephant census, around 13 050 elephants were counted, and when travelling through the park while on a Kruger Park safari, there is always a chance of encountering a herd of these magnificent creatures.
