We wish that we could ask the elephants this question. If we could, we’re not sure what they would answer. But with or without the elephants’ input, the answer isn’t as simple as it sounds.

South Africa is planning on culling again. The authorities say they have as many as 5,000 elephants too many in Kruger National Park alone. All the zoos in the world couldn’t accommodate that many elephants, and even if they could, what would happen next time Kruger decided it had “too many elephants”?

Do we believe in culling, then? No, we don't. We believe that nature should take it's course whenever possible. Where human activity has already interfered to the point where this is impossible, we still think there are other avenues that should be tried before killing elephants. We do acknowledge, though, that troubling questions can arise when the protection of elephants threatens the survival of other species in an ecosystem. The way we interfere with nature - fencing animals in, providing artificial water - leads to a dangerous spiral of consequences that we usually haven't anticipated!