Latest news with #elephants
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The hidden dangers of feeding wild animals
Feeding wild elephants might seem kind or exciting, but a new study warns it can lead to serious harm. Researchers at the University of California San Diego say that giving food to wild animals -- especially elephants -- can change their behavior in dangerous ways. "Many people, especially foreign tourists, think Asian elephants are tame and docile, like domestic pets," lead author Shermin de Silva, a conservation scientist and professor of biological sciences, said in a UCSD news release. "They don't realize these are formidable wild animals and try to get too close in order to take photographs or selfies, which can end badly for both parties," she added. The study, published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, looked at 18 years of data from elephant tourism areas in Sri Lanka and India. In Sri Lanka's Udawalawe National Park, researchers found that dozens of elephants had learned to "beg" for food near fences and tourist vehicles. One male elephant, nicknamed Rambo, became a local celebrity for this behavior. The impact? Tragic. Several people were killed or injured in elephant encounters, the news release said. At least three elephants were killed, and some animals ate plastic bags or other waste while trying to get food. In India's Sigur region, researchers tracked 11 male elephants who were fed by people. Four of animals later died, likely because of humans. "Food-conditioned animals can become dangerous, resulting in the injury and death of wildlife, people or both," the researchers wrote. "These negative impacts counteract potential benefits," they added. Feeding wild elephants may cause them to lose their natural foraging skills, especially if they start relying on sugary snacks or processed food, researchers said. It may also raise the risk of disease spreading between people and animals. While most tourists mean well, experts say the best thing to do is never feed wild animals, no matter how safe it seems. Feeding animals might feel like helping a friend, the researchers explained. "But this encourages wild animals to seek food from people, attracting them to areas that can put themselves or people at risk," de Silva said. "It can be a conduit for disease transfer between species," she said. "Such feeding can also cause animals to lose their ability to forage for themselves if the behavior becomes prevalent, especially with young animals." More information The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has more on the potential harm in feeding wildlife. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Why the Cotswolds is this summer's destination for mega-weddings
A couple of years ago the society wedding planner Lavinia Stewart-Brown was asked an unusual question by a bride and groom: could she source two elephants to stand outside the marquee and greet the guests at their Cotswold wedding? It took her a moment to realise that they were joking, but the idea took hold. 'We found them a pair of mechanical elephants that looked so real — they moved and even blinked,' Stewart-Brown says. The happy couple were delighted; their 200 guests spent the evening taking selfies in front of the robot Dumbos. No elephants were harmed in the making of this wedding. If weddings have become bigger over the past decade — glitzier, splashier, more expensive, more designed for Insta — nowhere does this apply more keenly than in the Cotswolds. Getting hitched in the land of honey-coloured villages and bursting hedgerows has become a status symbol, but it won't come cheap. For a mega-wedding in this part of the world the starting figure is £1,000 per guest, but it can shoot up fast. 'For a three-day event with 200 guests, you could be looking at a million — easily,' Stewart-Brown says. According to several weary planners, three-day weddings in this golden, moneyed patch of the country are now the norm. Would you like your destination wedding in Santorini, Lake Como — or Bourton-on-the-Water? Preparty on the Friday night, big do itself on Saturday, recovery brunch on Sunday. 'Before Soho Farmhouse it was old money rather than new,' one planner says of the boom in Cotswold mega-weddings. 'But since then, and with the celebs moving in, it has changed. There are lots of Americans. I did a huge American wedding last year and the couple live in London, but it was very much, 'We want the Cotswolds because 80 per cent of our guests are flying over from the States.' '' Next month another American, Eve Jobs, the 27-year-old daughter of the tech bro Steve Jobs, is marrying the British Olympic showjumper Harry Charles, 26, in these parts. Nobody's squeaking about where, but one wedding planner tells me he knows there's a 'biggie' happening at the ultra-hip members' club Estelle Manor later this year, which can be taken over exclusively for the right kind of fee. What fee is that? 'They can basically name their price,' my mole says. The guest list is a similarly closed secret, but you can expect other tech progeny (Phoebe and Jennifer Gates, daughters of Bill and Melinda, are pals), other young Olympians, models from New York and a smattering of twentysomething aristos. Think Shiv's wedding in Succession but stick it somewhere near Burford. ' 'The Cotswolds has become a brand,' says Henry Bonas, who's often described as 'the king of Cotswold parties'. I went to an eye-popping wedding he organised a few years ago, not far from Stow-on-the-Wold. There was a marquee for 300, dozens and dozens of candelabra dotted along the tables, thousands of tealights, the entire annual floral output of the Netherlands, and a moment during the speeches when the mother of the bride was handed — literally handed — two rare-breed ducks for the lake by her new son-in-law as a thank-you, and we all felt rather nervous about her Catherine Walker suit. • Wedding etiquette: from bridesmaids to reception and photos Bonas points out that the Cotswolds is, technically, a vast chunk of land spanning five counties, but in the past decade — as the number of members' clubs, trendy pubs and rich Londoners moving there has boomed — it has become synonymous with a certain kind of fairytale Englishness (pretty stone houses, endless wisteria), which makes it an obvious wedding choice for fashionable brides. At another Cotswold wedding I went to not so long ago there was even a cricket match during the reception and the bride gamely picked up the bat and made a few barefoot runs in her Monique Lhuillier dress in the field beside her parents' house. Bucolic. Many of the weddings Bonas organises are at private homes, but if you're an arriviste American who doesn't have a big posh house there, you could always con-sider Badminton (the Duke of Beaufort's home, but hireable if you have the dosh), Blenheim (the Duke of Marlborough's gaff), Kirtlington Park (Capability Brown gardens, splendid for social media), Cornwell Manor, Elmore Court or Sezincote. All available for thousands and thousands of pounds and rising steeply, and that's before you even get on to catering, booze, flowers, entertainment and the rest. If you want to go properly swank, the flower bill alone can reach £100,000, a source says, and the florist you need is Paul Hawkins. This summer, he tells me, the vibe for his Cotswold weddings has been Titania's lair meets Studio 54, 'which means achingly delicious roses, English-grown, lots of cow parsley and masses of foliage, so you literally have to cut down a whole wood. But it's all composted afterwards.' To fit in dress-wise, look to Caroline Castigliano, Reem Acra or Emma Victoria Payne. And you want a marquee from Original Marquees, run by a charming man called Harry Jones ('His tents are always pristine and very beautiful,' Stewart-Brown says). The photographer to book is Lara Arnott, not only because she takes ravishing photos but also because every single guest falls in love with her. Another reason the Cotswolds is handy for mega-weddings, says Jamie Simon, director of Banana Split, one of the UK's swankiest party planners, is that you can chopper in and out relatively easily. 'Plenty of space for helicopters,' he says breezily, 'and it's handy for Heathrow too.' This is helpful for both guests and entertainment. Banana Split can get you pretty much anyone you want to sing your first dance —Ed Sheeran? Adele? Stevie Wonder? One client wanted Paul McCartney, so they called him and he said, 'I don't do private events, but this is my fee.' Alas, Simon won't tell me Macca's fee. • How to be a cool bride in 2025 — from the hen do to the wedding dress Anyone involved in organising a mega-wedding for an actor, a toff or a tech bro will now almost certainly have to sign an NDA ('Oh, the NDAs …' one exhausted supplier says with a sigh), but the issue of privacy can also be less fraught in the Cotswolds. 'Lots of these estates are very private,' Simon says. 'Hidden away, so they're quite easy to secure.' Although paparazzi trying to use drones are an increasing problem, he notes. 'We have to plan some of our events now like low-level military operations, but you're not really allowed to fly drones over private land.' If you don't own a stately home in the Cotswolds, Simon says the next best thing is to take over one of the hotels. Such as Lucknam Park or Barnsley House, the latter of which has recently become another outpost of the Pig. 'If you take a 30 or 40-bedroom hotel, you've got your own private home.' A few years ago Banana Split organised a wedding at Barnsley House for a British couple that kicked off with a team-building event on the Saturday morning. 'Everyone woke up to wellies and boiler suits in different colours for their teams, and we went to a nearby farm and did duck-herding and bale-throwing,' Simon explains. 'A whole morning of activity. It was super-fun.' The rich, as they say, are different. Don't simply assume the wedding is 'somewhere near Soho Farmhouse'. The Cotswolds is an 800 square mile landmass. Plan accordingly. Do triple-check what the church is called, if there's a church involved. Which St Mary the Virgin do you want? The one in Bibury,the one in Fairford or the one in Tetbury? Don't do the Hugh Grant thing of screeching up just as the bride arrives. Do read the invitation properly and check what kind of transport arrangements have been made. At a recent Cotswold wedding I tried to drive to the church in my frock, only to realise they'd laid on minibuses because the local roads were so narrow. I had to reverse about a mile down a road marginally wider than a footpath, sweating heavily into my De La Vali. Do check the name of the pub you're staying at. Much as with churches, there are plenty of Bulls and Bells in these parts. Do book a taxi. You won't necessarily be able to Uber from a field at 1am. Don't say yes to the lunch on the Sunday. Hard rule. Get up, get breakfast, get on the road. The M40 can be bloody ona Sunday afternoon.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
With 5 Words, My Marriage Ended. Then A Chance Encounter Across The World Gave Me New Life.
Her undulating tongue moved wet and slippery against my hand as her trunk pressed the unpeeled bananas into her mouth. I wore a blue canvas bag, laden with sugarcane and bananas, and I was surrounded by elephants. It was my last day in Thailand after making the painful decision to abort my trip 10 days early. I was homesick and missing my 15-year-old daughter, Sophie, who was in Bangladesh with my soon-to-be ex-husband. It was our first summer holiday apart since the January night six months prior when he'd informed me that our 20-year marriage was over. 'My soul is deeply unhappy.' He'd told me over a dinner of Costco salad. 'I want a divorce.' Losing my marriage was difficult, his admitted infidelity was worse, and the summer away from my daughter was the hardest of all. My husband and I had been fighting with an explosive vengeance as we unraveled our marriage, screaming things that couldn't be taken back during late-night phone calls and hastily-typed texts featuring f-bombs and accusations. After every fight, I'd felt ashamed of the horrible things I'd said in response to the horrible things he'd said — loop after loop after loop. Six months earlier, he'd been my best friend, and I couldn't reconcile how quickly we'd become enemies. That morning, before visiting the elephants, my face had looked older than its 49 years. In makeup consisting of shadows and tear trails, I wore a mask of crepey, dehydrated skin. My hangover had nothing to do with beer and everything to do with a desolate night of crying myself dry in a cheap hotel room. Emotional pain this deep was corporeal. The fight had been a doozy that left me literally bruised, as I'd pounded my thighs with my fists at 2 a.m. after hanging up the phone for the last time. I needed help. I shouldn't be hitting myself, nor starving myself, though it was difficult to eat with the phantom golf ball that had lodged in my throat for the past six months. I'd lost 30 lbs. When I returned to New Jersey, I'd look for a therapist, I promised myself. Today, though — my last in Chiang Mai — elephants. I'd chosen Elephant Nature Park because of its mission as a sanctuary and rehabilitation center. There was no riding, no circus tricks, no prodding with hooks. Elephants were brought to ENP to live their best pachyderm lives, tromping through the verdant jungle and rolling in thick mud by the river. I'd done my research and felt confident these rescued elephants were well-cared-for and that I would not be contributing to the problem. I hoped I could put last night's fight behind me and be present. A minivan pulled up to the meeting place where I stood alone. Its door opened wide enough for me to feel the air conditioning drift out into the humid Southeast Asian summer air. 'VanderVeen?' The middle-aged man at the wheel asked, looking down his bifocals at the folded scrap of paper in his hand. He wore a white polo shirt with the ENP logo on his left breast. 'Yep,' I said, my voice sounding as scratchy as it felt. A fierce, purple bruise, my souvenir from the previous night, seeped across my thigh as it scraped the fabric of the loose-fitting pants I'd bought for $1.50 at the Chiang Mai Night Market. I limped and winced as I made my way up the van's stairs to an empty seat. A head popped up from the row in front of me, and a friendly voice said, 'Hi! We're Kate!' Her companion laughed and said, 'She's Kate. I'm Carol.' I smiled without meaning it and returned the greeting. Behind me, a blisteringly adorable young couple held hands adorned with shiny new wedding rings. Outside the window, Northern Thailand was lush mountains, dirt roads lined with villages, children, dogs and chickens. The bus lurched as it ascended the steep mountain on what, though only one lane, was a two-way road. When cars approached us, the van pulled over into yards and gullies, making the bumpy ride bumpier. Arriving at camp, we washed our hands to protect the elephants and set off to find them. The sandy path was flanked on both sides by jungle. My heavy bag of fruit banged against my bruised thigh, and I was angry — at myself, at him, at this unwanted divorce. I felt the prickle of emerging tears when suddenly, the elephants appeared with their mahouts. They knew why we'd come and ambled jauntily toward us like horses returning to the stable at the end of the day. 'Feed them the bananas first, then sugarcane,' the mahouts instructed protectively. 'They think the sugarcane is dessert.' A leathery, muscular trunk ventured toward me, startling me with its languid athleticism. The elephant regarded me kindly through a curtain of long gray lashes as if asking permission, then came closer, in a nonthreatening way that put me at ease. Stout, whisker-like hairs anchored the dirt crown atop her head. She nudged my bag, and I gave her a banana. I offered one at a time, but she collected them until she was holding six in the crook of her trunk, then used its pointy tip to guide them into her triangular mouth. Her huge, wet tongue didn't protrude but, rather, swirled like a washing machine within her mouth, masticating the fruit. I cautiously reached out my hand, touching a jowl. It felt like it looked: loose yet muscular, creviced flesh soft and mighty. The two elephants I was feeding were mother and daughter. Mama's leg had been broken while dragging logs through the jungle. It was misshapen, and she walked with a limp. The logging industry, irresponsible breeding practices, landmines and reckless tourism had decimated the elephant population in Thailand. Lek, the founder of Elephant Nature Park, had made admirable strides in saving these gentle creatures. I wondered how I would walk through the world with my own daughter, now that I, too, had a limp. Kate stepped up beside me. Her face, with striking light blue eyes framed by a mass of tawny ringlets, was open and warm. 'This is my second time this week,' she confessed. 'I turned 50 this year, and my birthday wish was to come to Thailand and spend as much time as possible with the elephants.' 'I'm turning 50 this year, too,' I told her with a grimace. 'I love 50!' She said enthusiastically, then asked, 'Where are you from?' 'New Jersey,' I said. 'No way! Me too!' I was shocked. I'd been in Southeast Asia for four and a half weeks and had barely met any Americans, let alone one from my home state. Last winter, days after my husband left, I'd wept beside Gail and Andi, two of my best friends. 'What do you want your future to look like?' they'd asked. 'No idea. I don't even know what kind of music I like,' I'd said. I'd lost myself in being a wife and a mother, and now that he was gone and Sophie was in high school and needed me less, I didn't recognize my life. 'The only thing I know I want to do is travel,' I'd said, resolutely. So here I was, alone in Thailand. 'How long are you here?' Kate asked, reaching out to caress the flank of the elephant who had joined our conversation. I exhaled. 'That's a complicated story. I was supposed to go to Laos from here, but I'm going home tomorrow,' I told her, sharing the bones of the past few months. 'Oof, that's a lot,' she replied. 'I'm a therapist. I specialize in helping women transition through divorce, and in my 'professional opinion,' that sounds like a lot,' she said, forming air quotes with her fingers. 'I don't know if you know this, but elephants hold a lot of symbolism,' she said. 'They're so big, they clear obstacles, creating a path for those behind them to follow. Some cultures believe they represent new beginnings. Maybe you're here to start your new thing.' We arrived at the end of the jungle path, and the elephants continued to the river while we had lunch on a wooden platform overlooking the water. Spring rolls, vegetable stir fry, fruit and coconut mousse filled our table. After lunch, we mixed mango, banana and rice into balls for the elephants' dinner. My hands were soothed by the familiar, tactile exercise, which reminded me of making meatballs at home. They were Sophie's comfort food, and I'd made them for her since she was a little girl. I wondered with a clenched stomach how she was doing in Bangladesh. Dinner made, we walked to the river. The elephants liked to have a bath, then roll in mud to cool down and give themselves comfort from the sun. I'd looked forward to getting in the river with them, but I was scared by the potential for muck. I don't like muck, nor the leeches it harbors. Kate looked over at me, seemingly sensing my apprehension. 'They'll clear the obstacles,' she winked, nodding at the elephants who'd already walked into the river. The brown water eddied around them, but the bottom wasn't muck. It was sandy, and it invited me in. We tossed water on the elephants with plastic buckets, bathing them and ourselves in the river. Our final activity of the day was rafting back downriver to basecamp. Kate's friend Carol was not a fan of rafting, so she chose to return by van. This left Kate and me alone on a raft, with a boatsman rowing and steering us back. The prior night's fight and my lack of sleep had caught up to me. It was 4 p.m. and I was spent. As we made our way downriver, the tears came. I'd restrained them all day, but they were out now, and there was no stuffing them back in. For a moment, I was embarrassed to share my grief so openly with a stranger, even one who happened to be a therapist. But in that moment, my heart was stripped naked. I apologized, wiping my eyes. Kate looked at me with compassion and empathy. 'Don't apologize. I'm glad we met today and I could be here for you,' she said. Six months passed, and I was back in New Jersey. My divorce was final, and the bruise on my leg had healed. It had evolved through a kaleidoscope of colors from indigo to green to jaundice, painting my thigh for months. My despair over our divorce was beginning to subside, too, though I had a long way to go. Eventually, I felt ready to print photos from my trip and put them in an album. I found a photo on my phone that had been taken by Carol. It was my favorite photo of the whole month-long trip. In the dichotomous hell and magic of the day, she'd captured my joyful smile as the elephant behind me in the river sprayed a halo of water from its trunk. Looking back, it feels like a baptism — the beginning of a new life. Two years later, I googled Kate. She's been my therapist for five years now. It took me that long to recognize the gift I wasn't ready to receive back then. I could have skipped Elephant Nature Park and stayed back in my hotel, sleeping off the fight and marinating in my pain. Instead, I summoned the energy to get out the door, fulfilling my long-held dream of meeting elephants up close. More importantly, the day handed me a roadmap to healing, kicking me in the pants to seek therapy. I've created a new life for myself — one more rewarding than I had in my marriage. I've become a solo traveler and writer, made new friends and forged a successful career as a school administrator. Try as we might, we can't control life's twists and turns. But, if you get out there and keep going, the universe might hand you just what you need. Lisa VanderVeen is an award-winning travel writer whose recent work has been published in The Saturday Evening Post, Business Insider, New Jersey Monthly, and River Teeth Journal, among others. You can find her at Do you have a compelling personal story you'd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we're looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@ Related... We Retired And Sold Everything To Travel The U.S. In An RV. There's 1 Thing We Never Expected. I Moved Abroad For A Better Life. Here's What I Found Disturbing During My First Trip Back To America. My Husband Died Abroad. As I Boarded The Plane Home, A Flight Attendant's Innocent Comment Broke Me. Solve the daily Crossword
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Tragic turn: Three elephants found dead one day after six were released in Sri Lanka's wild
COLOMBO, July 18 — At least three wild elephants were found dead across Sri Lanka on Friday, officials said, a day after six young rescued elephants were returned to the jungle under a conservation drive. Wildlife officials said one elephant was run over by a passenger train in the island's northeast, while two others were found shot dead in the central and eastern regions. Elephants are protected by law and considered sacred due to their significance in Buddhist culture, but farmers often kill them to protect their crops. Human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has resulted in the deaths of nearly 200 elephants and 55 people so far this year. 'We have launched investigations into the shootings of the two elephants, it looks like the work of local farmers,' a police spokesman in the capital Colombo said. The train accident occurred in Gallella, the same area where seven elephants were killed by a locomotive in February, the worst incident of its kind in Sri Lanka. It happened despite speed limits on trains passing through elephant-inhabited forest areas. A Sri Lanka railway official said an 'internal investigation has been launched to establish if the driver had violated the speed limit'. Wildlife authorities released six elephants, aged between five and seven, back into the jungle on Thursday after rehabilitating them under a conservation programme that began in 1998. The Elephant Transit Home in Udawalawe, about 210 kilometres southeast of Colombo, cares for rescued animals and eventually returns them to the wild. The sanctuary is a major tourist attraction and holds 57 elephants that had been abandoned, injured, or separated from their herds. Sri Lankan authorities believe the transit home's strategy of rewilding rescued elephants, rather than domesticating them, has been successful. The home has returned 187 elephants to the wild since 1998. Conservation efforts have become increasingly urgent due to the escalating conflict between wild elephants and farmers. Official figures from Sri Lanka's wildlife department show that 4,835 elephants and 1,601 people have been killed in the worsening conflict since 2010. — AFP
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Don't give up on mistreated elephants, Starmer told
Labour could renege on a pledge to stop the mistreatment of elephants in the tourist industry, campaigners fear. The party, while in opposition, hailed legislation passed in Parliament to combat animal cruelty as a 'significant step forward'. However, it has since failed to implement the law. Steve Reed, the environment secretary, also promised before the election that Labour would introduce the 'biggest boost for animal welfare in a generation' after accusing the Tories of a dozen about-turns on its pledges to protect animals. However, campaigners now fear that the Government is planning to ignore a law that was passed unopposed by both Houses of Parliament two years ago and instead opt for a voluntary approach by the tourist industry. This legislation makes it an offence for tourist companies to advertise and sell activities involving animals overseas that would be illegal if they were carried out in the UK. Although it is on the statute book and has been granted royal assent by the King, it has not been implemented. This requires two straightforward statutory instruments to be laid in Parliament. The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 aims to combat the mistreatment of captive elephants, lions, monkeys, dolphins and ostriches who are often beaten, starved and isolated to 'train' them for the tourist market. High profile supporters The calls for the legislation have been backed by 200 animal protection organisations and high profile supporters including the Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the polar explorer; Stanley Johnson, the conservationist; Dame Joanna Lumley; Jenny Seagrove and Ricky Gervais. The campaign is being led by Save the Asian Elephant (STAE), which has co-ordinated a petition signed by 1.2 million people. It also commissioned an opinion poll by Electoral Calculus that shows 88 per cent back the Act. Duncan McNair, STAE's chief executive, said: 'The Act passed into law nearly two years ago with overwhelming public support by the immediate grant of Royal Assent by HM King Charles. 'Despite its strong support for the Act when in Opposition, our present Government has taken no steps to implement it. He feared the Government was 'intent on completely ignoring the law' and was instead considering 'industry-led, non-legislative action'. Failed to meet with animal welfare bodies Mr McNair added: 'This just hands the matter back to the travel industry whose failure of any effective action over decades is the very reason for the need for the Act in the first place. 'The Government has been persistently lobbied by the travel industry and has been meeting with them. It has failed to meet with animal welfare bodies for nine months, citing 'diary pressures'.' STAE claims that baby elephants are taken from the wild before being isolated, starved, beaten with metal bars and cut with hooks as part of their training for use in the tourist industry. The Asian elephant has been on the official red list of endangered species since 1986, with its population having fallen to 40,000 worldwide, of which 15,000 are held in captivity. The majority of surviving Asian elephants are in India. There are 4,000 in Thailand and a diminishing population in other South East Asian states such as the endangered pygmy elephant in Indonesia and Malaysia. Similar practices are adopted with monkeys 'enslaved' for display and selfie picture taking, tigers drugged and chained in cages and dolphins held in small featureless pools. Baroness Hayman, who was a shadow minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) before taking up the post in Government, told peers before the election that the legislation would 'represent a significant step forward in protecting wild animals from the cruelty and exploitation'. 'It will also demonstrate the UK's role in establishing world-leading standards on animal welfare in this area,' she said. A Defra spokesman said: 'This government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. That is exactly what we will do. 'We are considering the most effective ways to stop the advertising of unethical and cruel animal activities abroad.'
