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Elephant meat is the flesh and other edible parts of elephants.
Elephant meat is the flesh and other edible parts of elephants.
Elephant meat has been consumed by humans for over a million years. One of the oldest sites suggested to represent elephant butchery is from Dmanisi in Georgia with cut marks found on the bones of the extinct mammoth species Mammuthus meridionalis , which dates to around 1.8 million years ago,[1] with other butchery sites for this species reported from Spain dating to around 1.2 million years ago.[2] Other early elephant butchery sites are known for the extinct elephant species Palaeoloxodon recki sites in across East Africa, dating from 1.6 million to 700,000 years ago.[3] These early sites may have been the result of scavenging.[3] The earliest reliable evidence for elephant hunting is from Lehringen in Germany, where the skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) dating to the Last Interglacial (around 125,000 years ago) was found with a wooden spear.[4]
Today, all species of elephant are hunted specifically for their meat. This occurs notably in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During ivory hunts by poachers, meat may be taken as a by-product for eventual sale, or to feed the hunting party. As of 2007[update], wildlife experts expressed concerns that the major threat to elephants may become the demand for meat rather than the ivory trade.[5] Organisations such as the WWF and TRAFFIC are campaigning to reduce consumption levels as this, along with the ivory trade, leads to as many as 55 individuals being killed a day. [6]
Scottish explorer David Livingstone describes how he ate an elephant during the Zambezi expedition in a 1861 letter to Lord Palmerston.[7] He wrote "when we killed an elephant for food, the rest of the herd stood a mile off for two days."[8]
During the Siege of Paris in 1870, elephant meat was consumed, due to a severe shortage of food. Along with other animals at the zoo Jardin des Plantes in Paris, both Castor and Pollux were killed and eaten. Contemporary accounts indicate that elephant meat did not appeal to Parisian diners.[citation needed][9]
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An investigation into the elephant meat trade revealed that in four central African countries, the demand for the meat is higher than the supply. In cities, the meat is considered to be prestigious, and as such, costs more to buy than most other meats. This acts as an incentive for poachers to hunt elephants for their meat as well as their tusks. Another incentive comes from "commanditaires". These are individuals with wealth, usually people with influence in the military, government, or the business world, and are known to fund elephant hunts. They provide money, equipment, and also weapons. Their main objective is to receive ivory in return, which they sell.[10]
Those working in logging camps provide local demand for elephant meat. Construction of the associated logging roads eases access from areas that were once remote, to sites where the meat can be sold.
Forest elephants in Africa are normally around 2,300 to 2,700 kilograms (5,000–6,000 lb). While the ivory may be sold for around $180 (in 2007), a poacher could sell the meat (approximately 450 kilograms or 1,000 pounds) for up to $6,000. During this time, Africans living in the Congo Basin were earning an average of around $1 per day.[5]
In 2007, elephant meat was selling in Bangui (Central African Republic) markets at $12.0 per kilogram ($5.45/lb). This was at the same time that ivory could be sold by poachers for $30.0 per kilogram ($13.60/lb).[5] The meat was being transported and sold over the border of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite being illegal according to international law, both governments collected taxes for the transactions.
In 2012, wildlife officials in Thailand expressed the concern that a new taste for elephant meat consumption could pose a risk to their survival. They were alerted to the problem upon discovering that two elephants in a national park were slaughtered. The director-general of the wildlife agency in Thailand stated that some of the meat was eaten raw.[11]
The meat may be charred on the outside and smoked at the site where the elephant is killed, to preserve it during transportation to populated areas for sale.[12]
Utilization of the meat and earnings estimates in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were compiled as follows by Daniel Stiles in his 2011 Elephant Meat Trade in Central Africa: Summary report:[13]
Utilization of the meat of recalled elephant that were killed:
| Country | Fresh meat consumed by hunters/shared |
Smoked meat for personal/shared use |
Fresh meat sold | Smoked meat sold | Kills when no meat taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameroon | 0–12% (2.3%) | 0–40% (10%, or ~100 kg) | 0% | 0–60% (8%, or ~80 kg) | 5 (45%) |
| Central African Republic | 2–5% (3.5%) | 0–165 kg (85 kg) | 0% | 0–630 kg (260 kg) | 1 (13%) |
| Republic of Congo | ~1% | 0–10 kg (6 kg) | 0% | 10–300 kg (100 kg) | 0 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | ~1% | 0–315 kg (82 kg) | 0% | 0–1000 kg (279 kg) | 1 (14%) |
| Mean range | 1–3.5% | 6–100 kg | 0% | 80–279 kg | 0–5 (0–45%) |
Potential earnings estimates from elephant meat (smoked) that was reported as sold:
| Country | Range in kg | Price per kg (US$) | Total earnings (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cameroon | 0-600* | $2 | $0 to $1,200 |
| Central African Republic | 0 to 630 | $2 to $3.33 | $0 to $2,098 |
| Republic of Congo | 10 to 300 | $2.40 to $3 | $24 to $900 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 0 to 1,000 | $1 to $5.55 | $0 to $5,550 |
* 60% of the carcass; see Utilization table above, column "Smoked meat sold"
Ranges begin at zero because not all elephant hunters take the meat; however, in the Republic of Congo sample, all of the reported kills resulted in at least some meat being taken.
Assamese scriptures prescribe various meats, including that of the elephant, to recover from illness and to stay in good health. Buddhist monks, however, are forbidden from eating elephant meat.[14] Hindus also strictly avoid any contact with elephant meat due to the importance of the god Ganesha who is widely worshiped by Hindus.
The Kalika Purana distinguishes bali (sacrifice), mahabali (great sacrifice), for the ritual killing of goats, elephant, respectively, though the reference to humans in Shakti theology is symbolic and done in effigy in modern times.[15]
Elephant meat is also forbidden by Jewish dietary laws because they do not have cloven hooves and they are not ruminants. Some scholars of Islamic dietary laws have ruled that it is forbidden for Muslims to eat elephant because elephants fall under the prohibited category of fanged or predatory animals.[16][17]
