Much of the ethical debate on the treatment of animals revolves around questions of individual suffering and whether individual elephants have any rights in a human-dominated world. Elephants have aesthetic and traditional value in the human domain, and their ecological and biodiversity value as biological entities is often overlooked. They are sentient creatures. Do we have the right to impose our human value system on elephants, to control and manage them as we see fit? In a broader sense, reflecting upon our attitudes toward elephants leads us to question our approach to "dominion" over the world's resources and all its species. How heavy or light will the human footprint become as we develop an awareness of our collective impact on the planet's vital processes? The answer to these questions essentially determines how we will treat elephants-with either the respect they deserve or continued exploitation.

Gwen allomothering her newborn sister

Elephants are intelligent and highly social and experience a wide variety of emotions and feelings, displaying qualities found only in cetaceans and higher primates. It is past time to accept that our treatment of elephants should be based on careful consideration of alternatives. In developing creative solutions to challenging problems, ethical concerns rather than simple expediency and narrow, self- serving human interests should be paramount.

This chapter covers ATE's views on the following: 

  The Commercial Exploitation of Elephants including ivory trade, trophy hunting and the capture of calves; 

• The Needs of People, including land use policies and human-elephant interactions;

• Local High Elephant Densities, including the use of contraception, translocation and culling.