The photograph of a lady mourning the death of this elephant was very moving - it reminded me how far the rest of us (sitting in the corporate world, typing opinions) are disconnected from nature. The higher our standard of living (fancy clothes, cars, houses), the more we seem to respect animals in general and wildlife in particular. After the death of Steve Irvin in Australia, there are few left to carry on the crusades on the behalf of mute animals. We can have all the laws in place, but with nobody to implement them - its still an uncivilized society.
I was touched to see so many people attempting to rescue the gentle giant, but depressed and not surprized to see we failed the elephant, just like we fail our people, for we have little infrastructure, and practically no law-enforcement.
Do the politicians log on to read these opinions? Do the bureaucrats change or implement any new policies as a result of the lessons learnt from any mishaps?
The educated middle- and upper class believes that India needs to support its people first, and THEN, if resources permit, figure out what to do with wildlife and its habitat. We need to attend to all three simultaneously.
