MUSINGS
© Can Stock Photo
The Elephant on the Stairs
Elephants are intelligent and sociable and form lifelong bonds
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Bob McMillan relates the inspiring tale of “Elephant Bill” and takes us to post-war Burma, where elephants trained using positive methods were healthier, happier, more productive and achieved unprecedented feats
ositive training is not a new idea. With starts and stops over the last century, it has been used by empathetic individuals to bring out the best in their animal companions. A recent book, Elephant Company by Vicki Constantine Croke, reveals a surprising chapter in the evolution of positive training. It is a rousing tale of an Englishman whose love of the jungle giants persuaded him to open an “elephant school” in colonial Burma that saved hundreds of lives in World War Two. It is the story of a man with a near-mystical connection to elephants, one in particular named Bandoola, who undertook a mind-boggling feat of bravery and endurance solely because he trusted his human mentor. For the dog owner, the experiences of James Howard Williams are an inspiration not only to train their dogs without force, but to learn and respect the ways of their animal friends. 40
BARKS from the Guild/October 2014
Williams arrived in a teak logging camp in the mountainous jungles of Burma just after World War One. He had served in the British Camel Corps in the Middle East and Afghanistan. He had been an animal lover since his childhood in Cornwall, England and the prospects of working with elephants excited him. Williams had signed on with the Bombay-Burmah Trading Corporation as a forest assistant who would be in charge of dozens of Asian elephants and their mahouts. Female elephants were used as pack animals. Male tuskers hauled giant teak logs through forests to rivers, where they were floated to market. It was an inhospitable place of poisonous vipers, tropical diseases, hookworms and fungus not to mention plants that could rip open flesh. Forest assistants were responsible not only for the operation of the isolated camps but for the health of the elephants as well. With no formal training, Williams relied on the mahouts and