To think the film crew should have fed the dying elephant (sad)

[Ebayaholic]

I accidentally watched 'Africa' last night on BBC1. I appreciate that it is a great wildlife programme reflecting a tough world however there was a mother elephant with her cub (?) and the cub was dying of dehydration. The rest of the herd were migrating and the mother had to choose between staying with her dying cub or remaining with the herd. She chose the cub. As it was dying she kept putting her hoof reassuringly on it then after it died the camera panned in on on her face and she actually looked really upset before she set off to try and find her herd.

AIBU to think the film crew could have given it some milk? I have been upset about it all day.

They can't. They can't affect nature on a greater scale. A small amount of milk would not have helped that extremely malnourished calf survive.

And the 'upset' you saw was very good editing.

It was an elephant calf.

And YABU - all nature documentaries have a policy of observing not interfering. I don't think one swift meal via the crew would have saved a calf dying of dehydration and starvation anyway.

Didn't stop me crying whilst watching it though.

Assume you mean calf, rather than cub

I'm afraid that is nature. The same thing happens every minute of every day across the globe. You can't interfere with nature.

Hmmm....I totally get why why you are upset, but the film crews objective would have been to film nature without intervening.

YANBU, though.

I once saw a wildlife program where an elephant was separated from it's herd and properly cried.

ifancy

I think elephants have been documented (not just in Attenborough) as having very strong bonds with their young,it won't all have been editing.

I cried too. But I don't suppose they keep gallons of milk in the film truck, and what else could they have fed it that would have instantly revived it after a slow decline from starvation? Very very sad. Was glad to see the new generation of elephants at the end of the programme!

I doubt they'd have got near it. Elephants are intelligent but I don't think the mum would have recognised that people were trying to help. She was stressed and would have attacked.

I couldn't watch that - elephants are so intelligent, and the mother was obviously distressed. I had to turn over - I'm too over sensitive now I have my own dc...

Are you for real?! They don't carry elephant formula around with them you know.

It's life. It sucks but they can't and shouldn't interfere.

apart from the fact that it would be much too dangerous to go close to a fully grown elephant who is very very protective of her calf and can easily kill dozens of people...

If you watched it to the end, they spoke afterwards about how it had been the worst drought for many many years and the elephant population was decimated as a result.. there is nothing they could have done to save the baby:(

Elephants don't cry through emotion. There was a shot that looked like her eye had welled up. It was the sun glinting on her eyeball. Clever editing (I work in the industry and could see the edit).

Give it milk, if the mother would let them get to her baby, which she likely would have killed them in the process, then what? Where would they source elephant milk from out there, anyhow?

It is sad. It is normal that we empathise with elephants, they are intelligent, social, beautiful animals. However, interfering with this sort of thing could be incredible damaging. Say the film crew does happen to have 100 gallons of elephant milk on the truck. The calf recovers, associates people with food and happiness. One of two things is going to happen, he trusts them too much and is poached, he gets too near and kills someone. Elephants are also wild animals. Don't feed wild animals.

That's not to say her pawing of her calf was a genuine behaviour. And it was distressing to watch. But these programmes anthropomorphise in order to emotionally engage. And bloody good therapy are at it too. Wonderful series.

*wasn't genuine - it was...

I'm glad I didn't see it, I'm crying just thinking about it :( I love elephants

Ok, pretty unanimous then. I was being a little bit tongue in cheek, but just wanted what I was seeing to stop. Yika, I didn't see the new generation at the end as I was crying in the bath but wish I had now. No more wildlife for me, it's Eastenders all the way now.

Thanks everyone

It's sad but realistically if any of the crew had got close to the calf to "help" they would have likely been killed, elephants are extremely dangerous animals.
Besides, what would they have done next? Follow the calf all the way to wherever to keep feeding it?
With wildlife, the best and kindest thing you can do for a sick or suffering animal is to let nature take its course. Human interference causes immense stress, and often only prolongs the suffering.

Now I'm watching polar bears starving to death on bbc2.

viva turn over. Try celebrity big brother instead.

YABU. It was a brilliant documentary which I showed to my Yr10 tutor group in PSHE today (the planned lesson was cancelled) and we discussed the issue of interfering with nature. Most in my group fully understood that it would must have been heart-breaking to film that death but that it would be detrimental to the natural cycle of life if the production team had intervened. As others have said the cameraman stated that doing so would have traumatised the mother and potentially led to the abandonment of the calf.

I loved the fact that following the much-needed rains there was "an elephant baby boom".

Watching that last night was the second time I've ever seen my dh close to tears. it was so sad but they couldn't have done anything.

Oh god, mummy polar bear won't let baby polar bear suckle anymore.