It’s time we talk about the elephant in the room: elephant criminality. Last year, the issue of elephants’ inherently criminal nature made headlines around the world when an elephant in India murdered a 70-year-old woman and returned to destroy her funeral and trample on her corpse. Now, criminal elephants are stealing food from the mouths of babies. Probably.
Okay, we don’t know for sure that the oranges on this broken-down truck in South Africa were going to be eaten by babies, but can you imagine if they were? Horrific. As workers tried to repair the truck, a man caught a herd of elephants on camera stealing oranges using their trunks. The man recording the video of this astonishing incident can be heard narrating, “We’ve got a bit of a problem here, and the elephants are coming and helping themselves, taking advantage,” as elephants are wont to do.
Nobody in the video makes any effort to discourage the elephants from indulging in their worst impulses, probably because they don’t want to end up like the elderly woman in India, dead and somehow still being plagued by pachyderms.
Instead of being concerned about rising rates of crime in elephant communities, commenters found this video heartwarming, with one writing, “They deserve the treat. Elephants are wonderful!” Another called them, “Smart majestic babies.”
Indeed, elephants are smart: potentially too smart. We are long overdue for a conversation about the nefarious deeds continuously committed by elephants. If we continue to ignore this issue, it’s only a matter of time before we see headlines reporting on elephant art heists and elephant crypto scams, Bored Ape style.
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