My sincere apologies if anyone finds my posting of this distasteful


BBC NEWS
Did animals have quake warning?
By Sue Nelson
BBC Science correspondent

Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka have reported that, despite the loss of human life in the Asian disaster, there have been no recorded animal deaths.

Waves from the worst tsunami in memory sent floodwater surging up to 3.5km (two miles) inland to the island's biggest wildlife reserve.

Many tourists drowned but, to the surprise of officials, no dead animals have been found.

It has highlighted claims that animals may possess a sixth sense about danger.

Yala National Park in Sri Lanka is home to elephants, deer, jackals and crocodiles.

Sensitive to change

Praised for its conservation, the park is also considered one of the best places in the world to observe leopards.

It is now closed after floods damaged buildings and caused the deaths of tourists and employees of the park and lodge.

Yet, surprisingly, none of the park's varied wildlife is reported to have perished.

Debbie Martyr, who works on a wild tiger conservation programme on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, one of the worst-hit areas in Sunday's disaster, said she was not surprised to hear there were no dead animals.

"Wild animals in particular are extremely sensitive...They've got extremely good hearing and they will probably have heard this flood coming in the distance." Debbie Martyr Conservationist

"Wild animals in particular are extremely sensitive," she said.

"They've got extremely good hearing and they will probably have heard this flood coming in the distance.

"There would have been vibration and there may also have been changes in the air pressure which will have alerted animals and made them move to wherever they felt safer."

There are many eyewitness accounts of birds and animals migrating before earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The scientific evidence for a sixth sense is lacking, but if the reports are confirmed, they could add to the understanding of animal behaviour and possibly even be used in the future as an early warning system for humans.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/4136485.stm

Published: 2004/12/31 02:07:57 GMT

© BBC MMV

However, there are many animals who are in trouble. If you're interested in hearing of the animal aid efforts then follow the links on

http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=6&menupos=4&lg=en

Hi Catherine, see my post lower down on 'Pet Powers'. I must say I thought of this programme when the tragedy unfolded in Asia.

Elephants saved tourists from tsunami

03 January 2005
KHAO LAK: Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved
about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves.
"I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," mahout Dang Salangam
said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach of the eight-elephant business offering rides to
tourists.
The elephants started trumpeting - in a way Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said
could only be described as crying - at first light, about the time an earthquake
measured at a magnitude of 9.0 cracked open the sea bed off Indonesia's Sumatra
island.
The elephants soon calmed down. But they started wailing again about an hour later
and this time they could not be comforted despite attempts at reassurance.
"The elephants didn't believe the mahouts. They just kept running for the hill,"
said Wit Aniwat, 24, who takes the money from tourists and helps them on to the back
of elephants from a sturdy wooden platform.
Those with tourists aboard headed for the jungle-clad hill behind the resort beach
where at least 3800 people, more than half of them foreigners, would soon be killed.
The elephants that were not working broke their hefty chains.
"Then we saw the big wave coming and we started running," Wit said.
Around a dozen tourists were also running towards the hill from the Khao Lak Merlin
Resort, one of a line of hotels strung along the 10km beach especially popular with
Scandinavians and Germans.
"The mahouts managed to turn the elephants to lift the tourists onto their backs,"
Kulada said.
She used her hands to describe how the huge beasts used their trunks to pluck the
foreigners from the ground and deposit them on their backs.
The elephants charged up the hill through the jungle, then stopped.
The tsunami drove up to 1km inshore from the gently sloping beach which had been
so safe for children it made Khao Lak an ideal place for a family holiday. But it
stopped short of where the elephants stood.
On Sunday, the elephants were back at work giving rides to the tourists on whom the
area depends.
German Ewald Heeg, who said he came from a small town near Frankfurt, said his
charter
company had offered his family - wife, two daughters and one of their boyfriends
- the chance to go straight home, but he had turned it down.
"Our family is OK so we stay here to make our holiday," he said.
"Today, we make a safari. We go by elephants at first, then we make a boat trip.