Nature’s final rites for Elephant Craig, Kenya’s phenomenal giant

By Dayo Emmanuel

Within days, the remains of Craig, the phenomenal elephant that passed at 54 in Kenya on 3rd January, would have returned to the environment.

According to a Yoruba conservationist Àròjinlẹ̀ on his Facebook page, Craig’s tusks were harvested and kept in a museum, while his flesh was left in the wild for scavengers to ‘tidy up’ and whatever is left would nourish the soil.

Since this is a practice in the wild under the supervision of nature, the same process was allowed for Craig, except that his tusks, weighing about 45kg each, were removed and preserved in the museum.

This is the only part of Craig that would be preserved for posterity.

Scavengers are natural cleaners and undertakers of the ecosystem, providing essential services that help prevent the outbreak of diseases and the over-multiplication of rodents that could later invade farmsteads and crops.

Scavengers such as vultures, jackals, hyenas, worms, insects, other members of the dog and cat families, and other birds are already feasting in the beginning-of-the-year party, which is expected to last a few days.

A Yoruba adage says the funeral of the elephant must feature all manner of knives, but in Craig’s situation, these knives are held not by butchers but by his former compatriots of the same ecosystem, who are dancing in celebration of the life of an imposing figure that ruled the land for decades.