The Api Elephant Domestication Center was a project of the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
to tame
African elephants. It was a continuation of the domestication project at Kira Vunga, which was the first attempt to harness this species for human work.
History
The project to tame elephants was initiated by decree of
King Leopold. The Center at Kira Vunga was opened in 1899. The first animals were trained in 1902 under the direction of Commandant Jules Laplume, a Belgian cavalry officer. The
first World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
put the operation on hold, and Laplume was captured by German forces, returning to Congo in 1918. The work was transferred to Api in 1925.
After initially failing to capture any animals, as many as ten elephants were successfully captured and living in captivity by 1910.
Taming operations were partly shifted to
Gangala-na-Bodio in 1930 and the camp at Api closed in 1932.
In 1987 elephant training was restarted again at Api.
Domestication purpose
The initiative to use elephants for work is said to have been inspired by reports that an orphaned elephant calf had been partly tamed by missionaries in the Congo. Elephants promised to provide not only tsetse-resistant draft animals, they were also estimated to be ten to twenty times as strong as oxen.
Notes
References
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Orientale Province
Belgian colonisation in Africa
Elephant conservation organizations
Nature conservation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Bas-Uélé
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