The future of the African elephant depends on man. No (1) longer can human beings and (2) wild animals live in harmony throughout vast areas of (3) the continent as was possible in days gone by ,for man’s needs have increased as well (4) as his numbers. There are regions, (5) such as the Congo forests and the equatorial Sudan, (6) where the old relationship may remain for a (7) few more years or even generations, but in general it has gone. Conservation, (8) if it is to be effective, must be a positive, constructive policy, (9) and it is wishful thinking to imagine so, (10) particularly in the case of the elephant. And if this is not yet true of the whole of (11) Africa, it soon will be, for the increase (12) of the human population is almost universal. Where human (13) beings and wild animals find themselves in competition (14) with each other, the animals will lose. Even if there appears to be (15) enough room for both, man will not tolerate for long a situation in (16) which elephants and other creatures make even occasional raids (17) on his fields of food or economic crops. For many years it has been (18) a major cause of conflicting interests and (19) one of the reasons why so many elephants have been (20) shot to control their numbers.