Contrary to the propaganda in the West, elephants can be mean and very aggressive. The natives over there don’t have any means of defending themselves and they aren’t in love with elephants. I saw a segment on TV about 10 years ago where a tribal leader was lambasting an animal rights person, calling her a ‘white colonialist’ who didn’t know anything about native life in Africa and who cared more about elephants than people.
Natives are pretty mean and aggressive too. Elephants are worth preserving as prehistoric mammals, and I don’t think anyone is under the impression that a wild big mammal is sweet and nice.