Nepal, Oct. 8 -- Two days after the death of Ronaldo, the famed elephant, I travelled to Chitwan with fellow activists working for elephant conservation. We wanted to understand what his death might tell us about the conditions in which humans and elephants are expected to coexist.

We spoke with representatives of Chitwan National Park (CNP), the Nepali Army and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in Bharatpur. The Park representatives spoke about elephants, monitoring and conservation. The Army people spoke about protecting the park while keeping personnel alive and connected in remote posts. Whereas NEA officials explained what electricity infrastructure can and cannot practically provide.

We realised Ronaldo's death should not be l...