What is the blue net at Km 17

I am just going through all of my old photographs as I abandon Aperture for LightRoom and came across this. Its from the closed season last year.

Those, especially the birders, who walk the KM 17 trail to the "water hole" always wonder what the blue netting is, thats on the forest floor about 50 meters in.

Well here you are, its was a leaf litter measuring net that was destroyed by elephants who then decided to play with it whilst moving through the forest. One of our camera traps caught them in the act.

It's those things that always make me wonder if I should pick it up and carry it out of the forest or leave it for the people who placed it.
I often get the feeling that some researchers don't clean up the mess after their projects are done. You would expect better from the people that are supposed to be educated and judging from the type of research they do, you would think they have a heart for nature...
I don't want to ruin their projects if it is still ongoing, but a case like this blue netting seems to proof, that they are not taking care of it.
Bit of a shame :(

Heres another one. They were starting to test our "defenses", luckily we got the camera out before another attempt was made. We have noticed this spitting and blowing before when the are seemingly not pleased with the presence of the camera

Haha, elephants trying to 'drown' the camera in saliva.

@bootly66: Been in the same situation, several times in the last months. It's usually the same male coming to the camp ground, a tuskless bull with a very short tail. He seems quite relaxed, and is probably used to the presence of the tents and smell of people. It seems like he has no intentions to harm anybody, but still I hope it won't go wrong some day.
Sometimes he's so quiet that we slept through it and did not notice he had visited. But most of the time my wife's sixth sense for elephants, notified us from its presence resulting in another sleepless night ;) .

It makes one wonder how they ever came up with the idea of creating a saltlick on a camp ground (or perhaps it was the other way, but anyway). Though, besides the mineral rich soil, he loves to break the water pipes. During our stays in the last few months we heard that the boss of Ban Krang on some nights had repaired the water pipe twice or even three times, and every time the elephant returned and broke it again, haha. The water from the pipe must taste much better than the water from the Pranburi river... Is it really his thirst, or just a game he's playing with the park rangers?

Anyway, it seems like there is no real reason to worry about him, but still I guess keeping your distance, and keeping your tent a bit away from the water pipes and the saltlick, would be a wise decision.