HEC in Bhutan has become an increasing problem, especially around the perimeter of the Royal Manas National Park (RMNP). Mr. Yeshy Wangdi is a forestry official from the area and has conducted several HEC awareness programs in nearby schools over the years. This past year the classes were held at two local schools within the RMNP buffer zone. The goal is for students to learn the natural history, biology, and ultimately the cultural value of elephants within their society. The hope is for these children to go on and teach their relatives and other community members about the importance of saving elephants within their country and how to coexist peacefully. The program consisted of a PowerPoint presentation, a role-play enactment of elephant conflict, prizes, and a Q&A session. After following up with the students, Mr. Wangdi found and overall 75% increase in positive attitude towards elephants from the kids. We’d call that a success!
Elephant Transit Home
Celebrating 20 years returning elephants to the wild
Over the past two decades the ETH has been able to release 99 elephant orphans. They are released in groups of 4-8 after rehabilitation and integration into the EHT herd. From those 99 releases only 7 have died and 15 babies have been born. So how does an elephant become an orphan? Unfortunately the answer lies with human-elephant conflict. Mothers are killed for crop raiding or are killed by accident in electrocutions and train accidents. Almost all of the orphans arrive in very poor condition with ailments ranging from dehydration to severe parasitic infestation and even congenital defects. That being said there have been many losses over the years.
Mother receiving fluids with calf at her side
Group play activities
When the orphans first arrive they are immediately given medical treatment to assess their condition. They are given milk and whatever other nutrition they require to be brought back to homeostasis. From there the new herd members are introduced to the already established herd and begin to participate in activities with the other kiddos such as swimming, grazing, and mud wallowing. What is very special about this program is it is the only one of its kind with years of data to track their successes in an Asian elephant range country. The number of elephants in Sri Lanka is just over 6,000, with about 250 living in human care. The EHT has seen and experienced so much over the years and will continue to work to save orphan elephants.
Calves receiving milk
Post release
We at AES look forward to the continued success of the EHT and are very thankful to have the opportunity to support such a dedicated group of people. Thank you, Dr. B. Vijitha Perera, Suhada Jayawardena, Neshma Kumudini, Tharaka Prasad, Department of Wildlife Conservation Sri Lanka, et. al. for the amazing work you are doing in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Sarma Update
Dr. Kushal Sarma, whom you may remember from previous elephant health clinics AES funded and the electrocuted bull elephant he got back on his feet has continued to be, in his words: ' badly busy'!
Dr. Sarma on far right directing a health clinic for mahouts and their charges
Recently, he had a call to come immediately to the neighboring state of Nagaland, where human-elephant conflict struck again. A wild bull killed four villagers and the angry residents threatened to kill him if Dr. Sarma could not remove him. Luckily, he was immobilized and relocated successfully. Not too soon thereafter a stranded elephant washed down the Brahmaputra into Bangladesh and desperately needed the doctor's expertise to be returned to its home. Dr. Sarma made the trip to help it out of its dire straits. The flooding in the area has created a disastrous situation for wildlife and humans alike.
School Awareness Program Update
Do you ever wonder if your donation actually makes a difference for elephants?
The answer to that question is very simple, YES!
In 2015, AES was able to donate $4000 to the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust’s Schools Awareness Program. This program helps educate children in 150 schools per year on the urgent need to conserve Sri Lanka’s wild elephant population. The following is a portion of a report from Jayantha Jayewardene, Managing Trustee of BECT.
Report on Schools Awareness Program 2015
The program has been designed with a view to giving students a better idea of the habits, ecology, social behavior, and basic biology of elephants, as well as presenting ways to minimize human-elephant conflicts and damage.
Progress of Program
In 2015 we carried out Schools Awareness Programs in 40 schools on behalf of the Asian Elephant Support. These schools were from six (6) districts around the island. On an average there were 143 children and 7 teachers present at each of these programs. The principals of these schools have recorded their appreciation of our programs in a Record Book, which we maintain. A map showing the districts where the programs were carried out is at the end of this report.
The cost of carrying out this program per school is $ 100. This includes fees for lecturers, transport, accommodation, food and books for the school library. The program was carried out in 40 schools on behalf of Asian Elephant Support, whose grant was $ 4,000.
With the knowledge that is imparted to the children, they will have a better understanding and appreciation of the problem of human-elephant conflicts and know in greater detail about the natural and socio-cultural history of the elephants. This will reduce the negative attitude towards the elephant by the local communities, especially among the younger generations so that they can then be persuaded to take a more positive role in the conservation of elephants in the future.
ERU Field Report
A herd of 15 Sumatran elephants including one calf observed by the ERU in November 2015
Way Kambas National Park (WKNP) is located at the southern tip of Sumatra on the eastern coast of Lampung province. It is one of the oldest reserves in Indonesia and occupies 1,300 sq km. Home to the critically endangered Sumatran elephant and many other endangered species, WKNP is a treasure that needs to be protected.
AES has had the opportunity to support the Conservation Response Units (CRU’s), also referred to as Elephant Response Units (ERU’s), over the last several years. This includes recently donating funds to supply the CRU elephants with much needed food during an exceptionally long dry season. With the help of the communities surrounding the Park, these CRU’s teams do monthly patrols in the forest to monitor for illegal wildlife activity and to monitor wild elephant populations. They also educate the people in the communities on the importance of preserving the forests and help mitigate human-elephant conflicts.
We want to share with you a special look into the activities of the CRU’s in WKNP. Please visit here to see a monthly report outlining the activities.
And rest assured, your donations are making a difference for Asian elephants!
Human-Elephant Conflict in Asia
Recently Asian Elephant Support collaborated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ Asian Elephant Conservation Fund to produce a document titled “Human-Elephant Conflict in Asia”.
Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a complex interaction between humans and elephants, and represents the detrimental impact both species have on each other. For the purpose of this document, the use of the term ‘HEC’ implies the detrimental impact that elephants have on humans. This takes the form of crop raiding and property damage, and also involves manslaughter and injury to people. The most common negative interaction between human and elephants in this context is crop raiding. Consequently crop raiding is the most referred to aspect when HEC is mentioned in the document.
HEC has been identified as a major threat to elephant conservation by all Asian elephant range countries; they all experience HEC and loss of human life due to elephants. Elephant deaths due to retaliatory killing by people have been reported by most range countries. HEC adversely affects the people who live in and around elephant habitat. It also adversely affects elephants and undermines efforts to conserve the species. The greatest danger HEC poses to elephants is the antagonism it generates among local communities towards elephant conservation. If elephant conservation is to succeed in Asia, then HEC will have to be resolved, or the conflict minimized to the point where it becomes tolerable to local communities.
There are two main constraints in planning and implementing HEC mitigation; one is the absence of a problem analysis guide that helps people work through the complexities of HEC to determine the multiple levels at which different types of interventions are needed. Second is the absence of a comprehensive information source on the different methods (interventions) available for conflict mitigation and how they need to be implemented. Additionally, in the absence of such a document, gaps in our collective conservation knowledge cannot be determined.
The goal of this project was to review existing HEC mitigation efforts in all 13 Asian elephant range countries by reviewing documents, research papers, and meeting reports about HEC, synthesizing the information, and preparing a comprehensive guide that identifies the best approaches and methods to mitigating HEC and acts as the basis for planning and implementing HEC mitigation efforts. This document also effectively channels research to cover gaps in knowledge on HEC and its mitigation across Asia.
The document can be downloaded here: https://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/Human-Elephant-Conflict-in-Asia-June2015.pdf
Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Workshops
“The current trend of human-elephant conflict in Bhutan is very scary. This is because it involves two important dimensions – the livelihood of the poor farmer and conservation of the endangered Asian elephants.”
The above quote, submitted by Yeshey Wangdi, Senior Park Ranger, Royal Manas National Park, is in his final report covering the first series of community workshops. Ranger Wangdi is offering HEC mitigation workshops to communities created by government resettlement in areas that were previously forested elephant corridors and are now experiencing a steadily increasing incidence of human-elephant conflict. The workshop includes some general biology and behavior of elephants as well as the do’s and don’ts of living with elephants. Mini dramas were performed to help the people understand more peaceful ways of coexisting with these large and strong pachyderms, and school bags were given to all students and teachers, with their agreement to share the HEC awareness program with their nearby communities.
As Ranger Wangdi so succinctly states, “HEC entails need for strategy that will favorably create win-win for both the parties (people and elephants)”.
CONSERVATION AND RESPONSE UNITS WAY KAMBAS, SUMATRA, INDONESIA
Prepared by Elena Pranatio and Dr. Christopher Stremme
The Conservation Response Units (CRU) in the Way Kambas National Park (WKNP), which are employing captive elephants and mahouts from the Way Kambas Elephant Conservation Center to conduct human elephant conflict management and habitat patrols, are hugely effective and contribute much to reducing human-elephant conflict (HEC) and securing the WKNP habitat.
The first two CRUs were established with the construction of permanent basecamps in 2011 and 2013 on the northwestern border of the WKNP in the areas of Bungur and Tegal Yoso. This is one of the HEC hotspots having caused ongoing loss of almost all crops close to the WKNP border; therefore leading to great resentment against the WKNP and wild elephants from local communities.
The two CRU base camps at Bungur and Tegal Yoso each have 5 captive elephants used for habitat patrols and, if needed, to drive off wild herds that venture into farmland. During daily routine patrols the two units cover more than 15 km of WKNP border and a total of about 400km² of national park area. Regular staff of each CRU unit consists of 5 mahouts from the WKNP and 4 people from the local communities who are employed and trained as permanent staff of the CRU teams. Besides conducting patrols and wild elephant drives inside the national park, the CRU teams have also encouraged teams from local communities to build observation posts outside the WKNP on its border area and conduct regular night watches to detect wild elephants early and guard their valuable crops. The teams from the local communities have been trained in techniques of how to drive away wild elephants if they get close to the WKNP border and if needed, get backed up by the experienced CRU teams with its elephants.
A communication system, via mobile phones, between the CRU teams and the local community teams has been established and functions as an early warning tool ensuring ongoing information exchange between the CRU and local communities about elephant migrations close to the WKNP border. This allows for the timely coordination for needed crop guarding and wild elephant drives.
Currently 11 villages in the Bungur – Tegal Yoso area benefit from and participate in this HEC mitigation strategy with the CRUs. As a result of this work, the occurrence of incidents where wild elephants actually succeeded to pass the WKNP border and reach farmland has been reduced by more than 70%. The actual loss of crops due to the early warning and quick intervention has been reduced by more than 90%.
Due to the massive decrease of loss of crops, and thus increased income, the local communities have become much more willing to withdraw from most illegal activities inside the WKNP such as logging, cultivation, poaching, and cattle grazing and have become willing to accept the CRU’s law enforcement role for the protection of the WKNP area as undisturbed habitat for wild elephants. This has led to a reduction of such illegal activities by more than 90% in the Bungur-Tegal Yoso area.
Due to the success of the Bungur and Tegal-Yoso CRUs, in 2014 the head of the National Park has asked donors such as IEF, AES, and USFWS, who have supported the establishment and operation of the CRUs, for support to establish a new third CRU at the southwestern border of the WKNP, which is another HEC hotspot. IEF, USFWS, and AES agreed to support the establishment of this new CRU and in November 2014 the construction of the new basecamp in the Margahayu region was started. In January 2015 the CRU team were based at the camp while still under construction. The initial team consisted of 5 captive elephants and 5 mahouts from the WKNP Elephant Conservation Center. Shortly after the team arrived 4 young local people from nearby communities were employed and started to be trained as CRU team members. Training for such new team members consists of:
- Captive elephant management and care
- Habitat navigation by using basic orientation points in the area, maps, and GPS
- Wild elephant behavior, approach and driving strategies
- Conservation laws and regulations
Initial staff training and camp construction were completed in April 2015 and the new CRU is fully operational. During its daily routine patrols a border area of about 10km is covered. During the past months the CRU team has constantly monitored the movement of wild elephant herds close to the WKNP border. Already several situations have been encountered by the team where a large herd of more than 30 animals intended to cross the NP border to venture into villages and farmland. The team has managed these incidents by driving the elephants away from the border back into the forest area of the WKNP. Such drive operations often last for several days because during the drive, the wild elephants initially retreat in the nearby forest, but during the next night they try to enter into the farmland again. This means the CRU team has to stand by on guard for several days until the wild herds finally give up and retreat back deeper into the WKNP forest area.
The people from local communities start to respond positively to the presence and activities of the new CRU as major crop raiding events by wild elephants have been prevented since the CRU has become active. The team has started to approach the people from the local communities to start building joint crop guarding and HEC mitigation strategies like in Bungur and Tegal-Yoso. The CRU team has already encouraged and supported the first community members for the construction of two observation posts outside the WKNP directly on its border with farmland. These posts are now already used for crop guarding during the night time by local community members.
The CRUs have become a very successful and important part of the WKNP habitat protection and HEC mitigation strategy. The successful implementation of the day to day field work is ensured by teams of highly motivated and skilled staff from the national park in close collaboration with local communities.
A major obstacle is that the WKNP agency itself does not have sufficient resources to fully finance the ongoing operation of CRUs. Therefor the continuation and possible expansion of the successful CRU work relies much on external funding support.
Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation Trust
Sometimes funding takes a detour and finds yet another great destination!
Last year we agreed to fund participation at a symposium on elephants for the program coordinator at the Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation Trust. Agreements were reached, funds were transferred….and then the symposium was cancelled. Initially, it was expected that the meeting would be rescheduled. But as the months passed with no further announcements, what to do with the funds?
The Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation Trust teaches awareness programs in poor rural schools. The programs are carried out in areas where there are conflicts between humans and wild elephants, where both humans and elephants die and where there is much crop and property damage.
The school programs are very useful as they show the children the reasons for the need to conserve elephants and how this can be done. These programs introduce the children to all aspects of the elephant including its physiology, biology, reproduction, home ranges, family life, etc. The programs give examples of how they can implement effective elephant conservation strategies.
Naturally, helping to fund these outreach classes seemed a most logical use of the funds already received, but unable to be used toward their initial purpose. From education one, which would have been a good use of our resources, the pictures show our funds are able to reach a much larger audience and a young audience….the next generation into whose hands the future of the Asian elephant will then be placed.
We appreciate our donors support that allows us to help make such education happen and if you think this is a good use of funding, please consider a donation at this time. Thank you.
Mahouts Benefit from our Caring
In collaboration with two other elephant organizations, Asian Elephant Support (AES) recently supported the daily work of mahouts at an elephant timber camp in Myanmar via a donation to the mahouts of much needed equipment: backpacks for use during patrols.
An AES partner organization, the International Elephant Foundation (IEF), supports staff training at the Myaing Hay Wun camp. During a recent visit in early December, IEF provided training to the camp staff in GPS use and field navigation with colleagues from Sumatra-Indonesia who have expertise in GPS training: Edy Sunardi, Manager Tangkahan Conservation Response Units (CRU), and Zul Asfi, Field Project Manager, Veterinary Society for Sumatran Wildlife Conservation (VESSWIC). Edy and Zul instructed the Myanmar mahouts (via presentations and hands on practical work) in GPS use, field navigation, and data collection (i.e. wildlife monitoring, illegal activities, human-elephant conflict, etc.) while on patrol. The Myanmar staff were very interested and involved in the training. In the evenings presentations were given to the mahouts on various topics such as elephant management in western elephant facilities, and the work of the elephant patrols (Conservation Response Units) in Sumatra.
In addition to the backpacks presented by AES, the mahout staff at the camp also received uniforms and GPS units from IEF, as well as elephant foot care tools from the Elephant Managers Association. The Myanmar mahouts were very appreciative of the donated items and the training, and they look forward to continuing an exchange of information with elephant colleagues, both in Asia and the west.
Elephants on the Line - Bhutan and India
Mamatha
Part of the AES mission statement is “to increase awareness and offer support for human-elephant coexistence to help protect the needs and future of the Asian elephants”. Over the past couple of years, AES has supported Mamatha Sathyanarayana, a high school Biology teacher from Mysore, India. Along with her teaching responsibilities, she is also involved with wildlife conservation. She facilitates workshops about wildlife co-existence (elephants, in particular) for the local village children. In October 2014 we had the opportunity to support Mamatha to attend and facilitate educational workshops in Bhutan. The North East India and Bhutan border is home to a sizable population of Asian elephants. Elephants on the Line (EoL) is an organization that is collaborating between Bhutan, India and US partners to address the major human-elephant conflict issues in this area. In 2014 the focus of EoL is the Udalguri District of Assam, India, which has one of the highest HEC rates in all of Asia. The following is Mamatha’s account of the workshops:
Elephants on the Line Education Workshops
Bhutan and Assam, India, October 2014
Role playing exercise
Elephants on the Line (EoL) is a trans-boundary, community based project that has been initiated to help local communities in Northern Assam and Southern Bhutan deal with human elephant conflict by providing awareness activities and encouraging villagers to voluntarily participate in conservation activities. From October 3-5, a two-day education workshop was held at the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The workshop was organized by the EoL project and was attended by about 20 staff from the Bhutan Forest Department, as well as some volunteers from the Assam EoL project.
During the workshop there were presentations about the status of elephants in Bhutan and in Assam, elephant behavior, causes of Human-Elephant conflict (HEC), and addressing conflict through coexistence. I led the workshop components that specifically addressed coexistence and used various activities to share information and engage participants. The activities included having participants develop short dramas, participate in a role play situation, and learning how to use energizers to refocus participants’ attention and teach. While at the Park all participants also enjoyed an evening session about elephant husbandry and care with the camp elephants that are used to patrol the park.
Workshop participants
From Oct 6-8, a second workshop was held in Orang National Park, Assam (India). The area affected is Udalguri District; there have been many human casualties from HEC as well as some elephant casualties in this region. In this workshop all of the participants were local villagers who are directly affected by HEC. The workshop started with presentations about the causes of HEC, as well as the use of maps and GPS units to identify elephant habitat. We also presented a few activities related to coexistence and the participants were very engaged.
AES would like to thank Mamatha for her hard work for Asian elephants in India. We are proud to support local people that are so dedicated to saving this amazing species and finding ways for elephants and humans to co-exist.
ACEH - A real team effort
Asian Elephant Support is participating in a significant endeavor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This innovative effort, the “Aceh Conservation, Environment, Humanity” (ACEH) program, is working to engage legislators in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
Conservation biologists alone have not been able to slow down the rapid decline in numbers of wildlife species and their wild habitats around the world. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) has been identified as a major threat to elephant conservation by all Asian elephant range country governments. The greatest danger HEC poses to elephants is the antagonism it generates among local communities toward wildlife.
The specific goals of ACEH are:
- Strengthen the concept of “sustainable development”, which has been mandated by the Indonesian Constitution.
- Support the formation and operation of the Aceh Sustainable Development Caucus.
- Facilitate the flow of information about sustainable development to legislators in order to enhance the development of public policies that incorporate sustainability principles.
- Provide technical consultation to Aceh’s Parliament on a variety of issues such as land-use planning.
In January and February of this year, the ACEH team devoted significant time to conducting presentations and meetings with 13 of the 15 political parties in Aceh during the lead up to the local elections in April. ACEH is building a network of civil society organizations to contribute to this effort. At present ACEH is planning the agenda and structure for the Caucus, which is expected to begin in October 2014 when newly elected legislators start their terms.
We want to share with you the ACEH brochure, in English, that summarizes this project. We appreciate our supporters who, in turn, enable us to be a small part of this major effort for wildlife in Aceh and throughout Asia.
Update - Elephants at ERU camps and Sun Bear release
As usual, the Veterinary Society for Sumatran Wildlife Conservation (VESSWIC) veterinarians are working diligently for elephants and other wildlife in Sumatra. In August, the team visited the Elephant Conservation Centers (ECC) in Minas and Sebanga in the province of Riau. After VESSWIC assisted the Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) with a few cases involving wild and captive elephants, the head of BKSDA Riau sent a formal request for regular health care support. VESSWIC will be collaborating with the BKSDA to improve the care of the elephants in the Riau elephant camps. The initial plan is to do quarterly visits for the next 12 months. During this trip the vet team was invited to visit a small conservation forest area inside a pulp and paper production forest. The company with in this conservation area, Arar Abadi Pulp and Paper Company, currently manages 6 elephants, but the management of these elephants will be going back to BKSDA Riau. The BKSDA and Ara Abadi would like to establish an elephant patrol unit in the Bengkalis district, which is an area of high human-elephant conflict. VESSWIC was asked to evaluate the health and general management of the elephants to determine if they could be used for patrol. Furthermore, BKSDA has asked VESSWIC to provide technical assistance to establish this new Conservation Response Unit (CRU)/ Elephant Patrol Unit.
Last medical check before transport
In our last update in the April newsletter, VESWIC had assisted BKSDA Aceh with a sun bear rescue. We are happy to report that two of the sun bears that were being kept in quarantine at the BKSDA headquarters have been released into the Ulu Massen forest area. One of the bears had been confiscated from an illegal private holding facility and the other had been injured in a wire snare and brought to the headquarters for treatment.
Loading the boat to go deep into the forest
With your support, AES has been able to make a three year commitment to VESSWIC to help them continue the work they are doing for the wildlife and humans living in Sumatra.
Leaving the transport cage
Partnering for pachyderms
A Caring Collaboration for Asian Elephants
Our story
Asian Elephant Support (AES) and Hope Elephants are working together to improve the lives of elephants living in the wild and in human care.
Hope Elephants is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization that is bringing a small number of retired or injured Asian elephants to Maine from circus herds for care and rehabilitation. Hope Elephants is also an educational destination where visitors, especially school-age children, have an opportunity to see, hear, and interact with the animals as a platform to present the big issues surrounding conservation, habitat destruction, and ecology.
Asian Elephant Support is also a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization that supports the care and conservation of elephants inAsian range countries. AES’s mission is to:
- Provide financial assistance and support for the health, welfare and conservation of elephants in Asian range countries.
- Provide educational opportunities and supplies to those who care for captive Asian elephants in range countries.
- Increase awareness and offer support for human-elephant coexistence to help protect the needs and future of the Asian elephant.
By combining efforts, resources, and expertise, we can accomplish more and make a greater impact for elephants in Asian range countries.
The impact
This project will directly benefit the wild and captive population of elephants in Assam, India. Even though elephants play an important role in the culture and religion of India, there are relatively few individuals with elephant veterinary expertise. Often the elephants live in remote locations and are difficult to reach, which makes responding to emergency situations more challenging.
AES has been workingwith Dr. Kushal Sarma since 2011 to improve the lives of the elephants in Assam. Because of his knowledge and willingness, Dr. Sarma is called to respond to health related elephant emergencies when needed. As human-elephant conflict increases, so does the number of emergency situations.
What we need
The funds raised in this project will be used to support Dr. Sarma’s Elephant Healthcare and Welfare- Emergency Response Program in Assam, India. By being able to respond to emergency situations, the wild and captive elephants will receive the desperately needed veterinary care they deserve.
Our minimum ask is $2000 and any additional funds will be used to provide medicine and supplies for Dr. Sarma’s Elephant Health Care Clinics throughout Assam.
We will be sending out more information about this soon, but feel free to visit our website if you can't wait to learn more!
