Elephants patrol Leuser conservation area<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
Despite her young age, Christine feels at home alone while her
\nmother has to go to work. Although she has on occasion behaved
\nbadly to protest the deployment of her mother along with other
\ntrained elephants to patrol part of the Leuser conservation area
\nin Aras Napal, Besitang, North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Christine, the product of a tame elephant and a wild one, was
\nborn five months ago at the Elephant Patrol Unit (UPG) station.<\/p>\n
Her presence at the UPG increased the number of tame elephants
\nto five. In spite of her tender age, the calf has at times
\nfollowed her mother Tantri around the forest around Mount Leuser
\nNational Park (TNGL) while on patrol.<\/p>\n
Tantri, along with three other elephants, Rio, Dion and Aini,
\nwas hired from the elephant training center in Way Kambas in
\nLampung in April 1999 and have been deployed to help protect
\nstaff help safeguard the protected forest in the national park
\nfrom illegal loggers.<\/p>\n
The four elephants have patrolled the forest 10 days a month
\nfor the past five years.<\/p>\n
Four pawang (mahouts) from Way Kambas -- Indra Syahputra,
\nWagino, Naharuddin and Danang Dono -- are also on hand to this
\nvery day, caring for the elephants and leading them on patrols in
\nthe area.<\/p>\n
Head pawang, Indra, said that initially five elephants were
\nhired to protect the park, but after three years at the UPG, an
\nelephant named Anang died after being ill for many months and was
\nburied at the UPG.<\/p>\n
"The trained elephants' presence in Aras Napal has contributed
\nmuch to the conservation area. They are very helpful. We gain
\nmore but pay less because the elephants do not require special
\nfood that costs a lot," said Indra.<\/p>\n
According to the pawang, the Elephant Patrol Unit has foiled
\nhundreds of cases of timber theft.<\/p>\n
For example, in 2003, 23 cases of illegal logging were foiled
\nand the loggers arrested. Pawang and conservation staff also
\nseized around 50 tons of illegal timber and four chain saws.<\/p>\n
The patrol unit also took action against 19 people collecting
\nnontimber products from the forest.<\/p>\n
The head of forest rangers in Aras Napal, E. Siregar, said
\nsince the elephants became involved in patrols, the rate of
\ntimber theft in the Leuser area, especially in Besitang and its
\nsurrounding areas, had dropped.<\/p>\n
He said forest rangers experienced no difficulty apprehending
\nillegal loggers as most of them did not resist arrest.<\/p>\n
"They (illegal loggers) usually surrender because they feel
\noverwhelmed. They are afraid of the elephants, not us," he said.<\/p>\n
Indra said it was not easy to train elephants for forest
\npatrols as they were once wild and had not been trained to patrol
\nat Way Kambas.<\/p>\n
After undergoing general training at Way Kambas training
\ncenter, the elephants underwent special training for patrols upon
\narrival at the conservation area. With routine training, the
\nelephants have come know the national park.<\/p>\n
Pawang do not need magical powers to handle the elephants.<\/p>\n
"I don't really agree to being called a pawang because it
\ninfers that we possess magical powers, whereas we don't. We only
\nhave the courage to work with and care for the animals," he told
\nThe Jakarta Post at the UPG in Aras Napal.<\/p>\n
Wagino, 33, another pawang, said he had once been kicked four
\nmeters by an elephant he was trying to train.<\/p>\n
He said three things were necessary to successfully train
\nelephants, he said: "We should sometimes treat them humanely,
\nsometimes like animals and we need certain tools to help us train
\nthem."<\/p>\n
Wagino recalled his first experience as a pawang, when he was
\ndesperately trying to subdue a wild elephant in Way Kambas. No
\nother jobs were available and he had no choice but to do it,
\ndespite his inexperience.<\/p>\n
"It is so difficult to find a job these days. By chance, I
\napplied for the job after getting information from the training
\ncenter on opportunities for elephant pawang. Unexpectedly, my
\napplication was accepted."<\/p>\n
Wagino, who has worked with elephants for almost 15 years,
\nadmits that he sometimes finds the job boring but says it is too
\nlate for him to change his profession and he must work to support
\nhis family and send his children to school.<\/p>\n
He said that as a pawang at the UPG, he is entitled to six
\ndays off a month.<\/p>\n
"But we have to visit the elephants every morning to feed
\nthem. The elephants have become part of our daily lives and we
\nare here for them. They are our true friends," he said.<\/p>\n
European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom
\nillustrated her fondness for elephants when she and her entourage
\nvisited on a field trip to the EU-funded conservation area last
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
The EU official and several reporters rode on the elephant's
\nbacks on a tour around the conservation area. Wallstrom expressed
\nappreciation of the deployment of the elephants, saying their
\npresence had contributed much, not only in maintaining the
\nconservation area but also in protecting wild animals in the
\nprotected primary forests in the national park.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/elephants-patrol-leuser-conservation-area-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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