Elephants make good farmers

Elephants make good farmers

JAKARTA (JP): There are two kinds of elephants in Sumatra. Bad ones and good ones. The bad ones attack villages and eat their crops. The good ones help plow farmlands and do odd jobs.

A village in Lampung has succeeded in taming two elephants, so that they now do most of the plowing of rice fields in the area.

"We didn't have any problem in domesticating the elephants," Samani, head of the Brambasan village in North Lampung, told Antara.

The two elephants can plow one hectare of rice fields in eight days. Since 1993, the two have plowed more than 25 hectares. The elephants have also been useful in transporting logs and other bulky goods, Samani said.

Two elephant trainers are employed to manage the animals.

News of the success with the elephants travels fast apparently. A number of other villages in Lampung have expressed interest in employing elephants. Their village chiefs have now requested elephants from the elephant training school in Way Kambas, which is also in Lampung.

Over the past year the Ministry of Forestry has been trying to encourage forestry concessionaires and farmers to employ elephants as one way of resolving the problem of how to handle the elephants in Sumatra.

Last year, at least 14 people were killed in raids by elephants in various parts of Sumatra.

One official suggested selected culling the animal as a way out but the idea was quickly denounced by environmental groups.(29)