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Newsletter March
2003
Elephant Care International Project Update Most of the
elephants have been moved from Sebanga (where we first began our work in
Sumatra 3 years ago) to Minas. The Sebanga site suffered from illegal
logging, lack of food supplies, and poor water quality. The majority of
the 42 camp elephants we have examined appear to be in good physical
condition, however, routine bloodwork has revealed that many are anemic.
Comparing our records from 2001, we also learned that many of the
elephants are growing slowly or have lost weight. We suspect that
inadequate nutrition is the underlying cause of both of these problems,
however the cause of the anemia may be multi-factorial with intestinal
and/or blood parasites as possible confounding factors. Elephants are
taken to browse each day and receive supplemental food (coconut leaf or
banana stem) in the evening. Any forest (“hutan”) can be rapidly depleted
when 50 elephants are feeding in a concentrated area, so the pawangs
(elephant handlers) must take their elephants further into the “hutan.”
The nutritional issues are compounded by the high turn-over rate among the
pawangs. New, inexperienced pawangs may not care for their elephants as
well.
During the course of our physical
examinations of the elephants, we compared actual weights with estimates
based on chest girth (Hile,E.M., Hintz,H.F., and Hollis,N. 1997.
Predicting body weight from body measurements in Asian elephants (Elephas
maximus). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 28:(4):424-427). Chest
girth appears to be a sufficiently accurate weight predictor in adolescent
and adult Sumatran elephants, varying within about 8% from the actual
weight. However, chest girth does not correlate in young elephants under
600 kg. Thanks again to IEF for the earlier donation of the scale, it has
been invaluable. Susie
Bartlett, a graduating Cornell veterinary student, spent the month of
February with us. Susie looked at parasite egg counts on 10 of the
elephants we examined. The initial egg counts were lower than we
expected. Egg counts were reduced to zero in 7 elephants from which we
were able to obtain 2 week post-worming samples, which indicates that our
de-worming agent (ivermectin) and dose is effective. Several
interesting medical cases have occurred in the past few months. Alek is
under treatment for a chronic temporal gland abscess, Jacki sustained an
unusual wound to the flank that resolved after several weeks of treatment,
and Reno has a sole crack from stepping on a stob. Puspita, an elephant
born at the camp in 1999, was found to be very thin – possibly related to
a recent weaning for her mother. She also had an elevated white blood
cell count (an indication of infection) which resolved after two weeks of
antibiotics therapy (administered in pineapples). The most unusual case
was a large growth that appeared on the trunk of Monica, a young
elephant. We noticed it during her routine exam but when we checked her a
week later it had grown considerably, so we surgically removed it. A
sample was sent to the veterinary school in Aceh and the pathologist
reports that it is a fibrous tissue tumor. Neoplastic growths
(tumors) have been infrequently reported in elephants. Monica now
has a second growth on her trunk that we plan to remove soon.
Bull Shot by Villager The treatment
of newly captured elephants is exceedingly difficult under the conditions
in which we work. These elephants are still quite wild and cannot be
safely approached without trained elephants to act as shields. To
administer treatment it is necessary to sedate the elephants, which limits
the frequency with which they can be treated. The capture related wounds
further reinforce the need for re-training in immobilization techniques. Rokan Hulu
Conflict The two bulls
under treatment are the unfortunate victims of the shrinking habitat on
Sumatra. They were captured in Rokan Hulu, an area west of Pekanbaru that
has experienced human-elephant conflict for the past four months and has
created a crisis situation for Riau’s forestry department. About 43
elephants have become stranded in a pocket of land because of the creation
of several monoculture plantations around their periphery, with elephant
“ditches’” protecting their boundaries. Much of the pocketed piece of
land is under rice, peanut, and rubber cultivation by several small
communities. With the drastic reduction of habitat and the proximity of
high caloric value crops, the elephants have become “pests”. One villager
was killed early this year by an elephant and another injured. At least
two elephants have been shot and wounded by villagers. In January we
examined 10 crop-raiding elephants that were captured in Rokan Hulu. Nine
of these were later translocated and the 10th is the “shotgun
bull” discussed above. Pawangs Pay issues
for the pawangs (elephant handlers) remain a problem for the fourth year
in a row. Pawangs only receive half of their salary from January until
October or so, when the backlog is cleared up. The
facilities for the pawangs at Minas are minimal with only one permanent
and two makeshift buildings. The pawangs sleep on the floor. We have
provided funds to replace the roof over the pawang eating area (at their
request) and will soon purchase mattresses and pillows. We have also
provided a first-aid and medications kit for the pawangs. Motivation of
pawangs is a major issue. It is easy to determine which pawangs care by
looking at the condition of their elephants. Some of the nutritional
problems that we have seen are directly related to the pawangs failing to
move their elephants to new browse frequently enough.
Long
discussions with the camp manager have not yet elucidated viable
incentives for the pawangs. The camp manager tried a system of rewarding
pawangs that did a good job. However, rather than inspiring others to
improve, the rewarded pawangs were ostracized by their peers. The
negative peer pressure amongst the pawangs is a difficult issue. The
Rokan Hulu conflict pulled the camp manager and senior mahout away from
the center which has confounded the already serious discipline issues
among the pawangs. BBC Filmed
in December
Funding News Recent
funding for our project activities has been provided by the International
Elephant Foundation, Peace River Refuge, the Walt Disney Company
Foundation, several North American zoos (Colombus Zoo, Toronto Zoo, Niabi
Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, Tulsa Zoo), private donors, and a Conservation
Endowment Fund grant from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
Special thanks to Harry Peachey of Columbus Zoo who has been invaluable in
his fund-raising efforts. Additional funding is urgently needed! Please
see the
How to Donate section of our site. We spent a
very informative week in the field with Riau KSDA (the forestry
department) officials as they attempted to capture a bull elephant that
had been raiding a palm oil plantation. This first-hand experience
provided us with a better understanding of the KSDA’s equipment and
technical needs. We feel we have gained the trust and respect of local
officials and have already given them detailed suggestions on improving
their system.
It is our
stated position that we do not condone the capturing of wild elephants for
captivity. At the same time, we understand the complexity of the problem
of human-elephant conflict and we acknowledge that elephants may need to
be captured for translocation from conflict areas. In June 2002, 17 wild
elephants died suddenly in a village in North Sumatra and are suspected of
having been poisoned by the villagers. Riau province is a
“hot-bed” of human-elephant conflict. Between 1997 and 2002 there were 57
elephant (and 51 tiger) conflicts in Riau. With the devastating rate of
deforestation, it is likely that this problem will only worsen. The
formation of regional or local conflict mitigation teams has been
discussed. These teams would assess conflict situations and work locally
to resolve the problem with alternative techniques. Capture for
translocation or placement in the centers would be a last resort. It is
unclear how quickly these teams will be formed or if the needed financial
resources are even available. It is therefore likely that captures will
continue, especially in Riau.
To this end
we are organizing a 5-day intensive Sumatran Elephant Immobilization and
Translocation Workshop for KSDA teams from 6 areas in Sumatra. Pending
funding, the Workshop will be held this July in Riau province.
International experts with experience in elephant immobilization and
translocation will conduct the Workshop. Lectures and hands-on practice
will be combined to present current information on equipment, drugs, and
translocation strategies used in Africa, Malaysia, and India that may have
application in Sumatra. Funding has
been secured from WWF-Indonesia, the International Elephant Foundation,
and the Walt Disney Company Foundation. We still need to raise an
additional $13,000.
Sumatran
Elephant Resource Center The
goal of this project is to network all of the ECC’s of Sumatra under an
umbrella Elephant Resource Center, which will be administered by
Indonesians, under the auspices of independent NGO’s, to improve the
healthcare of Sumatran elephants.
Nevertheless, we are moving ahead with our plans at a reduced level and
seek further donations to support this important effort.
Website
Additions A major
update of this website was published in late March. Please see
Updates for full details. The website
now contains more than 3500 files of information on over 600 pages. Our Internet
Host-server (a division of Verisign) experienced multiple hard-drive
crashes in late February. No data was lost from the website itself, but
our Forum lost all registrations and postings from October through
February. Our site was down for 3-4 days. We are still investigating
this situation and will contact all forum members that were affected. Susan Mikota
DVM
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