For those of us who grew up in Western nations, we often forget that places across the globe have a completely different everyday relationship with wildlife. While you might worry about deer or rabbits eating your landscaping, subsistence farmers across Asia stay up nights fearful of elephants destroying their entire crop. Schoolchildren may be fearful of walking to school because elephants migrate across their path. Families have sleepless nights worried if wild elephants will break through the walls of their home.
On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the critically endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) lives in fragmented patches of habitat, disconnected from each other and resources. Deforestation, oil palm plantations, and human development push wildlife into smaller and smaller areas that often butt up against communities, farms, and people making the perfect circumstances for human-elephant conflict (HEC). This is the case for the communities surrounding Way Kambas National Park, which is home to what is likely the largest connected breeding herd of Sumatran elephants. Their fields are planted by hand, one seedling at a time and the elephants who live in WKNP often see an easy meal overnight leaving the farmers devastated.
Elephant Response Units (ERUs) consisting of mahouts, wildlife officers, and unreleasable elephants were created to foster co-existence and protect remaining wildlife and habitat. These teams patrol the Park, finding and removing snares, catching poachers, stopping illegal harvesting, and importantly, herding wild elephants away from park boundaries and away from human settlements. The dense rainforest-like habitat includes swamp, mangroves, and lowland forest, making much of it inaccessible by vehicle, motorbike, or even by foot. Elephant-back patrols allow the teams to protect the entire landscape, while the elephant-team-members receive veterinary care in addition to plenty of exercise, opportunity to browse, and mental activity while on patrol.
Community engagement is essential for this project. ERU team members come from the local communities. They regularly engage in outreach and education, and have set up channels of communication so people can report elephant sightings or potential HEC situations. When ERU teams are alerted to elephants venturing near park boundaries they will help herd them further into safe habitat and away from farms. Working with farmers, ERU members will conduct night watches which add an additional layer of protection from HEC.
As a result of these efforts, locals have developed a level of pride and ownership in the ERUs, working together to protect some of the last remaining habitat for Sumatran elephants. The working elephants in the ERUs are helping their wild cousins every day and inspiring entire communities to become conservation-minded.
Half a world away, elephants in human care in zoological and private facilities do the same thing in the United States—cultivate an ethic of conservation. Seeing an elephant in person, engaging with keepers, and learning about the challenges that elephants face in their range countries helps to inspire conservation action. In addition to building the next generation of conservationists, zoos generate funds to support projects around the world that focus on protecting and preserving the very species in their care. Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, and Tulsa Zoo have all supported the ERU program for years, in addition to IEF’s Board Member institutions Fort Worth Zoo, Houston Zoo, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, The Preserve, Myakka Elephant Ranch, African Lion Safari, Denver Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Saint Louis Zoo, Africam Safari, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Pittsburg Zoo & Aquarium, Milwaukee County Zoo, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, San Antonio Zoo and Wuppertal Zoo. The elephant herds in zoos are helping to support the elephants in the ERUs who in turn are helping to protect their wild cousins.
Elephants helping elephants helping elephants. We think that’s elephantastic!
