The Sumatran elephant's range and number have declined since the
turn of the 19th century, with the establishment of large scale monoculture
plantations such as rubber, oil palm, sugarcane etc in the island. Large
number of elephants were shot and killed in the process of forest clearance.
Prior to the arrival of the Dutch, the Sultans of Sumatra maintained large
number of elephants in captivity, but with the arrival of the Dutch the
influence of these Sultans waned and with the phasing out of the Sultans,
the science and art of domesticating elephants also disappeared from Sumatra.
Today, the elephants in Sumatra have lost so much of their original
habitat that they are forced to invade the communities that have replaced
them. This is the crux of the human-elephant conflict in Sumatra. When large
number of people, mostly transmigrants from over crowded Java and Bali began
cultivating the land in Sumatra, they came to bear the brunt of elephant
depredations on a massive scale. Monoculture plantations too began losing
vast sums of money through elephant depredations. People, in the absence of
relief from the Government, began taking the law into their own hands and
began killing elephants in Sumatra.
Faced with this situation, it was the PHPA (Directorate General of
Forest Protection and Nature Conservation) and the TSI (Taman Safari
Indonesia) who first seriously thought of capturing the chronic crop raiding
elephants with the view to training them and using them in forestry,
agriculture, tourism and wildlife. However, the art of domesticatimng
elephants disappeared with the demise of the Sultans, over 300 years ago.
Therefore, the PHPA & TSI went to Thailand and bought trained elephants and
transported them across land and sea, together with their mahouts, and
re-introduced the art of domesticating elephants in Indonesia.
It is therefore very unfair to criticise the efforts of TSI in
enhancing the public awareness of the elephant and its plight in the wild,
through the well publicised and successful Elephant Walk sponsored by The
Jakarta Post. Many people are ignorant of the plight of the elephant in the
wild. This is especially true of the city dwellers who rarely come across a
wild elephant. But poeple whose lands border elephant reserves in Sumatra
have had a raw deal for quite a long time. Elephants destroy crops and at
times even kill people. The danger to elephants in Sumatra (and across much
of Asia) in the present situation is that because they have no commercial
value, and are a potential threat to human life and property, they are
likely to be eliminated from agricultural communities by the local people.
In Sri Lanka, on average, about 100 wild elephants are being killed by
farmers every year!. In both Indonesia and Sri Lanka, human-elephant
conflict seems to have replaced poaching!
The slaughter of elephants is a direct consequence of how farmers
percieve the value of elephants? In both countries, there seems to be no
advantage to the ordinary man of having elephants around. For those people
who live next to an elephant reserve, the presence of wild elephnats is both
a curse and a liability. The killing of an elephant therefore removes a
serious pest. Thus many farmers do not really regret the disappearence of
the elephant from their neighbourhood. For the rural poor who suffer so many
problems such as inadequate food, insufficient health, fluctuating rainfall,
increased oil prices, World Bank and IMF, elephants must surely be a luxury
- a luxury that they cannot afford.
Capture and training of problem elephants in the service of man i
far more sensible than doing nothing and seeing them decimated by irate
farmers. Thwe human-elephant conflict is real and it seems to lead in just
one direction: the destruction and eventual elimination of elephants, unless
innovative measures are adopted now. This is what both PHPA and TSI are
trying to do in Idnonesia. It is easy for armchair conservationists to
criticise these efforts,. but in the end it is these organizations that
really are faced with the resolution of problems in the field.
Total preservation of wildlife is a luxury many poor countries in
Asia cannot afford in the face of the legitimate aspirations of the people
for a better standard of living. As Dr Graham Child points out, "If wildlife
is permitted to contribute to the welfare of people, they will not be able
to afford to lose it in their battle for survival. If wildlife does not
contribute significantly to their well being, people will not be able to
afford to preserve it, except as a tourist curiosity in a few protected areas".
The TSI has been in the forefront of endangered species
conservation in Indonesia for many years. It has provided funds in support
of many ex-situ and in-situ conservation programmes. Some NGOs who wish to
preserve the elephant, are rarely those who have to pay the cost. While the
peasant farmer becomes destitute overnight, as a result of elephant
depredation, the wll off animal lover or NGO activist wants to enjoy wildife
spectacle at a minimal cost! It is far better for all influentail NGOs to
join and help resolve the current conflict between man and elephant in
Indonesia than criticise every effort by well meaning conservation agencies
such as TSI in Indonesia. I very much hope that TSI continues to promote the
public awareness of the plight of the elephant in Indonesia. An enlightened
public will then be more receptive to conservation of the elephant and other
endangered species in Indonesia.
Prof. Charles Santiapillai
Dept. of Zoology,
University of Peradeniya
Sri Lanka
e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
telapak mobile wrote:
> Para pemerhati lingkungan,
>
> Atas nama PANTAU (jaringan LSM untuk pemantauan perdagangan hidupan liar Indonesia)
>saya menyatakan protes keras pada Taman Safari dan harian The Jakarta Post yang telah
>melansir sebuah tontonan dan atraksi "eksploitatif".
>
> Kenapa saya sebut eksploitatif ? Tidak lain karena keduanya telah mempromosikan
>sebuah acara yang mengajak publik untuk bisa menikmati kesengsaraan hidupan liar
>Indonesia. Mereka seolah2 tidak merasa bahwa setiap yang hidup di muka bumi ini juga
>perlu mendapatkan keadilan. Betapa tidak beberapa waktu lalu kedua lembaga tersebut
>membawa Gajah Sumatera ke dalam kerumunan orang yang sedang berolahraga pagi di
>Stadion Senayan, Jakarta. Setelah itu gajah yang khusus didatangkan dari TSI juga
>disuruh untuk melakukan berbagai atraksi di hadapan orang banyak. Yang lebih
>mengenaskan adalah diadakannya LOMBA TARIK TAMBANG melawan GAJAH.
>
> Terlepas dari menang tidaknya, sebenarnya hal ini dapat mendorong publik semakin
>tidak peduli pada kelestarian dan hak hidup Gajah. Orang bisa dengan seenaknya
>menyiksa binatang besar yang konon perkasa ini. Padahal selama ini habitat Gajah di
>Indonesia semakin lama semakin tergusur oleh aktifnya konversi hutan. Hampir tak ada
>ruang buat mereka untuk hidup dan berkembang biak. Lebih jauh salah satu pemrakarsa
>kegiatan adalah Taman Safari Indonesia yang katanya "LEMBAGA KONSERVASI EX-SITU".
>
> Sementara itu dengan naifnya pihak The Jakarta Post yang telah terkenal di kalangan
>expatriat ternyata menyelenggarakan acara tersebut dalam rangka merayakan HUT-nya.
>Lalu apakah ulang tahun yang berdekatan tanggalnya dengan HARI BUMI harus dirayakan
>dengan sebuah hal yang tidak mencerminkan kepedulian terhadap lingkungan? Yang lebih
>mengenaskan lagi peristiwa ini disiarkan di media televisi dan ada petinggi PKA (dulu
>PHPA) yang berkomentar mau menyelamatkan Gajah.
>
> Saya kira sudah saatnya bagi kita para pemerhati lingkungan untuk dapat
>berkontribusi terhadap berbagai peristiwa sehari2 yang tidak mencerminkan budaya
>KEADILAN terhadap LINGKUNGAN. Kejadian tersebut adalah cermin budaya antroposentris
>dan arogan.
> Tulisan ini saya buat untuk mengajak para pecinta lingkungan agar lebih berhati2 dan
>kritis terhadap permasalahan lingkungan di sekitar kita.
>
> Salam,
> Hapsoro
> Koordinator PANTAU
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