Asian Elephants In The Wild

Threats to the Asian Elephant


The Threats to the Asian Elephant


Habitat loss

bout 20 per cent of the world's human population lives in or near the present range of the Asian elephant. With human numbers increasing at a rate of about three per cent per annum, this could mean doubling the population in 23 years. Therein lies the root of the problem of conserving the Asian elephant.

The elephant's forest home has already been reduced to a fraction of what it once was in most countries in its range. India's formerly extensive forests, where elephants roamed widely, now cover less than 20 per cent of the country, and barely half that is suitable for elephants. The central India population has been seriously fragmented. Thailand has cleared almost all its lowland forest, creating a huge void of wildlife habitat in the heart of the country. On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, vast areas of forest are being cleared to accommodate millions of people, resettled from the crowded islands of Java, Bali, and Madura. Indo­China's forests were seriously damaged during 30 years of constant warfare, particularly by the use of chemical defoliants, napalm, and massive bombing during the US/Vietnamese conflict. However, more forest land has been cleared since the Vietnam war ended than during it. In Sri Lanka, the vast Mahaweli River Valley Project for settlement, crops, and irrigation cuts a wide swathe through the heart of elephant country. Burma, Cambodia, and Laos still have considerable forest cover, but this is suffering from unmanaged and unsustainable logging.

Fragmentation of habitat

The fragmentation of the elephant's forest habitat is particularly damaging. Elephants migrate with the seasons to find the best feeding areas. Now the migration routes have been disrupted and herds are constantly confronted by new settlements and agriculture, where they are not welcome. When they invade crops, and sometimes villages, there are violent clashes as people try to drive them away with fire, muzzle­loading guns, and crude bombs. Elephants and people are killed and injured - the elephant, a lovable animal for the world at large, has become a nightmare for many living in its range.

The situation is particularly tragic when elephants are "pocketed" in small patches of forest, which cannot meet their food and water requirements, and from which they have no way to escape. Killing the elephants is not an acceptable option in many parts of Asia, and particularly in India, but demand for working elephants is limited.

Mortality during capture of wild elephants
Capture of wild elephants for domestic use has become a threat to wild populations where numbers have been seriously reduced. Because of the long years of infancy, when an elephant is not capable of work, it has been the custom to take wild elephants and train them rather than breed from domesticated animals. India has banned capture in order to conserve its wild herds, but in Burma hundreds are caught each year for the timber industry. Unfortunately, crude capture methods have led to a high level of deaths and efforts are being made, not only to improve safety, but also to encourage captive breeding rather than taking from the wild.

Poaching

Male Asian elephants have suffered from the ivory trade, like their African cousins, both male and female. This is by no means a new phenomenon, for ivory has been a valued substance from time immemorial, and Asian artists and craftsmen have always been renowned for their skills in transforming tusks into complex and beautiful objects.

Despite legal protection of all elephants in the country, tuskers in southern India have been particularly hard hit, and few remain of the magnificent specimens that once roamed the land. Some of the ivory was illegally used locally because, until recently, African ivory was imported for carving by Indian craftsmen and it was difficult to distinguish between the two varieties. Apart from tusks used within India, tusks were smuggled out of the country, often to Arabian countries.

China recently passed the death sentence on five men, including two policemen, accused of involvement in poaching 16 elephants (5­10% of the known population) for their tusks. Fourteen others were given suspended death sentences, life sentences, or unspecified gaol terms. Recent reports indicate poaching for ivory and hide is increasing in Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Poaching for meat, hide, and bones occurs in some areas, including upper Burma. Hide is smuggled to Thailand, where it is turned into bags and shoes, and to China, where the ash is used to treat ulcers and wounds. Bone ash is prescribed for stomach problems.

Genetic Threat

There has been concern about the genetic effects of reducing the number of big tuskers. However, an elephant with large tusks will have contributed its genes to the population. Danger arises when the big tuskers are eliminated and poachers find that killing immature males for their small tusks is worthwhile. When tuskers are killed, the number of males in a population decreases, resulting in skewed sex ratios. The latter increases genetic drift which leads to inbreeding and eventually to high juvenile mortality and low breeding success. Removing tuskers also reduces gene exchange by these longer ranging loners that mate with females of different sub­populations. In populations with a high ratio of makanas, or large tuskless males, the sex ratio would be better balanced, reducing adverse genetic effects.

Disease

A recent outbreak of Haemorrhagic Pepticaemia, a cattle disease that is rare among elephants, was responsible for the deaths of several animals in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park in May 1994 (Santiapillai). In small herds of elephants, epidemics could wipe out entire groups.




Approximate distribution of Elephants in India


Sources: Lahiri-Choudhury (1980); Nair et al. (1980); Shahi (1980); Sukumar (1986)











Through its regional state affiliates, WWF­India has assisted in environmental awareness programmes, aimed especially at reducing conflict between wildlife and people living in and around protected areas including Bandipur, Mudumalai, and Dudhwa. Recently, WWF­India formulated an action plan for conserving the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve which also has an elephant population. The Community Biodiversity Conservation Programme has funded studies in relocated villages of the Chandaka Elephant Reserve in Orissa, and its Conservation Corps Volunteers have been studying human­elephant conflicts in north Bengal.

Elephants occur in several of India's famous national parks, including Corbett and Kaziranga National Parks and Manas Tiger Reserve, as well as in many smaller wildlife and forest reserves. However, few of them are large enough to contain a resident population within their boundaries and problems are bound to occur when elephants range outside in search of food and water. Ivory poaching is a particular problem in southern India, where there is a long tradition of carving.
From 1976 to 1982, WWF was involved in a series of projects aimed at conserving elephants in the four main areas. During this period, WWF aided conservation of Asian elephants throughout the range states mainly through support to the IUCN/SSC's Asian Elephant Specialist Group. In India, four task forces of the group surveyed and monitored elephant status and habitat in the northwest, south, central, and northeast. The earliest assisted the Government in identifying and protecting the watershed areas of the Western Ghats, which contain some of India's finest elephant habitat. As a direct result, a 5,500km2 area protecting elephant ranges north of the Palghat Gap was later declared a Biosphere Reserve. Today, this area contains a population of about 2,500 elephants. A census of elephants south of the Palghat Gap in the Anamalai Hills and neighbouring Kerala forests was conducted in 1981­1982: although the habitat was found to be adequate, elephant numbers were lower than expected - many elephants had been captured from this population in the past century. Seasonal migration patterns have been disrupted because of hydroelectric and irrigation schemes.

IUCN's Asian elephant Specialist Group
In central India, the status and ecology of elephants in Bihar and Orissa were studied. Distribution, numbers, ecology and human/elephant conflicts were evaluated with the collaboration of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group of IUCN/SSC. Elsewhere in India, the elephant populations of the northeast were the focus of another WWF funded project. Again, their numbers and distribution were charted and enough data collected to prepare a master plan to enable the Forest Department to act. There are an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 wild elephants in the region, in fragmented populations, and at least half live entirely outside protected areas. The West Meghalaya population (2,500­3,000) is probably the most threatened population of its size throughout the entire range of the Asian elephant. Other WWF projects in India have been concerned with support to protected areas, including Kaziranga.

In 1988, WWF­India was involved in setting up the IUCN Asian Elephant Conservation Centre at the Centre for Ecological Studies at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Project Elephant
WWF has spent almost US$290,000 on elephants and their habitats in India. Currently, WWF­India supports a number of national parks containing elephants under Project Tiger, spending US$53,000 to date. WWF also supported the establishment of TRAFFIC­India to help the government of India abide by its obligations to regulate trade in wildlife products, including ivory, under CITES. Expenditure to date on TRAFFIC­India and other wildlife trade monitoring is over US$1,000,000.

In 1991, the government of India initiated Project Elephant. This is a nationwide attempt to manage both wild and captive elephant populations throughout India. The project proposes to establish Elephant Reserves to protect the range of as many populations as possible, to establish corridors between these reserves, and to accommodate the socio­economic needs of people living within elephant range areas. The welfare of captive elephant populations is also a concern. Recently, WWF­India's Secretary­General was a member of the Government Task Force set up to identify Project Elephant reserves.

Thailand's Elephant and Forest Conservation Fund
In 1979, WWF funded one of the early surveys of elephant status and distribution in Thailand. The survey identified the need to enlarge existing protected areas and create new ones in order to encompass more of the elephants' dwindling range. It also identified Khao Yai national park, which contained one of the largest elephant populations in Thailand, as the most suitable venue for further research on elephant ecology. Thus began a series of projects at Khao Yai, starting with a more exhaustive survey of elephants in 1980 and later a range of activities in collaboration with Thailand's Royal Forest Department to address management problems. By working with communities along the Park's boundaries, Wildlife Fund Thailand (with support from WWF) and other local NGOs began an attempt to integrate conservation with rural development in 1983.

Khao Yai contains about 10 per cent of all Thailand's remaining elephants, and elephants have served as a central theme throughout the community outreach scheme. Khao Yai's buffer zone and sustainable development programme is one of the best known in Asia.

The lessons learned in Khao Yai have proved valuable in addressing the needs of rural communities living near other protected areas in Thailand. The Huai Kha Khaeng/ Thung Yai (HKK/TY) Reserve is the largest protected area complex in Thailand, and contains a rich and varied flora and fauna, including 250­300 elephants and tigers. Like other such areas, it is threatened by forest fires and encroachment, and elephants and other wildlife are poached. WWF has been funding studies on the biodiversity of the reserve and assisting the Wildlife Conservation Division in coordinating all conservation activities in the area including management of the buffer zone and providing conservation education to local communities. The 1994/95 budget for HKK/TY is around US$130,000, not including coordination costs.

In 1993, WWF supported and participated in the launch of the Elephant and Forest Conservation Fund. One year later, Wildlife Fund Thailand, the Royal Forestry Department and Amway Thailand celebrated the fund's first anniversary with the announcement and publication of the results of a 12­month research programme at Khao Yai National Park, carried out with partial funding by WWF. One of the main objectives of this project is to gain grassroots cooperation to protect the wild elephant, which is still under threat from poachers. Further research and a public awareness and fundraising campaign are being planned to conserve the elephant. The two target groups at which the campaign will be aimed are: tourists (some 900,000 people visit Khao Yai each year) who will be advised on how to avoid disturbing animals and their habitat, and people living from the forest. The latter depend on the forest as a source of food and often hunt elephants. The fund recommended that the groups be helped in developing alternative livelihoods and be provided with assistance and education. In addition to funding by WFT and the United States Agency for International Development, WWF has budgeted around US$63,000 for the Khao Yai TEAM (The Environmental Awareness and Development Mobilization) project this year. So far, WWF has spent over US$400,000 in projects relating to elephants and their habitat in Thailand.

Indonesia
Since 1966 WWF has worked with Indonesia's Directorate General Forest Protection of Nature Conservation (PHPA) to carry out a number of projects and develop and manage protected areas. In the 1980s, WWF assisted surveys of large mammals, particularly elephants, in Sumatra, in order to advise the PHPA on their management. One of the early findings was that elephant numbers had been grossly underestimated in the past: in one heavily forested area, thought to contain 80 elephants, over 232 were flushed out using army personnel and helicopters (nowadays more subtle methods are used for counting elephants in forests). Further research on the distribution and ecology of elephants will be useful for improved management and resolution of human/elephant conflicts. Currently work is being carried out to determine how to manage wild elephants in north Sumatra.

The Way Kambas National Park is unique in that it has an Elephant Training School, set up in 1984. Among other development activities, WWF assisted in improving the nature trail used by visitors, using trained elephants. Problem elephants have also been successfully transferred to the training school, with all due caution that needs to be exercised during translocation.

However, WWF's Indonesia Programme feels that capturing and taming elephants does not solve the root of the problem: habitat loss and agriculture development which invites crop raiding. Thus, the Indonesia Programme is examining ways to solve the human/elephant conflict and undertaking public awareness activities with the media to help both government officials and the general public to better understand the problems.

Gunung Leuser
WWF's connections with Gunung Leuser, Indonesia's second largest protected area, go back to the early 1970s when assistance was given for a variety of management and research activities. Gunung Leuser, now the centre of a thriving tourist industry, is still a focus of WWF Indonesia activity. Leuser's elephants are far from secure: loss of habitat has led to the populations being fragmented and then are in danger of dying out. Recently, teams surveyed elephant migration patterns in and outside the northeast part of the park (where dam construction, possible transmigration areas and heavy logging pose threats), with a view to rejoining fragmented elephant populations through corridors. The biggest challenge for managers of the Gunung Leuser National Park is trying to find a way to solve the conflicts occurring in the people­park interaction zones at the park periphery. Recently, WWF redesigned a project for protection of Gunung Leuser with a focus on resolving this conflict. WWF hopes to strengthen local capacities and develop community­based enterprises with government support. With matching funds from Britain's Overseas Development Agency, WWF has budgeted around US$500,000 for a variety of activities including elephant conservation from 1994 to 1997.

Kerinci­Seblat
Kerinci­Seblat was gazetted as a National Park in 1981 and is the largest protected area complex in Sumatra. It extends into four provinces of western Sumatra and includes some of the best closed­canopy forest along the country's spine. The forest contains elephants, tigers, and rhinos and is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in Southeast Asia. Many communities live along the park's border and nearly 300,000 people live in an enclave inside the park. This enclave is believed to be the world's biggest human enclave, with an annual population growth rate of around 2.4 per cent. WWF has been working since 1991 with local communities to resolve some of the conflicts which inevitably arise when peoples' interests and conservation needs differ. Early this year, park staff reported that they have managed to stabilize the boundary around the enclave. Nurturing and strengthening of conservation activities by NGOs and local communities located in areas surrounding the park is one of the main objectives of the project. WWF's budget from 1990 to 1996 for support of conservation activities in and around Kerinci Seblat is around US$750,000.

Tigapuluh Hills
The Tigapuluh Hills (Seberida) in the eastern lowlands of Sumatra are a biologically rich area of rainforest which contains a small number of elephants. Proposed as a nature reserve as far back as 1983, progress has been made towards achieving that goal. The Ministry of Forestry has decided to withdraw some logging concession in the area of the proposed Seberida Nature Reserve in east­central Sumatra, and to move immediately toward establishing a new national park, Bukit Tigapuluh. WWF is looking at ways to speed up the process of declaring it a protected area and developing an integrated conservation/development project involving local communities.

Nepal
WWF has been involved for many years in helping to develop, protect, and manage Nepal's national parks and reserves. Under the `Operation Tiger' banner, WWF has funded activities in Royal Chitwan National Park, Royal Sukhla Phanta Wildlife Reserve and Royal Bardia National Park which all contain small numbers of elephants. The wild population of elephants in Nepal is about 70 and these animals are scattered in three areas in eastern, central, and far western Nepal. WWF has no specific elephant project in Nepal but it aids conservation of elephants indirectly in most reserves through its institutional support programme and park management assistance. WWF has been supporting species and habitat conservation in Bardia National Park, as in Chitwan, since 1973. So far, over US$200,00 has been allocated for conservation activities in Bardia. WWF has also developed, in close cooperation with the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), and the Parks Department, a community­based sustainable development and biological diversity conservation programme with a budget, in 1994­1997, of around US$150,000. In addition, WWF has developed, as part of the Biodiversity Conservation Network, a consortium made up of WWF, the Nature Conservancy, and the World Resources Institute, a project that will eventually involve 60,000 subsistence farmers living around Chitwan.

Bhutan
Distribution map of elephant population in Bhutan



WWF has been associated with conservation in Bhutan since 1977 and currently has a range of projects concerned with community awareness and conservation education. Technical and other assistance to the Forestry Services Division, which oversees Bhutan's protected areas, is also playing an important role in protecting elephant habitat. Assistance, amounting to US$500,000, has been given to Royal Manas National Park for years under Operation Tiger.

All the existing wild elephant populations in Bhutan are found along the border with India, in several forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, the most famous being Royal Manas National Park. Traditionally, elephants have made seasonal migrations in the wet summer months out of Bhutan's forests in the Himalayan foothills, to India's grasslands. As the grasslands mature and dry out they return to their winter range in Bhutan. Now these movements are blocked by human settlements and are no longer possible in many areas. The estimated population of wild elephants in Bhutan in 1990 was 60 to 150. However, recent estimates are between 2,000 to 3,000. This sharp increase does not represent a drastic rise in numbers. These elephants are migrant populations and can be found either in Bhutan or India depending on the season and food availability. It is thought that as many 3,000 elephants spend the summer in Bhutan, most of which migrate to Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary, Khaling, and the Royal Manas National Park, which is contiguous with the Manas Tiger Reserve in India. Only Manas is large enough to hold a resident elephant population. Royal Manas is the oldest protected area in Bhutan, having been set up in 1966 as a Wildlife Sanctuary and upgraded to National Park status in 1988. So far, WWF has allocated about US$500,000 for Manas to help the Forestry Services Division establish a basic infrastructure, construction of guard posts, patrol roads, staff housing trails, watch towers, water holes, demarcation of park boundaries, and provision of field equipment. WWF's current project which focuses on finalizing and helping implement a long term management plan for Royal Manas National Park, including biodiversity assessment, mapping distribution and density and activities with communities living adjacent to the park, has a budget of around US$500,000 for 1995­1998. In addition, WWF has budgeted nearly US$70,000 for institutional support for Bhutan's Forestry Services Division from 1995 to 1997. WWF's anti­poaching programm has been allocated US$20,190 for 1995­1996
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Vietnam
For over a decade WWF has been actively involved in conservation activities in Vietnam beginning with assistance in helping the country develop its National Conservation Strategy and researching the environmental effects of war. In June 1995, WWF and the Ministry of Forestry convened an elephant workshop, inviting representatives from 15 provinces with wild elephant populations. The workshop produced a draft Elephant Action Plan for Vietnam elephant populations, whose estimated numbers have been reduced by 75 per cent in the last 25 years. WWF began survey work of elephants and other large mammals in Vietnam in 1990 under a Biodiversity Conservation Studies Project for which over US$200,000 has been spent to support Vietnamese and international scientists. Specific elephant surveys in the past few years have revealed that there may be as few as 300 to 400 elephants remaining, mainly in isolated forest pockets that are shrinking rapidly. In 1991­1992 WWF funded a feasibility study and training programme on translocation techniques, but no successful translocation of elephants has taken place in Vietnam yet. In fact, some 15 elephants died through a failed attempt undertaken independently by a private Singapore company to move an isolated herd in 1993. Vietnam is hoping that it can generate support for its Elephant Action Plan and the critically endangered species whose greatest threat in Vietnam is loss of its forest habitat. Recent reports indicate male elephants are being poached for ivory and other products.


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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature