Oyos Saroso H.N.,
Kotaagung,
Lampung
Ulu Semong village in Ulu Belu district, Tanggamus regency, borders the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS) in West Lampung, with its forest environs being hemmed only by Mount Gede. Its approximately 3,000 residents are no stranger to raids by wild elephants, which cause damage to the villagers' huts, rice fields and plantations.
A herd of seven Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) from the park usually attack this hamlet, ravaging and devouring villagers' crops such as rice, coffee, pepper, corn and chili. The wild elephants also trample down their cabins and huts near the paddies, which are on the herd's path to the plantation crops.
So far, local villagers have strived to prevent the elephants' entry to their settlements by using calcium carbide, sounding bamboo drums, swinging torches and other means. Every night, those living near the park's border zone patrol their area by turns to scare away the herd, which may rush in suddenly.
But the villagers tackle the routine job with joy, particularly it comes to drive the invading elephants back to the park.
"It's a kind of recreation for us. TV programs are our only entertainment every day. By moving in groups while lighting firecrackers called jedum, we sort of enjoy a new pastime," said Darwin, 47, village head of Ulu Semong.
Darwin acknowledged that the wild elephants' behavior was harmful to the villagers, but he stressed that the community was not trying to kill the animals or otherwise threatening their existence.
"We want peaceful coexistence. So we just frighten them off in order to drive them back into the national park," he said.
Dony, an activist with the Lampung Wildlife Response Unit (WRU), said that his unit members, along with Lampung's Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) personnel and TNBBS forest rangers, had helped the villagers handle the wild intruders for the last few months. Further, the activists also cooperate with the BKSDA and rangers in providing guidance to villagers in saving the elephants' natural habitat.
The Lampung WRU was formed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) specifically to assist in alleviating contact between wild elephants and local communities.
"By joining hands with locals, they see how we're assisting them so they can accept our suggestions. Without such a persuasive approach, I'm afraid the villagers would kill the mammals instead of driving them back, as was the case in West Sumatra when a Sumatran tiger abruptly dashed into a village," said Dony.
He said that, as the elephants no longer responded to the sight of torches or the sound of drums, they were now being kept at bay by means of homemade jedum firecrackers, made of long bamboo stems filled with calcium carbide. They are lit as the raging herd moves approaches village settlements, and have proven to be more effective.
"It may be due to the louder noise they produce, like cannon fire," Dony said.
Despite the damage the elephants have caused, their roaming into human habitat has not triggered a backlash by locals thus far. Environmental activists, however, fear that such animal intrusions will raise the potential for heightened conflict between villagers and elephants, with the likely consequence of wildlife capture or hunting.
With an experience of at least a year in wild elephant control, the WRU and the BKSDA have concluded that it was necessary to handle the situation further by providing broader public awareness about protected species and conflict handling.
"District and regency authorities need to be involved as well," stressed Dony.
To ensure speedy communication with the team of "elephant busters", he also deemed it necessary to introduce a community organizer in an area with human-elephant conflicts.
"No less important is to make available adequate equipment for driving away the animals intruding into rural settlements," he added.
The Jakarta Post, July 10 2007
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