Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post 25 Sep 09;
Villagers around the Way Kambas National Park (TNWK) in Lampung have been living in a state of fear over the past few days due raging wild elephants destroying their crops.
The herd of around 50 elephants has also damaged the residents' huts and chicken coops. Villagers are also gripped with fear because the elephants are no longer afraid of torches and bamboo drums, which were successfully used in the past to drive them away.
"The elephants have destroyed dozens of people's chicken coops. Residents had initially intended to cook the chickens for Idul Fitri," said Sulasno, a resident in Labuhan Ratu 9 village, Labuhan Ratu district, East Lampung.
"We are terrified because the elephants trampled to death a number of people."
Sularno added that the herd of elephants had invaded the village two days before Idul Fitri. "We are still afraid to go outdoors at night because the elephants usually come at night," he said.
The Lampung chapter of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) coordinator, Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto, said the herd of elephants had actually ventured into their own habitat.
"They have naturally returned to the area they regard as their habitat. The human settlement was once the habitat of Sumatran elephants," said Dwi.
WCS data shows that herds of wild elephants from the TNWK have been encroaching into human settlements and destroying farms for the past three years.
"In the past three months, 16 herds of wild elephants from TNWK even destroyed hundreds of hectares of farms in Purbolinggo, Sukadana, Way Jepara, Braja Selebah and Labuhan Ratu districts."
The 16 herds are made up of 327 elephants, Dwi said. "Villagers have suffered huge losses because the raging elephants destroyed everything in their path.
Dwi said the elephants' behavior had changed. "Previously, they could be pushed back into the forest by using torches and sounding bamboo drums. They were also afraid of the sound of bamboo cannons. But now, they will fight back when driven away," said Dwi.
The TNWK and WCS are currently working every night to drive back the herd of elephants into the forest with the help of four trained elephants from the TNWK Elephant Training Center, dozens of forest rangers and WCS activists. However, they are overwhelmed because the elephants keep venturing out of the forest and destroying farms.
The TNWK Center has been digging a 29-kilometer ditch across 12 swamps in three villages in the past few years to prevent the elephants from venturing out in the forest. However, most of the ditches near the swamps are currently damaged.
Hendrawan, the Lampung chapter Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) director, said the rampaging elephants frequently intruded into human settlements as their habitat had been damaged by illegal logging and forest conversion.
"Their habitat has been further threatened. If they still had plenty of food and their habitat was intact, they would not be venturing into villages and destroying crops," said Hendrawan.
Apart from environmental damage in both national parks, the elephants are also seriously threatened by the presence of poachers hunting for their tusks.
