Elephant dies, swept away by Tanggamus floods

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post 4 Mar 10;

Rangers at the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Lampung buried the carcass of an elephant calf found dead following floods and a landslide in Semaka district.

The 2-year-old elephant calf, buried Tuesday, was believed to be swept by river currents from upstream and was found dead at Way Kerap Dam in Tanggamus.

“The body had no wounds,” Way Kerap village chief Mat Zuranni said.

“Based on a postmortem conducted by forest rangers, the elephant drowned.”

A similar incident took place early October last year during a landslide and floods in Way Kerap, where two villagers and a female adult elephant were killed.

Five districts in Tanggamus are currently prone to floods.

Floods in Way Kerap are often followed by landslides, especially around hills bordering the national park.

Conservationists in Lampung said floods in Tanggamus damaged protected forest in the regency.

“Almost 80 percent of the forest in Tanggamus has been severely damaged. This causes rain to quickly flood the area,” Hendrawan, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) Lampung chapter director, said Wednesday.

“If forest is not damaged, elephants will not venture out.

“The two elephants that died in the floods and landslides in October last year and February
this year, likely ventured out because they were hungry,” Hendrawan said.

Tanggamus Regent Bambang said this year’s flood resulted from rampant illegal logging and forest conversion, which diminished a catchment area.

“Many rivers have silted due to soil runoffs from the hills.

“The silted river banks, also residential areas, have caused the river to overflow and engulf villages,” said Bambang.