Antara 17 Dec 10;
Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - Conflicts between elephants and humans in Aceh province have been on the rise in recent months, prompting conservationists to take extra measures to anticipate disturbances by the animals in 2011.
Abubakar Cekmad, head of Aceh`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said on Friday his institution would form three more Conservation Response Units (CRUs) in addition to the three existing ones. This was necessary because there had been more human- elephant conflicts lately.
The three new CRUs, he said, would be established at Jantho, Aceh Besar district, North Aceh and East Aceh. Last year, three such units were created, namely in Aceh Jaya, West Aceh and Pidie districts.
"The the CRUs will be set up in areas prone to disturbances by elephants. We have had difficulties overcoming the problems because the distances were too great for us to bring domesticated elephants that can lure the wild ones back into their habitats," Cekmad said.
The year 2010 has been worse in terms of conflict intensity between humans and elephants with tens of cases taking place in the disturbance-prone areas, he added.
Cekmad added the formation of CRUs was a way to minimize elephant disturbances to human settlements. "With the CRUs, BKSDA will be able to respond quickly if there are elephants coming near human settlements," he explained.
In addition, BKSDA had also constructed an elephant terminal at Seree, Lembah Sulawah subdistrict in Aceh Besar district which now had 35 domesticated elephants. Funding had been received from the local government.
"There`s a great need for funding for these operations to take back elephants to their habitats," Cekmad said, adding that the source for the funding has been from those regencies.
Last week, three elephants were found dead in Ketibung Musara village, East Aceh. The elephants seemed to have been killed with poison. These animals were poisoned after they wreaked havoc with the houses in the village.
In 1996, there were 600-700 elephants in Aceh Province, and the number was estimated decreasing to 350-450 in 2007. The population of elephants in Aceh had depleted by almost 40 percent during 1996-2006 and from 2007 to September 2008, 39 elephants were captured or killed.(*)
