Indonesia: Elephant relocated from housing complex

The Jakarta Post 27 Jul 15;

After a long and risky effort, the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) on Saturday evening managed to relocate a wild Sumatran elephant from a residential area in the provincial capital of Pekanbaru.

The male elephant, whose age was estimated to be between 16 and 20 years, was first seen loitering in areas near the Primadona residential complex in Tenayan Raya district on early Friday.

“The people were scared because the elephant did not want to leave,” local resident Sugianto said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

A group of BKSDA personnel later arrived at the area. They, however, found it difficult to calm and remove the elephant, as hundreds of residents swarmed the location to watch the operation.

On Friday evening, the team finally managed to put a chain on the elephant in a secondary forest near the residential area, which is also home to many brick makers.

The relocation effort continued the next day with help from two tame elephants — a 51-year-old male named Seng Arun and a 43-year-old female named Indah — from an elephant training center (PLG) based in the neighboring Siak regency.

Police and military personnel were also deployed to secure the relocation, which again attracted hundreds of curious residents.

The wild elephant initially refused to be led by Seng Arun and Indah onto a truck. It also made an attempt to fight back, forcing the agency officers to give it an additional tranquilizing shot.

At around 7 p.m., after two hours of trying, the officers finally managed to put the wild elephant onto the truck.

“I have to admit that this evacuation process is very difficult, mainly due to a large number of residents. The wild elephant, meanwhile, has become very sensitive due to stress. There was a potential for the elephant to go on a rampage because of the noise or lights,” BKSDA official Supartono said.

Supartono said the wild elephant would be temporarily kept at the Siak PLG before it was sent back to its natural habitat in the Giam Siak Kecil Wildlife Reserve in Siak.

“We will examine its health. We hope we can immediately release the elephant so it can return to its group,” he said.

On July 13, an elephant was also reportedly spotted roaming briefly around a neighborhood area in Pekanbaru’s Rumbai Pesisir district.

“There is a big possibility that this wild elephant is the same elephant that was earlier spotted in Rumbai Pesisir. Male teenage elephants, in nature, are loners. They can get disoriented after they are kicked out by their herds,” Supartono said.

Besides entering residential areas, many wild elephants have reportedly destroyed residents’ plantations. Observers have said the cases occurred because of the damage done to the animal’s original habitat because of illegal logging and forest conversion to oil palm plantations.