Apriadi Gunawan The Jakarta Post 22 Nov 16;
Rescue work: Volunteers medically treat two Sumatran elephants whose legs were injured by a steel trap in Pancasila hamlet, Sei Lepan district, Langkat North Sumatra, on Monday. The elephants freed themselves after four days of being snared by the mechanism.(JP/Apriadi Gunawan)
After being trapped in a steel snare for four days, two wild Sumatran elephants in the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) managed to free themselves from the trap, although their legs were severely injured and infected.
The mammals were trapped in a community-owned oil palm plantation in Sei Lepan district, Langkat regency, North Sumatra.
Garendel Siboro, head of technical affairs at the North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said both of the elephants were females.
Garendel added that they were considered relatively young, with the smaller one believed to be approximately eight years of age and the larger one estimated at 10 years.
The acting team leader of the elephant rescue operation said his office had received a report about two elephants caught in a trap set by local residents, but only after the animals had already managed to free themselves from the legholds, with their injured legs still entangled in steel cables.
Garendel said the BKSDA then dispatched a team including volunteers from several NGOs to look for the elephants. They were found in a critical state at the plantation in Sei Lepan on Friday.
The BKSDA enlisted the help of two veterinarians to remove the cables, which are as thick as a finger, from the elephants’ legs.
Citing the report from villagers, Garendel said residents had been afraid to approach the animals, because their mother, approximately 20 years old, had been watching closely.
Garendel added that before being trapped, the two young elephants had been with their mother in search of food on the plantation, in a herd with 11 more elephants. Along the way, Garendel said, the two young elephants were caught in traps deliberately built by farmers concerned about the large number of elephants near their plantation.
The official explained that the wild elephants had been forced out of their habitat in the TNGL area because their natural surroundings had been damaged by rampant illegal logging and the expansion of oil palm plantations.
“Many sections of the TNGL buffer zone area have been converted to oil palm plantation. As a result, elephants have lost their habitat and are forced to seek food outside of their habitat,” said Garendel.
North Sumatra BKSDA Conservation Section head Herbert Aritonang said the condition of the two injured elephants was improving after they received treatment from the vet team.
The elephants are now entrusted to a privately owned plantation until they recover and are able to walk normally.
“If they have fully recovered and able to walk normally, then we will release and escort them to their herd to meet the other elephants,” said Herbert.
