Indonesia: Tesso Nilo National Park welcomes newborn elephant

The Jakarta Post 23 Nov 17;

The elephant population at the Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan regency, Riau, has grown as a Sumatran elephant gave birth on Tuesday.

The healthy male elephant was named Harmoni Rimbo and quickly became the center of attention at the Tesso Nilo Festival held in the park from Wednesday to Friday.

“The birth of the baby elephant should encourage all concerned parties that there is still hope [for elephants to live] in the Tesso Nilo National Park,” Wiratno, the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director general for natural resources and the ecosystem, told Antara on Thursday.

Harmoni Rimbo, or simply Har, was born after cross-mating a male wild elephant and a captive female elephant named Ria, which belongs to the Tesso Nilo Elephant Flying Squad, a joint operation of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia and the Conservation Authority of Riau.

Har is the sixth elephant to be born since the Elephant Flying Squad was formed in 2004.

Ria was detected to be pregnant in May last year. She has already given birth to two elephants, one in 2011 and the second in 2014.

Tesso Nilo Natinal Park chairman Supartono said with the birth of Harmoni Rimbo the park now has eight domesticated elephants. (saf/ahw)