24/04/2005 – WWF, together
with Malaysia’s Sabah Wildlife Department,
has successfully treated and returned an injured
Borneo pygmy elephant back to the forest.
The elephant, which was rescued earlier in
the year along the boundary of the Kinabatangan
Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Malaysia, and
taken to the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation
Centre for treatment of a leg injury caused
by an illegal wildlife trap, was released
back into the forest sanctuary.
Borneo pygmy elephants frequently venture
into privately-owned land, including villages
and oil palm plantations. Due to barriers
formed by large rivers, large water channels,
oil palm plantations and villages, the forest
downstream of the Sandakan-Lahad Datu highway
is divided into 15 fragmented patches. Elephants
can move between these patches by swimming
across rivers and walking through plantations
and villages.
“We are trying to maintain riverside land
under natural vegetation so that elephants
have a corridor to move between different
forest patches,” said Raymond Alfred, WWF’s
project manager of the Asian Rhinoceros and
Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS).
“We are also trying to minimize damages to
crops when they travel through plantations
and villages, and to control and minimize
the illegal activities in the wildlife sanctuary
such as wildlife trapping.”
NOTES:
• WWF’s Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy
(AREAS) Programme estimates that there are
about 1,500 Borneo pygmy elpehants in Sabah,
of which 650 are found in the Sabah Foundation
Forest Concession.
• The Borneo pygmy elephant, one of the smallest
of the Asian elephants, is facing serious
pressures arising from illegal logging and
associated habitat loss and fragmentation
in Indonesia. The island's elephant population
has come under increasing threat from rapid
forest conversion to plantations. As forests
shrink, elephants are increasingly closer
to fields and cultivated land, generating
conflict with humans that often result in
the death of the elephants by poisoning or
capture, as well as economic losses to humans.
• In February 1999, WWF AREAS began establishing
a ‘safe haven’ for one of the largest remaining
populations of Asian elephants in Riau, Sumatra.
By carrying out research on elephants and
the nature of the conflicts, and working with
local communities and companies, WWF is developing
solutions that ensure living space for both
humans and elephants. A major breakthrough
has been achieved with the 2004 declaration
of Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau, a significant
step towards the protection of the elephant's
habitat.
