(MY) no space for elephants?

[Guest guest]

Following the elephant dung - The New straits Times*09 Aug 2006*

By Elizabeth John <news

 

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*KUALA LUMPUR: They get trapped in villages, trample through plantations and

stop traffic on highways.

*

Is this just a case of Malaysia's jumbos getting restless or is it crowded

in the jungles out there?

 

The answer lies in a RM380,000-a-year national elephant survey that began in

June in one of the country's largest protected areas — Taman Negara National

Park.

 

Here, three teams of biologists and wildlife rangers are using a new method

to estimate the number of elephants that call the park home.

 

With forests shrinking and space running out for the elephants, many have

come into conflict with humans.

 

In just one area — Jeli — the Wildlife and National Parks departments

received 185 complaints of elephant intruding into plantations and villages

in a year.

 

" Many elephants are moved to Taman Negara because it's the safest place, but

we don't know how many more it can take, " said the Wildlife Department's

biodiversity conservation division director, Siti Hawa Yatim.

 

The figures will also help authorities decide if the park still has room for

elephants that are being squeezed out of their homes elsewhere or whether it

supports too many now.

 

It will also help them work out better management plans for the elephants

and forests.

 

The teams leading the survey are all headed by women biologists.

 

Wildlife department rang- ers and researchers from the National Biodiversity

Institute in Pahang will also be part of the teams.

 

They will work throughout the park, beginning at Tanjong Mentong, Kuala Koh

and Kuala Tahan.

 

Using a rather unlikely and unsightly indicator — elephant dung — the

experts can accurately estimate herd size and the distribution of elephants

within the park.

 

The elephant project by the department and Wildlife Conservation Society

Malaysia will be based in Taman Negara for at least one year.

 

After this period, it would be expanded to other areas in the peninsular

with elephant populations, said Siti Hawa.

 

Sponsored in part by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service the project

will help Malaysia meet its international obligation to monitor elephant

populations and prevent their illegal killing.

 

Other sponsors are the Denver Zoo and the Abraham Foundation in New York.

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Carcass with bullet holes found *09 Aug 2006*

<new

 

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*GRIK: The carcass of an elephant was found at the Tembeling rubber

plantation here with gunshot wounds.

*

Villagers found the dead female pachyderm on Sunday, said village headman

Shamsuddin Ahmad.

 

Shamsuddin, 46, said the elephant could have been from a herd of between 10

and 15 elephants which frequently forage the plantations for food.

 

The villagers have been complaining to the State Wildlife and National Parks

Department of the problems posed by the elephants.

 

" When it happened a few years ago, the department sent its park rangers to

shoo them away, but this time no one came to help, " said Shamsuddin.