H.R. 1787, CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 1787 TO ASSIST IN THE CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELE- PHANTS BY SUPPORTING AND PROVIDING FINAN- CIAL RESOURCES FOR THE CONSERVATION PRO- GRAMS OF NATIONS WITHIN THE RANGE OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS AND PROJECTS OF PERSONS WITH DEMONSTRATED EXPERTISE IN THE CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS JULY 31, 1997, WASHINGTON, DC Serial No. 105±49 Printed for the use of the Committee on Resources ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 45±140 CC u WASHINGTON : 1998 COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana GEORGE MILLER, California JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts JIM SAXTON, New Jersey NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland Samoa KEN CALVERT, California NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii RICHARD W. POMBO, California SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming OWEN B. PICKETT, Virginia HELEN CHENOWETH, Idaho FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey LINDA SMITH, Washington CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California CARLOS A. ROMERO-BARCELOÂ , Puerto WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina Rico WILLIAM M. (MAC) THORNBERRY, Texas MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York JOHN SHADEGG, Arizona ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam JOHN E. ENSIGN, Nevada SAM FARR, California ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island CHRIS CANNON, Utah ADAM SMITH, Washington KEVIN BRADY, Texas WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania CHRIS JOHN, Louisiana RICK HILL, Montana DONNA CHRISTIAN-GREEN, Virgin Islands BOB SCHAFFER, Colorado RON KIND, Wisconsin JIM GIBBONS, Nevada LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho LLOYD A. JONES, Chief of Staff ELIZABETH MEGGINSON, Chief Counsel CHRISTINE KENNEDY, Chief Clerk/Administrator JOHN LAWRENCE, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS JIM SAXTON, New Jersey, Chairman W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii WAYNE T. GIL.CHREST, Maryland SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania SAM FARR, California MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island HARRY BURROUGHS, Staff Director JOHN RAYFIELD, Legislative Staff KAREN STEUER, Democratic Legislative Staff (II) C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held July 31, 1997 ..................................................................................... 1 Statement of Members: Abercrombie, Hon. Neil, a Representative in Congress from the State of Hawaii ....................................................................................................... 2 Farr, Hon. Sam, a Representative in Congress from the State of Cali- fornia .............................................................................................................. 4 Miller, Hon. George, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of ................................................................ 2 Saxton, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey ............................................................................................................. 1 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 2 Young, Hon. Don, a Representative in Congress from the State of Alaska, prepared statement of ................................................................................... 4 Statement of Witnesses: Dinerstein, Dr. Eric, Chief Scientist and Director, Conservation Science Program, World Wildlife Fund ..................................................................... 16 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 55 Ireland, Andy, Senior Vice President, Feld Entertainment, Inc., ................ 26 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 73 Jones, Marshall P., Assistant Director for International Affairs, United States Fish and Wildlife Service; accompanied by David Ferguson, Chief, Branch of Middle East, South Asia, and South African Inter- national Affairs, United States Fish and Wildlife Service ........................ 5 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 34 Maple, Dr. Terry, President/CEO, Zoo Atlanta .............................................. 13 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 36 Pearl, Dr. Mary, Executive Director, Wildlife Preservation Trust Inter- national .......................................................................................................... 25 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 39 StuÈ we, Dr. Michael, Research Associate, Conservation and Research Cen- ter, Smithsonian Institute ............................................................................ 23 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 64 Sukumar, Dr. Raman, Chairman, IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group ............................................................................................................. 14 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 37 Additional material supplied: Johnsingh, Dr. A.J.T., and A. Christy Williams, Wildlife Institute of India, prepared statement of ....................................................................... 79 Memorandum .................................................................................................... 50 Text of H.R. 1787 .............................................................................................. 41 (III) HEARING ON H.R. 1787, TO ASSIST IN THE CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS BY SUPPORTING AND PROVIDING FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR THE CONSERVATION PRO- GRAMS OF NATIONS WITHIN THE RANGE OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS AND PROJECTS OF PERSONS WITH DEMONSTRATED EXPER- TISE IN THE CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELE- PHANTS THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1997 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISH- ERIES CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS, COM- MITTEE ON RESOURCES, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m., in room 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Jim Saxton (chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. JIM SAXTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY Mr. SAXTON. Good morning. The Subcommittee will come to order. The purpose of today's hearing is to discuss H.R. 1787, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997, which Mr. Abercrombie and I and 17 other members have introduced on June 4, 1997. The fundamental purposes of this legislation are twofold: one, to create an Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, and, two, to author- ize the Congress to appropriate up to $5 million per year to this fund to finance various conservation projects for each of the next five fiscal years. This legislation is modeled after the highly successful African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994. The new authorization would be separate from those funds appropriated for African elephants, rhinos, and ti- gers. Under the terms of H.R. 1787, the Secretary of Interior would carefully evaluate the merits of each proposed conservation project, select those that best enhance the future of the Asian elephant, and give priority to those projects whose sponsors demonstrate the ability to match some portion of the Federal funds. In addition, the bill stipulates that the Secretary may accept do- nations to assist Asian elephants and shall spend no more than 3 percent of the amount appropriated to administer the fund. (1) 2 Unless immediate steps are taken to conserve this magnificent animal, it will surely continue to disappear from much, if not most, of its traditional habitat. We cannot allow the Asian elephant, which has such a direct impact on so many other species, to become extinct. The goal of H.R. 1787 is to stop the decline and hopefully rebuild the population stocks of this irreplaceable species by financing with a small amount of Federal money a limited number of conservation projects. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. And at this time, let me turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Abercrombie. [Statement of Mr. Saxton follows:] STATEMENT OF HON. JIM SAXTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY Good morning. The Subcommittee will come to order. The purpose of today's hear- ing is to discuss H.R. 1787, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997, which Mr. Abercrombie and I and seventeen other Members introduced on June 4, 1997. The fundamental purposes of this legislation are twofold: (1) to create an Asian Elephant Conservation Fund; and (2) to authorize the Congress to appropriate up to $5 million per year to this Fund to finance various conservation projects for each of the next five fiscal years. This legislation is modeled after the highly successful African Elephant Conserva- tion Act of 1988 and the Rhinoceros