NUMBER 30 GAJAH 2009 Journal of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group GAJAH Journal of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group Number 30 (2009) The journal is intended as a medium of communication on issues that concern the management and conservation of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) both in the wild and in captivity. It is a means by which members of the AsESG and others can communicate their experiences, ideas and perceptions freely, so that the conservation of Asian elephants can bene t. All articles published in Gajah re ect the individual views of the authors and not necessarily that of the editorial board or the AsESG. Editor Jayantha Jayewardene Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust 615/32 Rajagiriya Gardens Nawala Road, Rajagiriya Sri Lanka [email protected] Editorial Board Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando A. T. J. Johnsingh Centre for Conservation and Research 101 Magnolia, Esteem Gardenia 35 Gunasekara Gardens Sahakara Nagar Nawala Road, Rajagiriya Bangalore 92 Sri Lanka India e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Heidi Riddle Dr. Alex Rübel Riddles Elephant & Wildlife Sanctuary Direktor Zoo Zürich P.O.Box 715 Zürichbergstrasse 221 Greenbrier, Arkansas 72058 CH - 8044 Zürich USA Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Arnold Sitompul Dr. A. Christy Williams Conservation Science Initiative WWF Nepal Program Jl. Setia Budi Pasar 2 P.O. Box 7660 Komp. Insan Cita Griya Blok CC No 5 Baluwatar, Kathmnadu Medan, 20131 Nepal Indonesia e-mail: [email protected] e-mail:[email protected] GAJAH Journal of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group Number 30 (2009) This publication of Gajah was fi nanced by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Editorial Note Articles published in Gajah may be used, distributed and reproduced in any medium, provided the article is properly cited. Gajah will be published as both a hard copy and an on-line version accessible from the AsESG web site (www.asesg.org/gajah.htm). If you would like to be informed when a new issue comes out, please provide your e-mail address. If you would like to have a hardcopy, please send a request with your name and postal address by e-mail to <[email protected]> or to: Jayantha Jayewardene 615/32 Rajagiriya Gardens Nawala Road, Rajagiriya Sri Lanka Cover: Elephant herd in the Yala National Park, Sri Lanka Photo by Prithiviraj Fernando Layout and formatting by Dr. Jennifer Pastorini Printed at Melios (Pvt) Ltd. NUMBER 30 2009 GAJAHJournal of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group Contents Gajah 30 (2009) Editorial 1 Alex Rübel Notes from the Co-chairs IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2-3 Simon Hedges and Ajay Desai Correspondence 4-5 D. K. Lahiri Choudhury Correspondence 6-7 C. Stremme Socio-Economic Status of Elephant Keepers (Mahouts) and Human–Captive Elephant Con ict: 8-12 A Case Study from the Three Management Systems in Tamil Nadu, Southern India V. Vanitha, K. Thiyagesan and N. Baskaran Distribution, Demography and Basic Husbandry of the Asian Elephant in the Tourism Industry in Northern Thailand A. Godfrey and C. Kongmuangr 13-18 The Analysis of Data from Studies of Crop-Raiding 19-23 R. F. W. Barnes The Uda Walawe Elephant Transit Home - Another Opportunity Missed? 24-28 S. Miththapala A Forest Ride on Wild Elephants: The Philosophy of Wilderness in Buddhism 29-31 R. Ramanathapillai Community-Based Human-Elephant Con ict Management in Assam 34-40 A. Zimmermann, T. E. Davies, N. Hazarika, S. Wilson, J. Chakrabarty, B. Hazarika and D. Das The Human-Elephant Con ict: A Review of Current Status and Mitigation Methods 41-52 B. M. A. O. Perera Twin Elephants Born in Nepal 53 J. Thapa Report of the International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium, Thailand, 2008 54-55 H. Schwammer First National Symposium on Elephant Healthcare and Managerial Practices 56-57 K. K. Sharma Recent Publications on Asian Elephants 58-66 Book Review: Poisons and the Pachyderm - Responding to Poisoning in Asian Elephants by Jacob Cheeran 67 News Briefs 68-72 Gajah 30 (2009) 1 Editorial Alex Rübel (Member Editorial Board) In the world of animals, elephants are giants, What can we learn from history for elephant mega vertebrates, the largest mammals on land. conservation? It is illusionary to believe, that In the evolutionary history of species, there is a there will be a new equilibrium between humans tendency of becoming more powerful, stronger or and elephants in the same habitat without a sound bigger, either to avoid being predated by potential conservation management plan. If we want to enemies or to remain a potential predator. Only have a chance for a long-term survival of the a few species at the top of the food chain have species, the stakeholders have to agree to the achieved this role, some examples are the big answers of all relevant questions and there have cats, the rhinos and the elephants. The population to be pragmatic approaches to this conservation is not the limiting factor pressuring the predators management plan. any more, availability of food, hunger and drought took its place. It is obvious, that huge animals There are challenging questions to be tackled: need huge habitats to nd what they need. Where can habitats for the Asian elephant to survive in viable populations be found nowadays? Before man learned to use re, started to settle What is the targeted size of a coherent population and became superior to the mega vertebrates, to secure long-term survival? How can isolated there was a ne equilibrium between the different populations be avoided? How can Human species, between predators and prey, and their Elephant Con icts (HEC) be kept under control? habitat use. How can the population be controlled in the long- term as not to destroy its own habitat? Man changed the world. His ability to prevail over species, of which he had been afraid or The Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) who had never been part of his diet, crushed the can help nding answers to these questions, but fragile equilibrium. The destroyed habitats due it is the governments who have to decide on the to the growing human population accelerated management plans, as well as executing and the process. Possible new big prey and easy to controlling them. However, the main part of the hunt animals as the elephant bird, the dodo, the stakeholders is neither the governments nor the American bison and possibly the mammoth, AsESG, it is the local population. If we fail to were the rst to be exterminated. Competitors to include the local people into the conservation humans such as the lion, the tiger or the snow plan, total failure is not far. The main way of leopard came soon after. Looking back at this sad convincing them of the necessity of the elephants’ history, there has never been a case where animals survival, is through education. For the plan to be came back into a habitat in which humans and successful, it is important to convince them of beasts lived together in a natural balance. Animals the intrinsic value of the elephant in its habitat have either become extinct again or a concise and to teach them how to live with the ‘neighbour conservation management plan was employed, elephant’. As Baba Dioum said: “In the end we mainly for areas where people could be kept out, will conserve only what we love. We will love for example national parks or reserves. Where only what we understand. We will understand the mega vertebrates leave the reserve, they are only what we are taught.” This is true locally seen as threats to man and his cultures. One sad and internationally. Also zoos and elephant example was the poaching of Asiatic lions in the institutions far away from their habitats, can put Gir forest two years ago, that began as soon as pressure on the governments and can help, with some animals started to leave the small reserve money, to make this happen. regularly. 1 Gajah 30 (2009) 2-3 Notes from the Co-chairs IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group Simon Hedges and Ajay Desai Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to to do that we will persist in dealing with the thank all the Asian Elephant Specialist Group’s symptoms rather than address the real problems members for their service to the group and to and also fail to capitalize on the conservation Asian elephants in IUCN’s last four-year period opportunities we have. With the increasing threats or “quadrennium”. By the time this issue of Gajah that elephants face and with the additional threat is published, we should be well into the new of global warming just around the corner we need quadrennium, which we hope will see renewed to shift gears and move beyond symptoms to the efforts by the group’s members to secure a bright root causes. Needless to say we cannot simply future for Asian elephants and their habitat. stop treating the symptoms but we need to move beyond doing just that. The Asian Elephant Specialist Group is marking the start of the new quadrennium in a number Prithiviraj Fernando in his editorial in Gajah of ways including the posting of all back issues 28 opens a new, important, and very productive of Gajah on the group’s website (for which we subject for thought and discussion. It is not just the owe a debt of gratitude to Jayantha Jayewardene subject of his discussion piece but the concept that and Hank Hammatt) and by organizing an is important. We all need to start looking hard at international workshop on the mitigation of where we are going.