The more I learn about Malaysia, the more it continues to surprise me. It is such a small country and KL is so densely populated that I tend to think the whole country is that way. In fact much of the country is still virgin jungle: rainforest. The Indo-Malayan rainforests are the oldest in the world, making those in Africa and South America seem adolescent in comparison. Historically elephants were found in large numbers throughout the densely forested Malay Peninsula. However over the past 100 years the forests have steadily given way to agriculture for both food and cash crops, mostly palm plantations. Initially forest clearance paid no heed to the need for elephant corridors to allow for trans migration and this gave rise, as expected, to a considerable human-elephant conflict. With approx. 1300-1400 wild elephants estimated to live within peninsular Malaysia, the Malay authorities’ response was to set up the Elephant Management Unit in 1974 under the authority of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. This unit has established the world renowned Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre. The unit has become highly specialized in elephant translocation in response to human elephant conflict, moving elephants to the eastern Malaysian states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang where there is still a large amount of forest, some of which is protected as part of the vast Taman Negara National Park.
About 90 minutes drive from KL, the Taman Negara is spread out over 4,343 sq. km. (nearly 1700 sq. miles) of rainforest. Last week we had the awesome opportunity to spend a day in a portion of the reserve, at the Kuala Gandah sanctuary and meet the elephants.
The experience begins with a video documentary highlighting the plight of the elephants in Malaysia and the efforts of the Elephant Relocation team. While waiting for the day’s activities to start, we chatted with one of the workers who explained to us that they have trained a number of the elephants to assist with the relocation by acting basically as ambassadors for the relocation team. When a wild elephant is captured for relocation, the trained (“job” elephants, as they are called at the sanctuary) are brought in to help calm the confused animal in preparation for its travel. They work in pairs and the video footage of the team moving to stand on either side of the frightened evacuee, using their trunks to stroke and calm the poor thing is both amazing and heartbreaking. (Those of you who know me know it brought tears to my eyes.)
The elephants that actually reside at the sanctuary are mostly orphans. (The team does try to relocate families, or pods, as much as possible.) Some of them have very sad stories, as you can imagine: one is missing a foot due to a conflict with humans, one is a survivor of a tiger attack, but they seem to be well cared for and well-loved by the staff. While on the grounds we had the opportunity to feed the elphants:
grass to the smallest,
peanuts to some of the medium sized ones,
and fruit to the biggest ones
(Conrad was trying to feed him the watermelon seeds too!)
I can't remember this one's name but she is 69 years old; elephants can live to be 80 years old
Conrad and Mommy went for a ride
I don't remember this little cutie's story but she was definitely the youngest at the sanctuary
The day ended with a swim in the river with the residents
There is no entry fee to visit the sanctuary but a donation is requested. Per their website: "Although the Sanctuary receives funding from the Malaysian government via the Department of Wildlife & National Parks or DWNP, additional fundings from externally generated sources are always welcomed with open........trunks?" You can imagine the government funding doesn't cover all of their needs so should any of you feel inclined to help them out you can access them through the website :
www.myelephants.org/donation.html
FYI, I didn't realize that shutterfly requires you to have an account to access the video. That's a bummer. If you want to see them but don't want an account you can e-mail me and I'll give you my access info.
ReplyDeleteI'd just use youtube in the future
ReplyDelete