Special elephant appeal by PTES
In December 2017, the PTES started an elephant emergency appeal that will support research on Sumatran elephants and the great work of our collaborators from the Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL) and HAkA, and Rudi Putra.
Dr Abdullah from Syiah Kuala University is another important collaborator on the ground.
Please visit the PTES website if you would like to make a donation: https://ptes.org/ways-to-give/elephant-emergency-appeal/ .
PTES started the appeal because of the recent death of two elephants, electrocuted. Unfortunately, mid-December 2017, there was yet another death of a pregnant female (probably poisoned).
Our PTES-funded project (supported by funds from Bournemouth University) investigates habitat use by Sumatran elephants, and human-elephant conflicts. The elephant research that we will be conducting in 2018 focuses on a comparison between the elephant population near Sikundur (see Nicola's blogs) and those near Lokop, in Aceh Timur where we work with the rangers, Tezar, and Rudi from the Langsa FKL head quarters and Abdullah and his students. We still have a lot to do, especially in the Lokop area where human-elephant conflict is most intense.
While Nicola is now writing her thesis up (and soon submitting it!), the next team is waiting for their research visas and permits to come through so they can travel to Indonesia and restart work in Sikundur and Lokop.
Emma will be the field work lead for the elephant research, while Abdullah and I oversee the work and pursue the endless task of finding funding for the work.
The field work in Sikundur will be carried out by Nathan, where he will continue monitoring Nicola's transects.
The fieldwork in Lokop will be carried out by an old LEAP associate, Rosanna, who has kindly offered to work as our volunteer on this project! We are very happy to have her back, even if only for 6 months.
Around June, she will be joined by Lucy Twitcher, who is new to LEAP. She will be doing the work as part of her MRes project.
Nicola's research project is coming along well and she is about to submit her dissertation so soon we can give you actual numbers and information on how elephants in Sikundur use the forests.
In December 2017 I had the pleasure of meeting Ente Rood, who worked with Abdullah more than 10 years ago on the last reliable elephant habitat-use survey across the North Sumatran area. It was great to get direct insights on Sumatran elephant habitat-use from him but a lot of elphant habitat has been lost since his study and we need to learn more about these animals to secure their survival in their now very human-dominated environment where human-elephant conflict that is ever increasing. This also involves increasing our understanding of the problems that the local people are experiencing as a result of human-elephant conflicts.
More on our elephant research on its dedicated project page.
