The Elephants Umbrella Fund


	World Elephant News Check Back Often for the Latest World News Concerning Asian Elephants April - May Good News in the elephant world for a change. The number of elephants in Manas National Park in India has been growing and now numbers about 1,026. Manas is still lush with lots of forest cover and hills, ideal habitat for herds. However, conflict between villagers, trains and electrocutions is on the increase in parts of India. Major rail lines run thru many of the most populated elephant areas, which have resulted in numerous deaths, most recently a mother and her calf. Six elephants were electrocuted when they went on a drunken rampage, after being drawn to fermenting beer in a village. They ran amok thru a rice paddy that had electrical transmission towers one animal rubbed his back against the pole causing it to collapse with high voltage lines falling on the elephant. Other elephant’s raced to help and one by one were electrocuted. Another problem is the shrinking and fragmentation of habitat. India loses at least 200 ellies due to human conflict every year. Endangered animals are the new blood diamonds for warlords using poaching to fund wars. Ivory being one of the most prized. 40 tons of ivory, which represents 4,000 elephants killed, was confiscated in Hong Kong. China is the largest world market with the US a shameful second. The State Department estimates the market value of illegal ivory at $400 a pound. Thailand is a key player in wild elephant trade. The country is used as a transit point, it is estimated that at leased 50 jumbos have been smuggled from Burma to Thailand each year. These elephants are then put in shelters where they are trained (and not gently) before being sent to foreign zoos. Four were sent to Germany five to China and 11 to Malaysia. The situation became worse after nine elephants were exported to Australian zoos. As far as we know China ordered 300 elephants from Thailand to entertain visitors at the Olympic Games. January - February The constant & persistent problem of elephants raiding crops, destroying villages in their search for food and in many countries killing local people is escalating into a jumbo sized problem in many areas. Some of the solutions are ingenious, impossible to implement or to expensive. CHINA: is offering “dinner halls” of banana plantations and sugarcane planted several kilometers from villages to entice the elephants away. The experiment has had mixed results. Elephants do not like bees; their angry buzzing will usually clear an area within 80 seconds. In Sumatra bees o kept the elephants out of the fields some of the time, so fences of beehives worked well except in areas with Sun Bears who have a fondness for the honey. In India in one state alone 400 people have been killed by hungry ellies and 82 ellies have died. Every thing is being tried as a deterrent including tiger urine. The pungent smell of the urine will deter the jumbos from entering villages it is believed. Another unique deterrent method is lacing ropes with chili powder and tobacco and laying the ropes around crop fields. The old standby, electric fences are still being used in many areas but presents problems also. Some elephants are smart enough to put a tree or board over the fence top and gain entrance. The only perfect solution is giving the elephants back large tracts of land, which supplies sufficient food so they are not forced to hunt nourishment in farmer’s fields. INDONESIA has its Flying Squad consisting of four elephants, its mission to patrol the park boundaries and the crops planted on the perimeter. When the Squad meets a wild ellie they push the intruders back into the park and often the males will lock tusks and fight. Since the Flying Squad been on patrol, not one wild elephant has been killed on its watch. INDIA has just recently allocated many strips of land to connect various forested areas. The land has been purchased by wildlife organizations and some by the various Indian states. These corridors will also benefit other endangered species such as the tiger. Since this is a recent development it remains to be seen how successful these corridors will be. BANGLADESH—in November hundreds were killed when cyclones and floods smashed in the country. Roads and bridges were demolished so what did the rescuers turn to---the elephants. With brute strength they cleared roads of cars, trucks trees and huge busses. The elephants made it possible for fresh water and food to be brought to people in isolated areas. They saved hundreds of lives and expedited the cleaning up, but remain unsung heroes. December JUMBO SIZED PROBLEMS Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India are all experiencing continual and massive attacks by wild elephants. A herd of wild Sumatran eles almost every evening approach a village where oil palm, betel-nut and other crops are grown and do considerable damage. In Malaysia a bull had repeatedly attacked fruit orchards. A team of seven officers tracked him for five days before finally tranquilizing for transport back to the Som forest Reserve. Sri Lanka’s war torn area in the north not only suffers human casualties but elephants as well. They have stepped on and mines, been caught in army cross fire and been victims of angry villagers. India has perhaps the most intense elephant problems Village after village has been raided by hungry eles. Their habitat has shrunk; lack of food is forcing the pachyderms to seek nourishment from the crops outside the reserves and parks. Tragic results have followed. A dozen eles have been electrocuted by low-slung power cables or electric fences erected by farmers to protect crops. Six elephants were found to have died due to the ingestion of herbicides, it is not yet clear if this was a deliberate poisoning. These various situations will only continue to get worse as these magnificent animals are restricted to smaller and smaller areas with out adequate food and water. Some countries are finally addressing this critical problem, however in most cases the speed with which the various governments are moving will allow many more eles to die painful deaths before solutions are found. October/November US WORST OFFENDER IN IVORY SALES An investigation by-- Care for the Wild – International states that the US is one of the world’s leading Ivory markets. The US sells more ivory bar Hong Kong. Ivory is imported to the US by individuals for craftsmen in the US. Sales on the internet have increase significantly and large quantities of illegal worked ivory are imported to the US who fails to comply with both CITES regulations and its own national laws. Asian run crime organizations based in Africa are behind the increase in illegal trade in ivory. The Number of ivory seizures worldwide averages THREE a day. Chinese markets create a high demand for illicit ivory, six countries in Asia and the Philippines account for 62 percent of the ivory recovered in the 49 largest seizures recorded. In 1998 a complete ban on the international trade in ivory through CITES saw the European and American Markets dried up. All that has changed. Wealth in Asia has increased, particularly in China. The price of ivory in 2004 was $200 per kilogram now it is $850. Poaching is rampant and the illegal trade is booming, even in the US. This summer, CITES renewed the ivory trade ban for another nine years while allowing for a one-off sale of ivory from four countries. Sadly given the current trend, more of the same means that elephant populations will not be in better shape nine years from now EBAY --BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE Unfortunately, the Internet’s largest shopping venue, eBay, has not policed the thousands of ivory sales in countries throughout the world. Recently, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has forced them to realize the alarming level of illegal trade that is being carried on that violates the stated ivory listing policies of the different eBay web sites. Thousands of letters of protest were sent to IFAW’s web site. Even after IFAW brought this to eBay’s attention, hundreds of violations are still occurring with France being the worse offender. Please write to protest --just click on the link to IFAW to reach their website and write a letter voicing your outrage.

World Elephant News

Check Back Often for the Latest World News Concerning Asian Elephants

April - May

Good News in the elephant world for a change. The number of elephants in Manas National Park in India has been growing and now numbers about 1,026. Manas is still lush with lots of forest cover and hills, ideal habitat for herds.

However, conflict between villagers, trains and electrocutions is on the increase in parts of India.
Major rail lines run thru many of the most populated elephant areas, which have resulted in numerous deaths, most recently a mother and her calf. Six elephants were electrocuted when they went on a drunken rampage, after being drawn to fermenting beer in a village. They ran amok thru a rice paddy that had electrical transmission towers one animal rubbed his back against the pole causing it to collapse with high voltage lines falling on the elephant. Other elephant’s raced to help and one by one were electrocuted. Another problem is the shrinking and fragmentation of habitat. India loses at least 200 ellies due to human conflict every year.

Endangered animals are the new blood diamonds for warlords using poaching to fund wars. Ivory being one of the most prized. 40 tons of ivory, which represents 4,000 elephants killed, was confiscated in Hong Kong.

China is the largest world market with the US a shameful second. The State Department estimates the market value of illegal ivory at $400 a pound.

Thailand is a key player in wild elephant trade. The country is used as a transit point, it is estimated that at leased 50 jumbos have been smuggled from Burma to Thailand each year. These elephants are then put in shelters where they are trained (and not gently) before being sent to foreign zoos. Four were sent to Germany five to China and 11 to Malaysia. The situation became worse after nine elephants were exported to Australian zoos. As far as we know China ordered 300 elephants from Thailand to entertain visitors at the Olympic Games.

January - February

The constant & persistent problem of elephants raiding crops, destroying villages in their search for food and in many countries killing local people is escalating into a jumbo sized problem in many areas. Some of the solutions are ingenious, impossible to implement or to expensive.

CHINA: is offering “dinner halls” of banana plantations and sugarcane planted several kilometers from villages to entice the elephants away. The experiment has had mixed results.

Elephants do not like bees; their angry buzzing will usually clear an area within 80 seconds. In Sumatra bees o kept the elephants out of the fields some of the time, so fences of beehives worked well except in areas with Sun Bears who have a fondness for the honey. In India in one state alone 400 people have been killed by hungry ellies and 82 ellies have died. Every thing is being tried as a deterrent including tiger urine. The pungent smell of the urine will deter the jumbos from entering villages it is believed. Another unique deterrent method is lacing ropes with chili powder and tobacco and laying the ropes around crop fields. The old standby, electric fences are still being used in many areas but presents problems also. Some elephants are smart enough to put a tree or board over the fence top and gain entrance. The only perfect solution is giving the elephants back large tracts of land, which supplies sufficient food so they are not forced to hunt nourishment in farmer’s fields.

INDONESIA has its Flying Squad consisting of four elephants, its mission to patrol the park boundaries and the crops planted on the perimeter. When the Squad meets a wild ellie they push the intruders back into the park and often the males will lock tusks and fight. Since the Flying Squad been on patrol, not one wild elephant has been killed on its watch.

INDIA has just recently allocated many strips of land to connect various forested areas. The land has been purchased by wildlife organizations and some by the various Indian states. These corridors will also benefit other endangered species such as the tiger. Since this is a recent development it remains to be seen how successful these corridors will be.

BANGLADESH—in November hundreds were killed when cyclones and floods smashed in the country. Roads and bridges were demolished so what did the rescuers turn to---the elephants. With brute strength they cleared roads of cars, trucks trees and huge busses. The elephants made it possible for fresh water and food to be brought to people in isolated areas. They saved hundreds of lives and expedited the cleaning up, but remain unsung heroes.

December

JUMBO SIZED PROBLEMS

Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India are all experiencing continual and massive attacks by wild elephants. A herd of wild Sumatran eles almost every evening approach a village where oil palm, betel-nut and other crops are grown and do considerable damage.

In Malaysia a bull had repeatedly attacked fruit orchards. A team of seven officers tracked him for five days before finally tranquilizing for transport back to the Som forest Reserve.

Sri Lanka’s war torn area in the north not only suffers human casualties but elephants as well. They have stepped on and mines, been caught in army cross fire and been victims of angry villagers.

India has perhaps the most intense elephant problems Village after village has been raided by hungry eles. Their habitat has shrunk; lack of food is forcing the pachyderms to seek nourishment from the crops outside the reserves and parks. Tragic results have followed. A dozen eles have been electrocuted by low-slung power cables or electric fences erected by farmers to protect crops. Six elephants were found to have died due to the ingestion of herbicides, it is not yet clear if this was a deliberate poisoning.

These various situations will only continue to get worse as these magnificent animals are restricted to smaller and smaller areas with out adequate food and water. Some countries are finally addressing this critical problem, however in most cases the speed with which the various governments are moving will allow many more eles to die painful deaths before solutions are found.

October/November

US WORST OFFENDER IN IVORY SALES

An investigation by-- Care for the Wild – International states that the US is one of the world’s leading Ivory markets. The US sells more ivory bar Hong Kong. Ivory is imported to the US by individuals for craftsmen in the US. Sales on the internet have increase significantly and large quantities of illegal worked ivory are imported to the US who fails to comply with both CITES regulations and its own national laws.

Asian run crime organizations based in Africa are behind the increase in illegal trade in ivory. The Number of ivory seizures worldwide averages THREE a day. Chinese markets create a high demand for illicit ivory, six countries in Asia and the Philippines account for 62 percent of the ivory recovered in the 49 largest seizures recorded.

In 1998 a complete ban on the international trade in ivory through CITES saw the European and American Markets dried up. All that has changed. Wealth in Asia has increased, particularly in China. The price of ivory in 2004 was $200 per kilogram now it is $850. Poaching is rampant and the illegal trade is booming, even in the US.

This summer, CITES renewed the ivory trade ban for another nine years while allowing for a one-off sale of ivory from four countries. Sadly given the current trend, more of the same means that elephant populations will not be in better shape nine years from now

EBAY --BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Unfortunately, the Internet’s largest shopping venue, eBay, has not policed the thousands of ivory sales in countries throughout the world. Recently, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has forced them to realize the alarming level of illegal trade that is being carried on that violates the stated ivory listing policies of the different eBay web sites. Thousands of letters of protest were sent to IFAW’s web site. Even after IFAW brought this to eBay’s attention, hundreds of violations are still occurring with France being the worse offender. Please write to protest --just click on the link to IFAW to reach their website and write a letter voicing your outrage.