U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Asian Elephant

Conservation Act

Summary Report

1999-2001
Cover:

A subadult male Asian elephant in the fertile grasslands of the Brahmaputra River

floodplains, Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India. The forested hills in the

background are an essential wet season component of this habitat which is part of

India’s Kaziranga-Karbelong-Intanki Elephant Reserve, home to 1,500 to 2,000

elephants.

 Karl Stromayer

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with

others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their

habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
Asian Elephant

Conservation Act

Summary Report

1999-2001

A cover drawing from the children’s book “Elephantasy,” a publication under the

project titled School Education to support Asian Elephant Conservation. See page 23.

© 2001 Centre for Enviroment Education

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is

a keystone species, sharing a land mass

with some of the most densely populated

and poorest areas in the world. The

pressure brought on by these conditions

has resulted in the conversion of forest

cover to agriculture and villages,

fragmenting elephant habitat and

populations. While the Asian elephant is

the well-known elephant of circuses and

elephant rides, the African elephant’s

plight in the wild has been more

successfully popularized by the western

media. Relatively few people are aware that

the Asian elephant is critically endangered

in the wild.

Several distinctive anatomical

characteristics differentiate the Asian

elephant from the larger, more abundant

African elephant (Loxodonta africana).

For example, the ears of Asian elephants

are smaller; the forehead has two distinct

lobes, rather than the single dome of the

African elephant; and, the highest point on

an Asian elephant is the top of the head,

versus the top of the shoulder in the

African elephant. In addition, only

60 percent of male Asian elephants have

tusks, while tusked males and females are

the rule in the African species. Due to

poaching, which selects against tuskbearing males, many localities throughout

Asia have depleted numbers of mature

elephant bulls, resulting in an abnormal

population-age structure and sex ratio. The

long-term impacts of this factor on the

conservation of the Asian elephant is

unknown.

This report presents a summary and

highlights of the work supported by the

Asian Elephant Conservation Fund (Fund)

during 1999-2001. The Fund is administered

and coordinated by the Division of

International Conservation, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (Service), Department of

the Interior.

Introduction

Within the

context of

conservation

planning to

conserve

maximum

biodiversity and

ecosystem

function, the

importance of

conserving the

Asian elephant

across as much of

its range as

possible

cannot be

overemphasized.

There are also

profound

ideological and

religious reasons

to preserve this

species and halt

its decline.

An Asian elephant in Sri Lanka’s Yala

National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

The island nation of Sri Lanka is home to

some 3,000 Asian elephants.

USFWS/Fred Bagley

3
If wild populations of

Asian elephants are to

survive into the 22nd

Century, habitat, such

as this in India’s

Nilgiris and Eastern

Ghats Elephant

Reserve must be

protected. Conversion

to farmland is a

primary threat. For

example, clear-cutting

and an expanding

agricultural frontier

have already

displaced Asian

elephants from much

of Yunnan Province,

China (top and center)

and Indonesia’s

Lampung Province

(bottom).

Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department Photographs Karl Stromayer
Background

Asian elephants once roamed most of the

forest and savannah regions of Asia. Today

only about 35,000-40,000 hold on

precariously in the wild places of 13 nations

(Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia,

China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,

Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam).

Additionally, an estimated 16,000

domesticated elephants, mostly wildcaught, assist humans in 11 of the same

nations. Throughout their range, there

may be fewer than 10 separate populations

of wild Asian elephants with more than

1,000 animals; half of these are found in

India. Mature bulls reach more than 11,000

pounds (5,000 kilograms), require upwards

of 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of vegetation

and 52 gallons (200 liters) of water per day,

and inhabit home ranges of more than 80

square miles (200 km2). These facts alone

demonstrate the significant demands Asian

elephants put on local resources.

The Asian elephant lives in a wide variety of

habitats, including savanna, scrub forest,

secondary forest, and closed-canopy forest.

Grasses typically account for more than

50 percent of the Asian elephant’s diet;

grassland forest-mosaics are considered

optimal habitat. In such areas,

concentrations as high as five elephants per

0.38 square mile (1 km2) have been

recorded. The Asian elephant is

characterized by longevity, slow

reproduction, high mobility, and an

important but imperfectly understood role

in ecosystem-level processes, such as seed

dispersal, plant succession, and

biogeochemical cycling. At the beginning of

the 21st century, the survival of elephants

in the wild and in domesticity throughout

much of their historic range is severely

threatened by a handful of well-understood

threats.

During the 20th century, throughout much

of South and Southeast Asia, rapidly

growing human populations converted

forests and grasslands to agriculture,

pastures, and villages, fragmenting

elephant habitat and elephant populations.

In addition, poaching for ivory and other

body parts; killing of elephants in conflict

with people over crops; and catching

elephants for domestication have also

contributed to this drastic decline. The

exact magnitude and rate of loss of the

world’s Asian elephant populations will

never be known precisely. Many

populations of Asian elephants occupy

dense forested habitat and/or are highly

mobile, making them difficult to count and

monitor. Recently, rigorous, science-based

methods have been developed to assess

elephant numbers and, indeed, these

techniques are still being refined. Still,

what is known about the rate of decline of

the Asian elephant and its habitat is cause

for considerable concern.

Habitat loss is the single greatest threat to

the survival of substantial numbers of wild

Asian elephants. Recent research at the

Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation and

Research Center suggests that the Asian

elephants’ geographic range has declined

by as much as 70 percent since the 1960’s.

In Sumatra, Indonesia, believed to support

3,000 Asian elephants, and Assam, India,

where 5,000 elephants reside,

unsustainable logging, expanding

agricultural frontier, economic recession,

civil unrest, and human immigration from

more populous areas cause widespread

habitat loss. These activities result in

greater elephant-human conflict,

increasing elephant deaths by poisoning,

shooting, and electrocution; and, capture

and detainment of problem elephants in

state-managed facilities. Statistics from

Sumatra and Assam corroborate habitat

loss as the foremost threat to elephant

conservation. During 1985-1997, forest

cover declined by 44 percent in Sumatra’s

Lampung Province; and, between

1990-2000, an estimated 27-39 square miles

(70-100 km2) of forest were lost annually in

Assam.

While habitat loss may be the ultimate

cause of the decline of Asian elephant

numbers in the wild today, elephant-human

conflict over agricultural or commercial

plantations of rice, cassava, banana, oil

palm, rubber, tea, coffee and other crops is

widely held as the leading proximate cause

of human-induced elephant deaths over

much of the species’ range. The root cause

of the conflict can be found in the

considerable forage requirements of

elephants and the high densities of rural,

subsistence-based farmers, sometimes up

5
Local people in Mymensing Forest

Division, Bangladesh rush to chase

foraging elephants from their crop fields.

IUCN Bangladesh
to 650 people per square mile (250 people

per square kilometer), inhabiting elephant

range. The conflict is concentrated to

periods before harvest or during seasonal

movements of elephant groups, often

resulting in deaths of elephants and

humans alike. In areas of high conflict,

people are frequently killed while driving

elephants out of agricultural fields or

simply by crossing paths with an elephant

on its way to or from a crop-raiding site.

During 2001, 31 elephants in Assam were

poisoned to death during a 70-day period as

retribution for crop raiding. In Sri Lanka, a

country with approximately 3,000

elephants, 110 -120 elephants are killed

each year, most, while crop raiding. If this

rate of decline continues, all but a few

token populations of wild elephants may go

extinct in Sri Lanka during this century.

The destruction of Asian elephant

populations by unsustainable hunting has

occurred historically and continues to be a

major threat in the long term. Poaching,

including the killing of elephants for ivory

or other body parts such as meat, skin,

teeth, feet, and bones, is the primary cause

for the decline of the species in some parts

of its range. Cambodia has plentiful,

available elephant range of at least 8,000

square miles (20,720 km2). But after 30

years of warfare and civil unrest, most

elephant range in Cambodia can be

characterized as defaunated forest (forests

intact from a botanical perspective but

having reduced elephant and other large

vertebrate populations). In some parts of

southern India, centuries of targeting male

elephants for ivory poaching has produced

an extremely skewed adult sex ratio of up

to 50 adult female elephants to every adult

male “tusker.” This threat is only partially

alleviated by the polygamous nature of

elephants and the huge territories they

occupy. In publicizing this threat, the

Wildlife Trust of India characterized

poaching of the Asian elephant in India as

having been at “very high levels” during

1988-1998.

There remains a strong case for using

domesticated elephants as a tool to

promote the conservation of wild

populations. Approximately 16,000

domesticated elephants are the modern

day expression of a more than 4,000 year

old form of animal husbandry. The

“domestication” of the Asian elephant

differs from the domestication of most

mammals because elephants have never

been selectively bred, and therefore,

remain genetically and behaviorally, wild.

It has been estimated that 2-4 million

elephants have been captured from the

wild during the history of elephant

domestication, with 100,000 captured in the

19th century. Because elephant calves are

slow to mature and because carrying a

fetus may reduce the ability of a female

elephant to work, elephant-keeping

cultures typically have relied on capture

from the wild (rather than captive

breeding) as a means of maintaining or

increasing their stocks. Given that most

captive herds of Asian elephant have been

denied the opportunity to optimally and

freely breed, the capture and

domestication of elephants has often meant

a siphoning off of the wild population,

leading some conservationists to

characterize domestication as a

“demographic black hole.” The decrease in

local and regional demand for elephants as

“beasts of burden” and the lack of

appropriate work for the world population

of domesticated elephants likely means

that capture and domestication are not

serious threats to the survival of this

species. However, capture does remain a

threat in specific local areas and to already

heavily impacted populations of Asian

elephants.

Serious concerns about the rapid decline of

wild Asian elephants led the United States

to list the species under the Endangered

Species Act as endangered in 1973; and,

subsequently in 1976, the member nations

to the Convention on the International

Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

listed the Asian elephant as an Appendix I

species—a status that allows no

commercial trade. In addition, formal

adoption of the Asian Elephant

Conservation Act (AsECA) by the United

States government was initiated when a bill

was introduced in the House of

Representatives on June 4, 1997. Passed by

the House on October 21; and by the

Senate on November 8, the bill was signed

into law by the President on November 19,

1997.

The AsECA was enacted “to assist in the

conservation of Asian elephants by

supporting and providing financial

resources for the conservation programs of

nations within the range of Asian elephants

and funding projects of persons with

demonstrated expertise in the conservation

of Asian elephants.” Passage of the AsECA

demonstrates that the United States is

taking a leadership role in promoting the

conservation of the Asian elephant for

present and future generations.

Elephant-human

conflict over

crops presents a

grave threat to

conservation of

the Asian

elephant

throughout much

of its range.

Human and

elephant deaths

are an

increasingly

common outcome

of this conflict.

7

The AsECA established the Asian

Elephant Conservation Fund (Fund) to

provide financial assistance to protect and

conserve the Asian elephant. Originally

authorized for 5 years between 1997-2002;

the AsECA has been reauthorized for an

additional 5 years beginning in 2003.

Congress appropriated $1,944,500 to the

Fund during 1999-2001. During this period,

the Fund has supported 44 projects in 12

range countries, leveraging an almost

equal amount from partner organizations

in matching and in-kind support.

Priority areas for support from the Fund

closely mirror the threats to the Asian

elephant. A proposal must show real

promise of allowing Asian elephant

populations to expand or persist in native

habitat for the long term, and must build

or meaningfully enhance the capacity of

range state citizens to manage elephants

and other wildlife resources in the future.

Additional criteria include evidence of local

government support; matching funds or 

in-kind contributions from partner

organizations; and, potential to result in

positive impacts beyond the life of the

project. The Fund awards grants to range

state governments, non-governmental

organizations, and individuals with

demonstrated expertise in the conservation

of the Asian elephant. Projects can be

The Asian Elephant

Conservation Fund

classified in the following broad categories:

efforts to decrease elephant-human

conflict; protection of at-risk elephant

populations; protected area/reserve

management in important elephant range;

habitat/ecosystem conservation and

management; surveys and monitoring;

applied research; conservation education; 

cross-border elephant issues; and

development and execution of elephant

conservation action plans. Captive breeding

proposals, other than for release in the wild

are not eligible.

The maintenance of protected area

networks within larger elephant-friendly

landscapes or “managed elephant ranges”

likely offer the best long-term hope for

conservation of large naturally sustaining

elephant populations. Sustaining the Asian

elephant in fragmented habitat will require

intensive metapopulation management,

techniques such as translocation,

immunocontraception, habitat

management, and the development of a

large toolbox of elephant-human conflict

mitigation measures. To help ensure Asian

elephant populations are conserved under

both scenarios, the Fund continues to

support well planned efforts to integrate

protection, education, research, and

management actions to create the

circumstances under which the Asian

elephant will persist in the wild.

An Asian elephant at Bandipur National Park, Karnataka, India. Bandipur is the

home of 300-350 Asian elephants and forms an integral part of the Nilgiris and Eastern

Ghats Elephant Reserve, which has the single largest remaining wild population of

Asian elephants (roughly 5,000-6,000 individuals).

Karl Stromayer
A biologist with the Asian Elephant

Research and Conservation Centre

inspects an electric fence that surrounds

an agricultural settlement within the

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala,

India.

Karl Stromayer
On-the-Ground

Results

Elephant-Human

Conflict

Due to the severity of elephant-human

conflicts and their deleterious impacts on

elephant conservation, the Fund supports

research, development, and

implementation of a broad spectrum of

efforts aimed at fostering the coexistence

of elephants and humans. These efforts

include the use of fences, ditches,

deterrents, scaring techniques, early

warning systems, and the development and

fine tuning of new techniques such as

chemical repellants, pheromones, strobe

lights, and infrasound. The Fund has

favored an adaptive management approach

to elephant-human conflict mitigation in

areas of intense conflict, and assessment of

elephant-human conflict in areas where the

nature and extent of conflict are less

severe.

Development, Testing, and

Implementation of Elephant-Human

Conflict Mitigation Measures in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, elephant-human conflict

resulted in the deaths of more than 100

elephants and 60 people per year during

the 1990’s. The Fund is supporting three

projects that directly address this

pressing conservation issue. In partnership

with the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation

Society and the Sri Lankan Department of

Wildlife Conservation, and in consortium

with the Disney Wildlife Fund and the

Wildlife Trust, the Fund is providing

support to implement a community-based

project that seeks to fence villagers and

their crops in and keep the elephants out.

This model was originally pioneered in

Zimbabwe by the Communal Areas

Management Program For Indigenous

Resources (CAMPFIRE), when it was

realized that carving up vast landscapes

with linear fences was contrary to the goals

of crop protection and wildlife

management. In the Sri Lankan context,

early attempts to use electric fencing to

mitigate elephant-human conflict were not

successful—perhaps because long linear

stretches of fence were built without

reliable mechanisms to ensure fence

maintenance and integrity. Under the

current model of fencing villages in and

elephants out, circular solar-powered

fences of 5-6 miles (8-10 km) in length are

Elephants, being

highly intelligent

animals, are able

to overcome

many attempts to

reduce their

damaging

impacts on crop

fields. Therefore,

it is often useful

to apply elephanthuman conflict

mitigation

measures in

dynamic and

multiple

applications.

being built around villages and

surrounding crop fields, but only after

agreements have been reached with local

communities to ensure routine

maintenance. In addition, records of crop

yields, revenue, and losses to wildlife

depredation are maintained so long-term

costs and benefits can be determined.

In a companion project, a group of

engineers affiliated with Motorola, and

supported by the Fund and the Sri Lankan

Department of Wildlife Conservation, are

working to develop and apply new

techniques to detect elephant movements

towards crop fields and deter their

intrusions. Thus far, seismic detectors, a

simple trip wire system attached to a

buzzer, and infrasound techniques have

been examined as potential “early warning

signals” to alert farmers of approaching

elephants and that crop depredation may

be imminent. The trip wire system shows

great promise. Farmers who previously

spent months camping in the fields nightafter-night are now able to stay at home.

Farmers come out to the field when wires

are tripped by approaching elephants. The

trip wire system is being replicated at

different sites, and further efforts to adapt

this system to the diverse conditions of the

Sri Lankan elephant range are being

investigated.

A third, and equally innovative strategy

aimed at enhancing human tolerance for

elephants is being undertaken outside of

Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park. Since

70 percent of Sri Lanka’s approximately

3,000 wild Asian elephants live outside

parks, development of ecotourism

opportunities based on elephant viewing

might provide an alternate source of

income to farmers and increase tolerance

to crop raiding. In the first pilot project of

this type in Sri Lanka, the Wildlife Trust is

partnering with local communities to build

simple camps and wildlife viewing blinds in

trees. It is hoped that the revenue

generated from this industry will help

offset the economic damage wrought by

crop-raiding elephants and help win

support for conservation.

11

Asian elephant ivory is highly favored by

many ivory traders, and elephant bones

and body parts used in the Asian medicinal

trade are commodities much in demand by

the global marketplace. Acknowledging

that uncontrolled trade in elephant ivory

and body parts is a serious threat to the

survival of the species, the Fund supports

the equipping and training of uniformed

state-sponsored anti-poaching forces; the

prevention and investigation into the illegal

trade in ivory; and, the building and

maintenance of park infrastructure such as

roads, anti-poaching camps, and

watchtowers.

Protecting the Asian Elephant in

Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains

Half (up to 300) of Cambodia’s elephants

are believed to inhabit the Cardamom

Mountains in southwest Cambodia. During

the past three decades, this remote area

was void of intense organized poaching

prevalent in Cambodia by virtue of having

been a Khmer Rouge stronghold. A series

of national-level elephant and wildlife

surveys, supported by the Fund, revealed

that the Cardamoms were a key elephant

landscape. Nevertheless, 26 elephants

were poached there during a 16-month

period. The Cambodian Ministry of

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with

support from the Fund and in cooperation

with Conservation International, Cat

Action Treasury and the University of

Minnesota, developed a protection and

monitoring plan for this key Indochinese

elephant range. In the Central Cardamom

Forest, 45 full-time rangers and 75 parttime community based wildlife monitors

and guides were trained to protect and

Protection of At-Risk

Elephant

Populations

monitor the effectiveness of such efforts.

On their very first patrol, rangers broke up

a band of hardened elephant and tiger

poachers, disarmed them, had them sign

documents agreeing not to poach again, and

then expelled them from the Cardamoms.

In addition, more than 300 soldiers from the

south side of the Cardamoms have been

redeployed away from the park or

demobilized and retrained as park rangers,

thus mitigating another serious threat to

the wildlife and other natural resources of

this ecosystem.

Support for Prevention of and

Investigation into Poaching of the Asian

Elephant and Illegal Trade in Ivory, India.

Although India is estimated to hold as

many as 25,000 of the world’s wild Asian

elephants, it is speculated that about 1,000

of these are mature males (tuskers) of

breeding age. The poaching of tuskers is

shifting the male Asian elephant population

towards the survival of tuskless males

(mukhnas). To combat poaching and ivory

trade, illegal in India since 1991, the

Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)

has worked to gather information on the

ivory trade and provide legal assistance to

increase prison sentences for elephant

poaching and ivory trade crimes. During

2000, information gathered by WPSI led to

three ivory seizures in India and also

helped arrest a number of ivory dealers and

traders. The critical need for this type of

work was further emphasized in January

2001, when five tuskers were poached in the

Corbett National Park, in what is widely

viewed as one of India’s most important and

best managed National Parks.

Illegal timber

felling and

encroachment

onto protected

areas has

seriously

degraded areas of

biodiversity-rich

elephant range.

An Assam Forest Department security detail patrols an encroached area in the Sonai

Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary. This habitat forms part of the Kameng-Sonitpur Interstate

Elephant Reserve 1 of 11 formally identified elephant reserves in India.

Karl Stromayer

13
Karl Stromayer
The effective management and

maintenance of core protected areas

remains a foundation for all national

conservation strategies that fall within the

range of the Asian elephant. These core

areas, whether classified as national parks,

wildlife sanctuaries, or forest reserves, are

the anchors upon which the survival of the

Asian elephant depends. Typically, these

areas are important reservoirs of

biodiversity, natural processes and

endangered species alike. The Fund’s

projects have helped bring better

management to such internationally

renowned protected areas as Sri Lanka’s

Yala National Park and Biosphere Reserve,

Burma’s Alungdaw Kathapa National

Park, Vietnam’s Cat Tien National Park,

and India’s Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary,

part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Developing a Management Plan for the

Conservation of Burma’s Alungdaw

Kathapa National Park

In Burma’s Alungdaw Kathapa National

Park, the Fund supported Smithsonian

Institution efforts to strengthen local park

personnel capabilities and skills, as well as

produce baseline data on elephant and

wildlife distribution and abundance within

the context of human land-use patterns

and vegetation. Another component of the

project documents how local communities

Management in

Important Elephant

Range

use forest resources. It seeks to engage

communities in developing a park

management plan to optimize biodiversity

conservation while allowing some

consumptive use of non-timber forest

resources. Community participation in the

development of park and elephant

management plans is an essential element

in protected area conservation in Burma.

Training in Elephant Reserve

Management for the Forest Field Staff of

the Tamil Nadu State Forest Department,

India

Protected areas function best when staffed

and managed by dedicated, well-trained

staff. With this in mind, the Fund provided

support to the Tamil Nadu State Forest

Department and the A. V. C. College to

launch an ambitious training program for

80 Forest Department field staff in

advanced elephant reserve management

techniques. This program introduced

trainees to the latest techniques and

concepts in anti-poaching; habitat

management; elephant-human conflict

mitigation; monitoring and management of

elephants and other key, endemic, and

endangered species; community relations;

and legal issues including wildlife

protection and land tenure. This project

raised trainees’ morale and confidence,

while reinforcing their sense of mission.

Investment in

human resources

will continue to

be essential if

Asian elephants

are to persist in

the wild.

Trained and dedicated staff, such as these community wildlife rangers (far left) in

Cambodia are critical to the success of conservation initiatives.

Karl Stromayer

15

The greatest challenge to Asian elephant

conservation is the reduction,

fragmentation, and degradation of existing

elephant habitat. Many protected areas are

too small to adequately provide for

elephant populations. This has led to the

concept of managing entire landscapes to

incorporate Asian elephant populations.

The concept has even spawned a new term,

the “managed elephant range.” The Fund

recognizes that the objectives of this

strategy will be achieved chiefly by

reducing negative human impacts,

maintaining habitat quality, and retaining

connectivity between landscape patches,

while accepting that complete protection of

the entire landscapes is rarely possible.

Reducing Human Impacts on Elephant

Habitats in India

The world’s largest single population of

Asian elephants, about 6,000 individuals,

inhabits 4,247 square miles (11,000 km2) in

the Nilgiri and Eastern Ghats mountains in

the southern Indian states of Kerala,

Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

Approximately 1,400 miles (2,300 km) to

the north, in the states of Uttar Pradesh

and Uttaranchal, another critically

significant elephant population of 1,000

individuals inhabits the Rajaji - Corbett

elephant reserve. The landscapes upon

which these elephants depend are

threatened by unsustainable domestic

cattle and buffalo grazing. For example,

currently 900 Gujjar families (a seminomadic forest dwelling people dependent

on grazing) and 10,000 cattle reside inside

the Rajaji National Park, an area that

should form a core protected zone of high

quality habitat. In both regions, poorly

managed grazing systems have favored the

colonization of invasive weed species and

reduced palatable forages preferred by

elephants. In addition, the close proximity

of wildlife and cattle likely has led to the

transmission of disease back and forth

between wild and domesticated species. It

is notable that anthrax continues to kill

elephant and cattle in both areas.

Habitat and

Ecosystem

Conservation and

Management

To counter these threats and improve

habitat quality for elephants, the Fund,

Friends of the Doon Society, local

communities, Uttaranchal Forest

Department, and Government of India (in

the north) and the A. V. C. College, local

communities, Tamil Nadu Forest

Department, and Government of India (in

the south) have established projects to get

cattle out of the forests. Both projects

focus on shifting animal husbandry

techniques from free range systems based

on large numbers of poorly managed cattle

inside parks to alternative livelihoods that

are more enviromentally benign; such as

staff feeding cattle and sericulture.

Maintaining Connectivity in Landscapes

Essential to the Survival of the Asian

Elephant

The Fund supported four projects focused

on the goal of maintaining wildlife corridors

or passages between protected areas

containing elephant populations. Corridors

are considered crucial to elephant survival

in Asia in the long term, as most isolated

protected areas, being “habitat islands,” do

not allow for adequate dispersal and

recolonization, necessary to reduce

extinction probabilities. One of these

projects in Thailand, implemented by HAT,

a local non-governmental organization,

partnered with local people and the Thai

Royal Forestry Department to develop and

implement a plan to restore a 2,275 footlong (700 meter) elephant corridor that

separates the Ang Luenai Wildlife

Sanctuary and the Khao Chamao National

Park. If successful, this project will be the

first elephant corridor restored in

Thailand. The corridor was formerly a

flash point for elephant-human conflict due

to the production of banana, coconut,

cassava, and other crops favored by

elephants. Under the project, these crops

are being replaced by plants unpalatable to

elephants, so the elephants will move

between the protected areas and not linger

in the corridor.

A Thai Government resource manager discusses plans to create an elephant corridor

linking Ang Luenai Wildlife Sanctuary and Khao Chamao National Park in southeast

Thailand.

HAT

17

Asian elephants, being highly mobile

animals of forests and grassland-forest

mosaics are challenging animals to study.

Because of this, the distribution and

number of elephants remaining in more

than half the range states was poorly

known when the AsECA was signed into

law in 1997. The Fund has supported the

use of numerous methods commonly used

to assess the distribution and abundance of

Asian elephants, including line transect,

direct count, capture/recapture, and

reconnaissance techniques. In addition, the

Fund has invested in the improvement of

standard techniques such as line transect

dung counts and the development and

testing of new techniques such as camera

trapping, infrasound, and fecal DNA

analysis, which may also be applied as

capture/recapture techniques.

Assessing the Distribution and

Abundance of Asian Elephants in

Cambodia

During the 1990’s, Cambodia emerged from

more than three decades of war and civil

strife. While anecdotal reports suggested

that elephants were still found in several

provinces, no reliable information existed

on the densities or distribution of elephants

and other large mammals. This

information was essential to the

development of conservation strategies for

Cambodia’s existing protected areas and to

plan for the declaration of new ones. To

help bridge this gap, the Fund launched

two projects to assess the distribution and

abundance of Cambodia’s elephants and

other large mammals, and also to assess

levels of poaching pressure and habitat

destruction, perceived as immediate

threats to Cambodia’s elephants. The

projects were implemented by Fauna and

Flora International, the World Wide Fund

for Nature, and the Wildlife Conservation

Society, in close cooperation with the

Surveys and

Monitoring

Cambodian Ministry of Environment and

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and

Fisheries. Both projects focused on

capacity building, training more than 20

Cambodian biologists to plan, conduct,

interpret, and develop protected area

management strategies based on wildlife

surveys and monitoring. Results revealed

that Cambodia’s elephant population had

been seriously depleted, but small

populations of elephants, 300-500 in total,

inhabited extensive areas of high-quality

habitat. In addition, a survey techniques

manual was completed in the Khmer

language and a National Elephant

Management Plan was initiated.

Action Research for Conservation of

Asian Elephants in Bangladesh

Sporadic, short-duration surveys have been

conducted on elephant distribution,

abundance, and crop-raiding patterns in

Bangladesh since the 1970’s, which suggest

that Bangladesh contains elephant habitat

crucial to the survival of transboundary

elephant populations shared with India and

Burma. Still, the status of the Asian

elephant in Bangladesh is unclear. With

this in mind, the World Conservation Union

(IUCN) Bangladesh country office,

Bangladesh Forest Department, and

University Partners initiated a project with

the Fund to conduct a field assessment of

elephant distribution and abundance in

Bangladesh, and develop a national

guideline to mitigate threats to elephants

in the wild. A strong training component to

this project links the Bangladeshi team

with biologists from the Indian Institute of

Science and Columbia University for

training and implementation of dung count

and fecal DNA population estimation tools.

This project will culminate in a national

level workshop to prioritize short, medium,

and long term actions needed for elephant

conservation in Bangladesh.

The dense forests

of Southeast Asia

make assessing

elephant

abundance by

direct

observation or

mark-recapture

techniques very

difficult. In such

forests, sign

surveys (such as

counts of dung,

tracks, and

feeding signs)

may be conducted

to provide indices

or estimates of

abundance.

A Cambodian community wildlife ranger examines fresh elephant sign to monitor and

ultimately help protect elephants remaining in the Cardamom Mountains.

Karl Stromayer

19

The Fund encourages science-based

conservation. This entails research on

important aspects of elephant biology,

ecology, and behavior. Such information is

useful to help increase population numbers

and improve the management of Asian

elephants and their habitats. The

development of new methods to research

and manage elephants and their habitats is

also supported by the Fund. Under this

umbrella, projects examining refinement of

elephant population estimation techniques

based on indirect methods, conservation

genetics, pheromones, deforestation

patterns, and identification of elephant

corridors have been conducted.

Improving Indirect Techniques to Estimate

the Numbers of Forest Dwelling Asian

Elephants

A major component of a 3-year study

supported by the Fund and conducted by

the Wildlife Conservation Society in close

cooperation with the Indonesian

Government’s Directorate General of

Forest Protection and Nature

Conservation (PHKA) in Sumatra’s

Lampung Province focused on developing

and testing indirect methods of estimating

elephant population size. Locally, the need

for this study became apparent when it was

realized that defecation rate, decay rate,

and decay stages, variables needed to

optimally convert estimates of elephant

dung into elephant density, were unknown

for Sumatra and elsewhere in Southeast

Asia. Early project implementation

focused on establishing deposition and

decay rates, and comparing different

methods of sampling forest blocks for dung

density. A large number of PHKA staff

were trained to conduct elephant surveys

using indirect methods and, the first

Applied Research on

Elephant

Populations and

Habitat

rigorously derived, science-based estimate

of elephant numbers for two important

national parks in Sumatra was achieved. In

addition, potentially useful relationships

between camera trapping of elephants and

dung counts were revealed. This project

likely will have considerable international

impact because the CITES Monitoring of

the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE)

mandate has highlighted the possibility

that harmonized methods may ultimately

be employed by elephant-range states to

assist with international decision making

regarding the trade of elephant products.

In Southeast Asia, to date, this project has

conducted the most comprehensive,

applied research on monitoring elephant

populations using indirect dung count

methods.

Conservation Genetics of the Asian

Elephant

The Fund supported a project with

Columbia University’s Center for

Environmental Research and Conservation

to develop and field test molecular

methods to non-invasively estimate

population size, sex ratios, and

reproductive success of individual male

elephants using fecal DNA analysis. The

use of fecal DNA analysis will likely be a

useful tool in estimating Asian elephant

population size, distribution, and seasonal

movements as it permits, for the first time,

the identification and sexing of individual

Asian elephants from dung samples. This

project also prioritized the training of

Asian elephant range-state biologists in

conservation genetic theory, laboratory

methods, and field applications. Training

will benefit the development of elephant

and other endangered species conservation

work in diverse nations in the future.

Staff from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry

and Estate Crops monitor elephant dung decay rate and prepare to transport dung

samples to plots in the forest where dung decay rate is systematically studied under

varying micro climactic conditions.

The Wildlife Conservation Society

The fund

supports

development of

greater knowledge

concerning the

genetic diversity

and variability of

the Asian

elephant.

21
Pages and drawings from “Elephantasy,” a children’s book created under a project focused on providing a

year-long Asian elephant conservation education program to 10-14 year old students in more than 900 schools

throughout India.

© 2001 Centre for Enviroment Education

22
Conservation education is critical to the

development of positive attitudes towards

conservation and the environment. At the

same time, the diversity of environmental

topics and the wide range of teaching

approaches makes designing,

implementing, and evaluating conservation

education campaigns quite challenging.

However, the potential dividends of

conservation education via long-term

changes in societal behavior make this field

an essential part of many conservation

efforts supported by the Fund;

particularly when these efforts are

integrated into more comprehensive

initiatives.

School Education to Support Asian

Elephant Conservation

With the firm conviction that targeting the

attitudes of schoolchildren in India today

will make a difference 10-20 years from

now, the Centre for Environment

Education (CEE) in Ahmedabad, India,

designed a comprehensive education

program aimed at

10-14 year old

Conservation

Education

“It is widely

accepted that

attitudes towards

the environment

are shaped early

in life. And it is

these attitudes

which govern the

kind of decisions

that adults take,

in their personal

and professional

capacities. It is

in this context

that it is

important to

reach out to

children, to

inculcate values

and attitudes

towards wildlife

conservation, in

order to lay the

foundation of a

conservation

ethic in the

general public.”

CEE

schoolchildren as one way to ensure the

long-term survival of the Asian elephant.

The first phase of this project developed

an educational package consisting of a

teacher’s manual, student’s workbook, and

posters. These excellent materials

covered many aspects of Asian elephant

ecology, natural history, and threats.

Distributed for peer review internationally,

these materials have become widely

acclaimed and sought after. Subsequently,

teachers at a network of more than 900

schools throughout India received training

in the use of these materials. In addition,

this network of schools was paired with a

national network of non-governmental

organizations to ensure simultaneous

outreach to the local communities in each

school district. The second phase of this

project will train 700 additional teachers to

implement the Asian elephant

conservation education program in the 12

Indian states where elephants are most

abundant. This phase will also see the

translation of project materials into nine

Indian languages and collaboration with

partners in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

© 2001 Centre for Enviroment Education

© 2001 Centre for Enviroment Education

23

The creation of transfrontier conservation

areas (TFCA’s) aims to maximize the size

of conservation areas by involving two or

more partner nations. Taken in the context

of preserving traditional migration routes

of highly mobile species, such as elephants,

and preserving large tracts of habitat

where ecosystem level processes can

continue in a “natural” way, this approach

has considerable conservation merit.

Perhaps due to tense border relations and

security concerns slowing down the pace of

development and establishment of

infrastructure along many international

borders, there remains considerable

opportunity for the Fund to assist in the

development of TFCA’s to support

elephant conservation in South and

Southeast Asia.

The Old Elephant Route

India and Burma share a 915 mile

(1,472 km) border dominated by several

small mountain ranges, effectively dividing

much of northeast India from the rest of

Southeast Asia. Despite the importance of

maintaining gene flow between Indian and

Burmese populations of elephants, very

little has been known about their status

and migratory patterns in this region.

Transboundary

Elephant

Management

The Fund supported the first baseline data

compilation on elephant distribution and

seasonal movements in this area, by joining

forces with the Aane Mane Foundation and

the Asian Elephant Research and

Conservation Centre. The project

conducted reconnaissance surveys of this

rugged border region in 2000 and 2001 and

found minimal evidence of elephant

movements between Burma and India.

However, a substantial population of

elephants was found inhabiting the western

border of the Namdapha National Park in

India’s State of Arunachal Pradesh.

Perhaps the greatest conservation benefit

these surveys provided was documenting

the heavy subsistence and market poaching

and encroachment by local peoples in the

Namdapha National Park. This project

heightened international awareness of the

challenges faced by managers of this park

rich in plant and animal diversity. In

addition, a state-wide survey of elephant

populations in Auranachal Pradesh

organized by the Government of India’s

Project Elephant is underway and

attention is being focused on how to best

address the needs of some 500 local people

inhabiting the Namdapha National Park.

Agricultural lands along Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan

Province, China, border a distant mountain landscape in the Lao Peoples Democratic

Republic. With more than 300 elephants, Xishuangbanna is China’s most important

elephant reserve. Excellent potential exists for transboundary elephant management

between China and the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic .

Karl Stromayer

25

Conservation planning, with the full input

of all stakeholders, is encouraged by the

Fund. Range-Wide Conservation Action

Plans serve as useful tools in educating all

interested parties, and also help to

coordinate efforts among stakeholders to

conserve species across their ranges.

Updating the Asian Elephant Action Plan

to Help Prioritize and Coordinate

Conservation Actions

A Fund project assisted The World

Conservation Union (IUCN’s) Species

Survival Commission for the conservation

of the Asian elephant update a 1990 Action

Plan. Size, trend, and status of each

elephant population in all range states was

collected in the updated plan. This

information will help prioritize certain

elephant populations for concerted

conservation action. The Fund is also

supporting the development of National

Action Plans for Asian elephant

conservation in Cambodia and Bangladesh.

Development and

Execution of

Elephant

Conservation Action

Plans

“The Asian elephant is the ultimate flagship for

broader conservation concerns in Asia. There is no

other example of a species that can be used as a

window to address such a wide array of concerns,

ranging from biological diversity and national

planning to integrated rural development.”

Asian Elephant Specialist Group, IUCN

A family of elephants crosses a road in

the Moyar valley, an important elephant

habitat essential to the free movement of

elephants between the Nilgiri and

Eastern Ghats mountain ranges of

southern India.

Karl Stromayer
The fate of the

domesticated Asian

elephant is in doubt

as demand for

elephant work

decreases and

elephant keeping

cultures gradually

adopt new livelihoods.

Karl Stromayer USFWS/David A. Ferguson USFWS/Fred Bagley
Reintroduction of domesticated elephants

into the wild in areas where they have been

extirpated makes sound ecological sense,

and experiments with this technique have

shown promise in Thailand. This concept is

also consistent with developing strategies

to deal with large numbers of domesticated

elephants effectively displaced by

modernization and the decline of elephant

husdandry. For example, approximately

4,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand

are largely without traditional work. In the

last 10 years alone, 500 elephants have

been captured and held in “elephant

conservation centers” in Sumatra,

Indonesia.

Unfortunately, given that the primary

threat to the Asian elephant is conversion

of habitat to agriculture and urbanization,

reintroduction to the wild will likely not be

a solution for the large percentage of the

world’s surplus domesticated Asian

elephants. Rather, it may be more

appropriate to manage the domesticated

Asian elephant as part of an integrated

strategy to promote the conservation of the

species as a whole. Culturally appropriate

use of domesticated Asian elephants in

ecotourism, sustainable forestry/green

logging, crop protection/mitigation of

elephant-human conflict, law enforcement

patrolling, buffer zone management,

ecological monitoring, and appropriate

reintroduction, may be more

Domesticated Asian

Elephant -

Opportunity for Wild

Asian Elephant

Conservation?

environmentally friendly and economically

sustainable than the introduction of

mechanized and capital intensive schemes,

which may also be destructive to local

cultures.

Using the Domesticated Asian Elephant to

Help Support Conservation of the Wild

Asian Elephant

Patrol elephants have the ability to access

remote, waterlogged terrain, giving

rangers a critically needed advantage in

patrolling many river flood plains that

contain critical (wild) elephant habitat

dominated by grasses that normally grow

well over human head height. In Assam,

India, routine and emergency veterinary

care was provided to 100 Forest

Department patrol elephants through the

Fund’s support to mobile veterinary teams

organized by the Rhino Foundation for

Nature in North East India. In Aceh,

Sumatra, Indonesia, the Fund sponsored a

comprehensive project implemented by

Fauna and Flora International in

conjunction with the Indonesian

Government’s Directorate General of

Forest Protection and Nature

Conservation and local communities.

Among accomplishments achieved, this

project established a series of elephant

“Conservation and Response Units,” which

use domesticated elephants to reduce

elephant-human conflict, detect illegal

logging, and monitor forest encroachment.

“Many difficult

questions are

posed by Asia’s

domesticated

elephants. Are

they an

invaluable

resource in

wildlife

conservation? Or

are they an

outdated cultural

relic which

should be allowed

to fade away?

What do they

represent to the

nations that

possess them?

What do they

mean to the West?

Is it incumbent

on man to extend,

if not manage, at

least a degree of

succor to these

troubled

animals?”

Gone Astray. The Care

and Management of the

Asian Elephant in

Domesticity.

R. Lair

29
Summary of Grants

1999-2001

Bold type within individual

summary indicates project

matching or in-kind funds.

School Education to Support Asian

Elephant Conservation, India (AsE-0006).

Centre for Environment Education. $44,500

+ $16,250—Design and produce an

educational package of elephant

conservation materials (teachers

workbook, students workbook, and

posters); and apply these materials to

educational programs in more than 900

schools in India.

A Proposal to Determine the Movement

Patterns of Elephants in southern Sri

Lanka and Provide Recommendations for

Conservation Management, Sri Lanka

(AsE-0007). Biodiversity and Elephant

Conservation Trust. $15,085 + $1,028—To

establish a monitoring system for

elephants inhabiting the Handapanagala

area of Sri Lanka, historically a flash point

for elephant-human conflict, and to conduct

outreach activities in the surrounding

villages.

Conservation Assessment for Sumatran

Elephants in Lampung Province,

Sumatra, Indonesia (AsE-0008). Wildlife

Conservation Society. $61,750 + $53,580—

Development of techniques to assess Asian

elephant distribution, abundance, seasonal

movements, and patterns of conflict with

humans in Sumatra, Indonesia; followed by

training of Indonesian biologists and

implementation of an elephant monitoring

and conservation program.

To Trace the Mobility Patterns,

Population Dynamics, and Feeding

Patterns of Sri Lankan Elephants in a

Select National Reserve of Sri Lanka

(AsE-0010). Mr. S. Miththapala. $26,176 +

$18,110—To establish a monitoring system

for the elephants inhabiting the Uda

Walawe National Park, one of the richest

elephant habitats in Sri Lanka.

Identification of a Managed Elephant

Range for Inclusion in Riau Province’s

2000-2004 Five-Year Land-Use Plan, and

Provision of Emergency Aid to Riau’s

Elephant Management Unit, Indonesia

(AsE-0011). World Wide Fund for Nature,

Indonesia. $54,590 + $58,531 ($49,531 WWF

U.S.; $9,000 Riau Government)—

Development and adoption of a

province-wide land use plan that

establishes a protected area—Tesso Nilo—

for elephant conservation.

Identification of a Suitable Managed

Elephant Range, and Establishment of an

Elephant Conflict Mitigation Training

Program, Malaysia (AsE-0012). World

Wide Fund for Nature, Malaysia. $49,973 +

$42,434 (Sabah Wildlife Department)—

Assess the distribution, abundance,

seasonal movements, and conflicts with

humans, of elephants in the Lower 30
Kinabatangan river region and the

Daramakoth Forest Reserve in support of

developing a managed elephant range for

elephant conservation.

The Old Elephant Route, Burma and

India (AsE-0014). The Aane Mane

Foundation. $49,212 + $37,770 ( $20,000

Applicant; $17,770 Governments of India

and Burma)—Reconnaissance surveys of

elephant distribution along the Indian

border with Burma and an assessment of

threats to elephants and other wildlife at

the Namdapha National Park in Arunachal

Pradesh, India.

Aceh Elephant Project: Elephant

Conservation and Response Units,

Indonesia (AsE-0015). Fauna and Flora

International. $49,550 + $140,025 ($105,625

Global Environment Facility; $34,400

Private Donation; Additional in-kind

contributions by the Aceh Province

Directorate for Conservation)—A survey of

the distribution and abundance of

elephants in Aceh Province and

development of elephant-human conflict

mitigation measures based on the use of

domesticated Asian elephants.

Prevention of and Investigation into

Poaching of the Asian Elephant and

Illegal Trade in Ivory, India (AsE-0017).

Wildlife Protection Society of India. $32,740

+ $30,410—Gather information on elephant

poaching and illegal ivory trade in India, to

assist prosecuting authorities, and increase

public awareness concerning these threats.

Molecular Tools for the Local Population

Assessment of Asian Elephants, U.S.A.

(AsE-0020). Center for Environmental

Research and Conservation, Columbia

University. $35,390 + $51,088 ($26,392

Applicant; $24,696 WWF U.S.)—Develop,

validate, and use techniques to individually

identify and sex Asian elephants from fecal

DNA samples; including training of range

country scientists in conservation genetics

and field applications.

Promotion of Elephant Conservation in

Asia (Publication of GAJAH), Sri Lanka

(AsE-0022). The World Conservation Union

(IUCN) Asian Elephant Specialist Group.

$9,000 + $6,600—Publication of the journal

of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group,

GAJAH; this journal has a broad

readership and serves as an important

source of information to promote the

conservation and management of the Asian

elephant.

Elephants in Crisis, Conservation of the

Asian Elephant in a Human Dominated

Landscape in Vietnam (AsE-0024). Fauna

and Flora International. $56,610 + $77,209

( $13,850 Applicant; $63,359 Government of

The fund is supporting three

projects that directly address

elephant-human conflict in

Sumatra, Indonesia. In North

Sumatra, Fauna and Flora

International is working closely

with the Provincial Directorate

for Conservation to use

domesticated Asian elephants to

drive crop raiding elephants out

of cropfields. An identical

approach is being tested in Way

Kambas National Park, in

Lampung, by the Wildlife

Conservation Society in

conjunction with the Indonesian

Government’s Directorate

General of Forest Protection and

Nature Conservation. In Riau,

the World Wildlife Fund is

working with the Riau-based

federal Conservation Authority,

the Indonesian Ministry of

Forestry, and other partners to

create an elephant reserve and

halt encroachment and habitat

destruction.

Original poster by Fauna & Flora International

31
Summary of Grants

1999-2001

(continued)

the Netherlands)—Training in elephant

population survey techniques followed by

assessment of the status of the Asian

elephant in Vietnam and bioregional

planning based on the results of wildlife

surveys.

Support for Improved Health and Health

Care Management of Captive Populations

of Sumatran Asian Elephants, Indonesia

(AsE-0029). International Elephant

Foundation. $50,000 + $143,200—Provision

of emergency assistance with equipment

and training of Indonesian veterinary staff

in support of the health care of captured,

wild Asian elephants displaced by economic

development in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Pheromones as Aids to Prevent Crop

Raiding by Asian Elephants in Range

States (AsE-0030). The Oregon Institute of

Science and Technology. $6,500 + $6,500

($5,940 Applicant; $560 Riddles Elephant

Sanctuary)—Testing, in controlled

situations, the efficacy of pheromones and

other chemical signals to modify elephant

feeding behavior.

Managing Three Critical Elephant

Ranges in Burma (AsE-0036).

Conservation & Research Center,

Smithsonian Institution. $49,292 + $91,190

(Burma Ministry of Forestry)—Training of

Burmese biologists in elephant population

survey techniques, assessment of elephant

and other wildlife distribution and

abundance, and human impacts on forest

resources, followed by participatory

protected area planning.

Construction of Anti-Poaching Camps in

Sonai Rupa Sanctuary, India (AsE-0043).

Forest Department of Assam. $35,085 +

$64,609—Infrastructure development to

support protection of elephant populations

and elephant habitat being heavily

threatened by armed encroachers in the

heart of the Kameng-Sonitpur Elephant

Reserve.

Investigating the Status of Asian

Elephants in the Cat Tien National Park

and its Management Implications,

Vietnam (AsE-0001). WWF Indochina

Program. $49,550 + $9,350—Training in

elephant survey field techniques, data

storage and analysis, reporting, and

outreach activities in support of elephant

conservation in a major Vietnamese

elephant range.

Elephant Conservation in Cambodia:

National Capacity Building and Initial

Surveys (AsE-0031). WWF Cambodia

Project and the Wildlife Conservation

Aster Z. Li, IFAW China © Nico van Strien © Nico van Strien

WWF Indonesia

Asian elephants

occupy a diverse

array of habitat and

ecosystem types

from the evergreen

forests of southern

China (top) to

seasonally

inundated river

floodplains and

moist forests in

India’s northeast

and dry forest in

western India, to

palm oil plantations

in Indonesia

(bottom).

32
Society. $52,362 + $31,500 ($20,000 WWF;

$11,500 WCS)—Training of Cambodian

biologists in elephant and wildlife survey

techniques and assessment of elephant

distribution, abundance, and seasonal

movements in potentially important

elephant ranges.

Resettlement of the Gujjars of the Rajaji

National Park, India (AsE-0033). The

Friends of the Doon Society. $37,006 +

$10,500—Implementation of sustainable

development activities including stall

feeding of cattle that reduce the impact of

local communities on elephant habitat in

the Rajaji National Park, a critical habitat

for one of India’s most important elephant

populations, inhabiting the Rajaji-Corbett

Elephant Reserve.

Resolving Elephant-Human Conflicts in

Asia: Field Testing of Deterrents and

Community Participation in the

Mitigation of Conflicts in Southern India

(AsE-0023). Wildlife Preservation Trust

International. $35,400 + $31,080 ($18,000

Claiborne/Ortenberg Foundation; $7,080

Applicant; $6,000 Asian Elephant Research

and Conservation Centre)—Testing of a

number of specific deterrents (including

electric fences, railway tracks, aerosol

repellants, and pheromones) to mitigate

elephant-human conflict in south India.

Equipping Protected Area Field Staff

Within Project Elephant Reserves in

India with Anti-poaching Kits

(AsE-0040). Wildlife Trust of India. $50,790

+ $31,276—Provision of basic

anti-poaching kits; including backpacks,

boots, raincoats, and sleeping bags for 1,000

protected-area field staff at Project

Elephant reserves.

Assessment of the Conservation Status of

the Asian Elephant in Cambodia and

Capacity Building of Cambodian

Conservation Authorities to Protect the

Asian Elephant (AsE-0019). Fauna and

Flora International. $56,970 + $57,080

($46,080 Applicant; $11,000 IUCN Asian

Elephant Specialist Group)—Training of

Cambodian biologists in elephant and

wildlife survey techniques and assessment

of elephant distribution, abundance, and

seasonal movements in potentially

important elephant ranges.

Asian Elephant Conservation Project in

the Nangunhe Nature Reserve, China

(AsE-0025). Yunnan Provincial Forestry

Department. $49,540 + $14,400—Develop

and implement a long-term (elephant

population) monitoring and habitat

management program for the conservation

of the Nangunhe elephants.

Researchers collect a sample of fresh elephant dung for fecal

DNA analysis in the Cardamom mountains of Cambodia. This

method permits the identification and determination of sex for

individual elephants from dung and also promises to be a

powerful means of estimating population size using mark

recapture models.

Karl Stromayer

33
Management of Elephant Reserves With

Special Reference to Corridors by

Community Participatory Programme in

the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India

(AsE-0046). A. V. C. College (Salim Ali

Centre for Ornithology and Natural

History). $44,982 + $7,020—Working with

local communities to minimize degradation

of elephant habitat by overgrazing of cattle

and collection of forest products in the

Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats Elephant

Reserve.

Developing an Elephant Conservation

Strategy in Sri Lanka: Field Research,

Community Based Problem Solving, and

Training for Local Conservation

Scientists (AsE-0018). Wildlife

Preservation Trust International. $28,200

+ $60,636 ($33,700 Claiborne/Ortenberg

Foundation, $26,936 Applicant)—

Development of strategies to promote

ecotourism and thereby mitigate elephanthuman conflict in the buffer zone of the

Yala National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

A Study on the Asian Elephant in the

Nakai Plateau, Lao PDR, and its

Implication Towards Species

Conservation and Management

(AsE-0045). IUCN Lao PDR. $44,350 +

$8,800 ($1,600 Kunming Institute of

Zoology, $1,125 WCS, $6,075 Applicant)—

An assessment of elephant distribution,

abundance, habitat use, seasonal

movements, and conflicts with humans to

support development of a management

plan for two important elephant ranges.

Conservation Assessment for Sumatran

Elephants in Lampung Province,

Sumatra, Indonesia (Year 2) (AsE-0059).

Wildlife Conservation Society. $54,000 +

$85,562—Development of techniques to

assess Asian elephant distribution,

abundance, seasonal movements, and

patterns of conflict with humans in

Sumatra, Indonesia; followed by training of

Indonesian biologists and implementation

of an elephant monitoring and conservation

program.

An Action Plan for the Conservation of the

Asian Elephant (AsE-0009). The World

Conservation Union (IUCN) Asian

Elephant Specialist Group. $40,000 +

$33,000 (Chester Zoo)—Production of an

up-to-date assessment of the status and

priority actions needed to conserve the

Asian elephant throughout its range.

Field Training on the Management of

Elephant Reserves for the Field Staff of

Tamil Nadu, India (AsE-0065). A. V. C.

College (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology

Summary of Grants

1999-2001

(continued)

Invasive shrubs, such as this lantana, are a serious threat to

biodiversity and forage plant assemblages in many elephant

habitats. Invasive and exotic plants degrade elephant habitat

and must be controlled to prevent further reduction in

carrying capacity on the world’s remaining elephant ranges.

Karl Stromayer

34
and Natural History). $47,880 + $33,880

($28,240 Tamil Nadu Forest Department,

$5,640 Applicant)—Training in antipoaching, monitoring of elephant

populations, and management of elephant

habitats for forest officers and forest

guards.

Treatment of Domestic Elephants Used

for Patrolling, India (AsE-0058). The

Rhino Foundation for Nature in North

East India. $17,930 + $8,800—Provision of

emergency and routine health care to

approximately 100 Assam Forest

Department patrol elephants.

Development of a Non-intrusive System

for Protection Against Crop Raiding by

Elephants, Sri Lanka (AsE-0079). Lalith

Seneviratne. $46,350 + $4,300—

Development, testing, implementation, and

extension concerning elephant-human

conflict mitigation measures, including trip

wires, infrasound, strobe lights, and

seismic detectors; and, technology transfer

to local communities.

Ground Truth the Status of Land in

Identified Elephant Migration Corridors

for Acquisition as Protected Areas in

India (AsE-0042). Wildlife Trust of India.

$41,080 + $41,310—Working with partners

to identify, prioritize, and acquire elephant

corridors to link important protected

areas.

Community Organization and

Management of an Elephant Path

Between Khao Chamao National Park

and Ang Luenai Wildlife Sanctuary of

Thailand (AsE-0050). HAT. $36,444 +

$11,590—Development and formal

declaration of an elephant corridor and

reduction of elephant-human conflict in an

encroached area between two important

protected areas.

Applied Research for Conservation of

Asian Elephants in Bangladesh

(AsE-0028). IUCN Bangladesh. $51,800 +

$15,200—A field assessment of elephant

distribution, abundance, seasonal

movements, habitat relationships, and

conflicts with humans in Bangladesh.

Project Harmony with Elephants in

Assam. A Pilot Project to Reduce HumanElephant Conflict in Assam, India

(AsE-0037). Aaranyak Nature Club.

$14,600 + $7,500—An assessment of

elephant-human conflict in Darrang and

Sonitpur Districts of Assam, India,

followed by development of an elephanthuman conflict mitigation strategy for the

area.

Scrub cattle such as these (top and center) compete for forage and

may spread potentially fatal diseases such as anthrax and foot

and mouth disease to elephants and other wild mammals. The

Fund supported two projects specifically targeted at the removal of

(domesticated) cattle from elephant ranges (see page 17) and one

promoted the confinement and stall feeding of cattle (bottom).

Karl Stromayer

35
Genetic Analysis for the Conservation of

Asian Elephants (Year 2) (AsE-0083).

Center for Environmental Research and

Conservation, Columbia University. $82,485

+ $33,400—Develop, validate, and use

techniques to individually identify and sex

Asian elephants from fecal DNA samples;

training of range-country scientists in

conservation genetics and field

applications.

Protecting the Asian Elephant in the

Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

(AsE-0094). Conservation International.

$50,040 + $95,966—Development and

implementation of a protection and

monitoring plan to halt wildlife poaching

and habitat destruction in the Cardamom

Mountains through training, equipping, and

fielding 45 rangers and 75 part-time

community wildlife monitors.

Saving Elephants by Helping People: A

Community Integrated Project to Resolve

Human-Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka

(AsE-0087). Sri Lankan Wildlife

Conservation Society. $37,500 + $15,000—

Construction of an electric-fence system to

fence villages in and elephants out, and

maintain intact elephant corridors near the

Wasgomuwa National Park.

Managing Critical Elephant Ranges in

Burma (Year 2) (AsE-0091). Conservation

& Research Center, Smithsonian

Institution. $50,000 + $123,512

(Christensen Fund)—Training of Burmese

biologists in elephant population survey

techniques, assessment of elephant and

other wildlife distribution and abundance,

and human impacts on forest resources,

followed by participatory protected area

planning.

A Study of the Ecology of the Asian

Elephant in the Minneriya National

Park, Sri Lanka, and its Impact on the

Agricultural Landscape (AsE-0081).

University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

$11,160 + $6,500—Field assessment of the

distribution, abundance, seasonal

Summary of Grants

1999-2001

(continued)

Rice wine, sold at a tea estate in Assam, India, emits a strong

odor highly attractive to elephants. During the peak time for

elephant-human conflict, which coincides with the annual rice

harvest during October and November, many rural homes in

Assam are smashed and damaged by elephants pursuing the

aroma of this homemade beverage.

Karl Stromayer

36
movements, and conflicts with humans,

characterizing elephants in the Minneriya

National Park; and training of park staff to

establish an elephant monitoring program.

Identification of Elephant Corridors

Between Royal Bardia and Corbett

National Parks and an Assessment of the

Status of Elephants in Royal Bardia

National Park: The First Step in

Establishing the Western Terai

Ecoregion, Nepal (AsE-0057). University

of Minnesota. $30,530 + $81,870 ($29,390

WWF-Nepal; $7,000 Norwegian Aid

Agency; $7,000 Applicant)—Use of remote

sensing and Geographic Information

Systems to assess vegetation status and

trends, and to develop an in-depth habitat

management plan for elephant.

Asian Elephant School Education

Program, India (Year 2) (AsE-0084).

Centre for Environment Education, India.

$50,500 + $9,000—Implementation of a

conservation education program targeting

schoolchildren in India in the 12 States that

are the home of wild Asian elephants;

outreach materials will be translated into

nine local languages and pilot projects will

be conducted in conjunction with

Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan partners.

Pheromones as Aids to Prevention of Crop

Raiding by Asian Elephants in Range

States (Year 2) (AsE-0080). Oregon

Institute of Science and Technology.

$12,775 + $6,500 ($5,940 Applicant; $560

Riddles Elephant Sanctuary)—Testing, in

controlled and field situations, the efficacy

of pheromones and other chemical signals

to modify elephant feeding behavior.

Forest Cover Change Analysis in Support

of Elephant Conservation in Northern

Burma (AsE-0095). Conservation

International. $34,008 + $20,668—Use of

remote sensing and Geographic

Information Systems to determine status

and rates of forest cover loss and the

status of elephant habitat in Burma.

The Fund supports the development of alternative livelihood

strategies that reduce the negative impacts of humans on

elephant habitats. Here a herdsman has been assisted with a

sericulture (silkworm-raising) project as an alternative

livelihood to free ranging cattle in the Nilgiris and Eastern

Ghats Elephant Reserve in southern India.

Karl Stromayer

37
Distribution of

Funds

Grant and Matching Funds

Organizational Funding

Program Areas

24%

 7%

11%

14%

 5%

16%

23%

Surveys and Monitoring

Wildlife Protection

Applied Research

Capacity Building

Conservation Education

Habitat Management

Conflict Resolution

35%

23%

23%

14%

 5%

Range Country NGO

International NGO

Academic Institutions

Other

Range Country Government

52%

48%

Grant Funds

$1,841,010

Matching Funds and

In-Kind Contributions

$1,729,070

38
Countries with Grants

Fiscal Years 1999-2001

39
For more information about the Fund,

please contact:

Chief, Division of International

Conservation

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 730

Arlington, VA 22203

703.358.1754

44 Running Footer

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Division of International Conservation

Washington, DC 20240

http://www.fws.gov/

http://international.fws.gov/

Winter 2002