BKSDA Assistance Never Comes, TPFF And Acehnese Giring Alone 25 Wild Elephants Return To Habitat

TPFF together with Bener Meriah residents herded 25 wild elephants back into their habitat, in Bener Meriah, Monday (4/12/2023) (ANTARA/HO/Doc TPFF)

ACEH - Flora Fauna's Security Team (TPFF) together with the community escorted 25 wild elephants into residential areas in Bener Meriah Regency, Aceh. The wild elephant was herded back into its habitat.

"We drove it to the Genengan forest protected area, because there was an elephant corridor that stretched from Central Aceh, Bener Meriah, Bireuen, and Pidie Jaya," said the Coordinator of the Flora Fauna Karang Ampar-Bergang Aceh Tengah, Muslim, in Central Aceh, Monday, December 4, confiscated by Antara.

The convoy was carried out because the herd of wild elephants damaged the settlements and granaries of the community. Muslim said, residents became economically difficult and felt scared.

Before the convoy, his party had asked the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) for help to help bring the elephant out of the settlement on November 29, 2023.

"BKSDA promised to go down with the Central Aceh resort team to lead these wild elephants after two days of hearing. However, until we returned to the village, it turned out that the BKSDA team had not yet come down to the village," he said.

Furthermore, Muslims stated that wild elephants have often entered residential areas, destroying houses and fields of people living in Bener Meriah and Central Aceh or in the Peusangan watershed. His party together with residents almost every year carry out obstacles, but less successful.

According to him, the incident of the entry of elephants into residential areas has occurred since 2002 and has become increasingly massive in the last 10 years.

This happened, he said, because the permit for the Hak Guna Usaha (HGU) land in Bireuen damaged the elephant's habitat, so the elephant looked for another way to live and find food.

"I am a farmer from non-wood forest products, so I already know where there is an elephant corridor area. So, this is because of the massive HGU permit in Bireuen which resulted in the elephant land no longer in that place and finally entering Central Aceh and Bener Meriah," said Muslim.

To end the protracted conflict between humans and elephants, Flora Fauna's Security Team proposed an Essential Ecosystem Area (KEE) or a 10,000 hectare Grand Forest Park (Tahura) covering the landscape between Central Aceh, Bener Meriah, and Bireuen.