Erin’s Tale, a Cruel Portrait of Elephant-Poaching

Kompas/Rony Ariyanto Nugroho

Erin, a 4-year-old female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) with a severed trunk that was photographed Tuesday (20/3), is being taken care of at Way Kambas National Park’s Elephant Training Center in Lampung. It is believed that Erin’s trunk was severed by traps that poachers had set up near the park.

Erin, a 4-year-old female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), had 10 centimeters of her trunk severed by poachers. Erin’s tale represents the cruelty of animal hunting.

On Tuesday (20/3/2018) afternoon, Erin moved the tip of her trunk to shake visitors’ hands at Way Kambas National Park’s (TNWK) elephant training center in Lampung. The tip of the pinkish trunk was watery. Due to her severed trunk, Erin found it difficult to pick up food.

Erin was placed inside a big pen where female elephants in labor are usually kept. One of her legs was chained as all of the training center’s officers had gone home. The animal could not walk far due to the chain. Erin stayed still when we caressed her forehead.

Erin was found in Susukan Baru in the national park’s Region I, some 500 meters away from a local village, on Sunday, July 24, 2016. The small elephant was only two years old. She was thin and frail. She had worms and diarrhea. Her poo smelled bad and her trunk was cut off.

The animal was then evacuated by a national park team and was brought to the Rubini Atmawidjaja Elephant Hospital at the national park’s elephant training center. Doctors provided her with intravenous fluids, medicines and enough food. “We needed to spoon-feed her,” national park management head Subakir said.

Veterinarian Diah Esti Anggraini, a member of the medical team that takes care of Erin, said that there had been no case of elephants being born without a whole trunk. The team believed that Erin’s trunk was severed by poachers’ snares.

It is believed that Erin was in such a frail condition that her mother and herd left her behind. Then, she might have walked aimlessly into a village.

At the national park’s elephant training center, Erin was provided with nutritious food and medicines and, as time went by, she was cured of the worms and diarrhea. It was then that her caretakers named her Erin.

Diah said that Erin’s name was derived from the Javanese words entuke ning RI, or “found in RI”. RI is a common abbreviation of Rantaujaya Ilir, a village in Sukadana district, East Lampung, where Erin was found.

Erin was then introduced to humans, making her domesticated. She was taught how to eat. As she has lost the tip of her trunk, Erin needed to find other ways to get food into her mouth. “Sometimes, she uses her foot to grab her meals or she bends her feet first,” Diah said. Erin is also known to suck on small items to pick them up.

Three weeks ago, when she was taken for a walk in the woods, Erin was stung by a swarm of bees, resulting in blisters all over her body. Erin’s doctors then gave her medicines and intravenous fluids several times.

KOMPAS/ RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

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Endless hunt

After her photo was published in Kompas on Wednesday (21/3), Erin gained widespread fame and sympathy online.

In Instagram, user rukhimaim said, “Dear me, what a pity for you, get well soon my elephant”. User estisr.riyadi said, “So sorry for you. The men who did this to her are horrible”. User yundaanggia said, “Keep your spirit up, Erin. You can do it”. Many users simply responded with a sad emoji.

A number of celebrities, including actors Lukman Sardi and Chicco Jerikho, voiced their concern for Erin in Instagram. The national park management office’s account responded by saying, “We are grateful that, thanks to medical treatment from the national park, Erin’s condition is improving. She has slowly regained her weight and she has a lively spirit. Thanks to all of your prayers”.

Animal hunting, including on elephants and other threatened species, continues. Every year, elephants die inside the Way Kambas national park due to hunting. Their body parts are usually taken afterwards, possibly to be sold in black markets.

In the most recent case, a female wild elephant was found dead with five shotgun wounds at the national park’s Region III Kuala Penet in Braja Selebah district, East Lampung, in mid-February. Her ivories were missing. The police are still investigating the case.

National Park data shows that 26 elephants died from hunting between 2011 and 2018. A national park elephant census in 2010 shows that 248 wild elephants live in the park’s grounds. Inside the elephant training center, there are 66 domesticated elephants, including Erin.

Apart from hunting, increasingly massive land conversion also forces elephants out of their habitats. In Semaka district, Tanggamus regency, Lampung, 12 elephants have walked into farms and villages in the past year.

Bengkulu Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) region III conservation section chief Teguh Ismail said in Bandar Lampung that human-elephant conflicts in Semaka occurred five years ago. It is believed that the elephants merely walk around in their roaming grounds. The problem is that those roaming grounds are now people’s farms.

Another factor that leads elephants to walk into farms is damage in their core habitat and its surrounding environment. This damage might have been caused by the habitat’s conversion into farms, agriculture fields and villages.

This leads the elephants to find other sources of food. “Surely people dislike the elephants’ presence. This leads to endless conflicts between people and elephants,” Teguh said.

Wildlife Conservation Society animal enthusiast Sugiyo said poachers often broke into Way Kambas National Park through the “rat alleys” in the 37 buffer villages surrounding the national park.

Kompas investigation found that many cases of elephant poachings and deaths remain unsolved. The largest case of ivory trade ever uncovered by law enforcers and a team of animal enthusiasts was done in June 2016. At the time, three men was arrested and 36 ivories in varying sizes were seized in East Lampung.

Since then, there have been no more arrests, including in the death of Yongki, a domesticated elephant that helps people drive away wild elephants. Yongki was found dead 200 meters from a monitoring area in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in September 2015. Both of his ivories, measuring 1.5 meters, were missing.