Medan, N Sumatra (ANTARA) – A Sumatran elephant calf (Elephas maximus sumatranus) was born in the Tangkahan Conservation Response Unit (CRU) in Langkat District, North Sumatra, at around 4 a.m. Western Indonesian Time.
A 35-year-old elephant named “Sari” gave birth to this female calf, weighing 69 kilograms and 108 centimeters in height, the head of the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) Agency, Jefry Susyafrianto, stated.
After giving birth, Sari consumed its placenta and began receiving postpartum benefits, Susyafrianto explained.
The health of both mom and baby is stable, but animal health technicians continually monitor them as they continue to give vitamins and medicine.
The TNGL Agency would later name the newly born elephant, he stated.
The Tangkahan CRU currently cares for nine captive wild elephants. The oldest elephant is about 40 years old and called Theo.
Sumatra elephants, which are native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, are a species threatened in part by ongoing conflicts between humans and wildlife.
Doni Latuperisa, Executive Director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)-North Sumatra office, stated that more rescue centers for elephants are needed.
The rehabilitation centers would help care for wild Sumatran elephants that enter people’s spatial areas or become entangled in the wire.
“Of course, we must put an end to the human-wildlife conflict.
In Padang Lawas District, North Sumatra Province, the Barumun Nagari Wildlife Sanctuary (BNWS) has an elephant rehabilitation center that tends to 15 elephants, Latuperisa noted in a press statement.
“They are all healthy and active,” Latuperisa remarked, adding that the Tangkahan CRU also offers protection to Sumatran elephants.
The Tangkahan CRU, which manages 17 thousand hectares of land, has become a popular ecotourism site for domestic and foreign tourists who can witness up-close wild elephants in their natural habitat, he said.
Meanwhile, the North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) manages three elephant conservation sites home to 22 wild elephants.
Some 15 of them are found in the BNWS conservation area; four are cared for by the Aek Nauli Elephant Conservation Camp, Simalungun District; and three others are tended to by the Gajah Holiday Training Center in Labuhan Batu Selatan District.
