Founded in 2006 by a British archeological student Jack Highwood and Chaeul Plouk, a local Bunong whose family has kept elephants for generations, the Project protects 3700 acres of high quality rain forest adjacent to the Keo Seima Wildlife Reserve. The area is under increasing pressure of development as Cambodians leave cities like Phnom Penh for less expensive living space. Ethnic groups in Southeast Asia have a long tradition of forming lasting bonds with working elephants. Mahout skills are passed down the generations and individual elephants become part of the human family. For the Buong, the elephant is a spiritual link to the disappearing forest.
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| a memorial to elephant and Bunong |
A new study in Malaysia found that elephants impact the forest and biodiversity in "profound" ways through their very selective feeding habits. They clean the forest understory by keeping certain plants in check. Malaysian elephants particularly like liana vines that can choke off tree growth and show a fondness for ginger roots. In mature forests they eat palms, while in young forests where palms are less present they choose saplings. They use a variety of destructive foraging techniques that open the forest up to sunlight, which encourages the growth of plants favored by other forest herbivores. Elephpants tend to avoid plants that are high in toxins. As a result they tend to gravitate toward canopy gaps and modified edge zones. Half of the 180 pounds of plant material they usually consume in a day is redistributed in the forest through their dung. Large seeds are especially benefited from this long distance transportation service. It allows young plants to develope away from the parent tree. Their activity increases the overall genetic health of the forest they inhabit. They also enhance carbon storage by suppressing pioneer plants, allowing slower growing trees to thrive. The study shows that elephants need intact forest reserves to survive.
Back in Elephant Valley, mahouts accompany the residents during the day as they walk through the forest to graze, socialize, or take a dip in the river. EVP sits on the edge of the most biodivers rainforest in eastern Cambodia. But development is creeping closer to the remaining forest everyday. A paved road from the capitol runs along the reserve boarder. Poachers are loggers pose an increasing threat; policing a 740,000 acre reserve is not easy. EVP with its elephants and human caretakers serves as a buffer zone for the reserve. Bunong have traditonally managed land communally. That type of land management is disappearing as land is purchased by outsiders and cleared for development such as rubber plantations. Elephants cannot survive in such radically altered environment. Bunong taditionally made easy demands on their workiing partners such as carrying rice bags or providing transportation to fields under cultivation. As those circumstances changed, keeping elephants became uneconomic. Elephants were foreced to work longer in harsh environments as tourist attractions in cities were their health deteriorated. None of this happens in EVP where elephants are allowed to lead normal lives in contact with caring humans.
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are classified as endangered by IUCN with 40,000 to 50,000 remaining in the wild. These populations are being squeezed by human encroachment and forced into ever smaller forest remnants that may have lost the resources to support megafauna, and where the animals run into conflicts with humans. EVP elephants are frightened by wild elephants and because they are elderly, are unable to resist aggressive advances. One wild bull made advances toward a Park resident, a thirty year old female in esterous. He succeeded in pulling up Perls nighttime restraint and chased her into the forest. Pearl eventually escaped the male and returned to the Park's herd. A year later she gave birth to Diamond, delighting Park staff and visitors alike. Another mouth to feed for perhaps seven decades. About half of the elepants in the Park are privately owned. Owners make payments to the Park to support their elephants retirement. Local villagers are aware of the impacts of forest loss around them. They complain of the rivers not flowing as they used to and higher temperatures. But other endangered species have been spotted in the wildlife reserve such as crested gibbons and giant squirrels, an indication that conservation is working.
Back in Elephant Valley, mahouts accompany the residents during the day as they walk through the forest to graze, socialize, or take a dip in the river. EVP sits on the edge of the most biodivers rainforest in eastern Cambodia. But development is creeping closer to the remaining forest everyday. A paved road from the capitol runs along the reserve boarder. Poachers are loggers pose an increasing threat; policing a 740,000 acre reserve is not easy. EVP with its elephants and human caretakers serves as a buffer zone for the reserve. Bunong have traditonally managed land communally. That type of land management is disappearing as land is purchased by outsiders and cleared for development such as rubber plantations. Elephants cannot survive in such radically altered environment. Bunong taditionally made easy demands on their workiing partners such as carrying rice bags or providing transportation to fields under cultivation. As those circumstances changed, keeping elephants became uneconomic. Elephants were foreced to work longer in harsh environments as tourist attractions in cities were their health deteriorated. None of this happens in EVP where elephants are allowed to lead normal lives in contact with caring humans.
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| elephant in Vietnam forest |