TEMPO.CO, Pekanbaru - Six Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) are deployed to patrol around the Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau, Sumatra. The tame elephants are participating in the 14-day joint 'operation' conducted by the government, stakeholders, and environment activists.
"The elephants are deployed - we call it blusukan - to secure the Tesso Nilo area, to disseminate information to the residents, also to map and identify Tesso Nilo’s current condition that is helpful to make decision in the management," said Tandia Tjahjana, the Head of Tesso Nilo National Park as quoted by ANTARA yesterday.
The joint patrol is under the coordination of Riau Natural Resource Conservation Station and Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN). Meanwhile, the elephant troops are from the Flying Squad team of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), WWF and TNTN Foundation, who each deploys two elephants.
"We are also teaming up with the police for the monitoring," Tandia said.
The elephant troops had started the patrol since August 20 and are expected to help TNTN to guard the conservation area. The national park is currently lack of human resource to watch the 83,000-hectare area located in Pelalawan and Indragiri Hulu regency.
Antara | Ade Marboen
