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I n t e r n a t I o n a lelephant FoundatIon

Promoting conservation, education and research of the world’s elephant populations

Volume 3 2007

The mission of the International Elephant Foundation is to support and operate elephant conservation and educational programs, both in managed facilities and in the wild, with an

emphasis on management, protection and scientific research.

Seblat CRU team members, Marloki and elephant Desi, demonstrate placing a ceremonial wreath around the neck of volunteer Mini Nagendran of the United States Fish and Wildife Service during the

first Mahout Workshop in Sumatra, Indonesia.

� �Elephant Stampede: Running for Conservation

INTERNATIONALELEPHANT FOUNDATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael FourakerFort Worth Zoo

President

Charlie GrayAfrican Lion Safari

Vice-President

John LehnhardtDisney’s Animal Kingdom

Secretary

Tom AlbertRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

Center for Elephant ConservationTreasurer

David BlaskoSix Flags Discovery Kingdom

Martha FischerSaint Louis Zoo

Paul GraysonIndianapolis Zoo

Gary JohnsonHave Trunk Will Travel

Lynn Kramer, DVMDenver Zoological Gardens

Harry PeacheyColumbus Zoo

Randy RiechesSan Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park

Dennis Schmitt DVM, Ph.DMissouri State University

Harald Schwammer, Ph.DTiergarten Schoenbrunn, Vienna

Glenn YoungBusch Gardens Tampa Bay

Deborah OlsonIndianapolis Zoo

Executive Director

Dear Friends,

The problems we face in helping to protect the Asian and African elephant are significant, but I see real hope for resolving many of these challenges. Conservation is about managing species as well as organizing people and administering funds. I believe that the necessary human and financial resources are out there, so our challenge becomes finding the right combination of conservation effort, funding and personnel.

Contributions from people concerned with the long-term preservation of elephants and their habitats have enabled IEF to assist with a wide variety of conservation and research programs. All of the funds we receive are greatly appreciated. All donations are applied toward conserving elephants. There is no waste and no excessive administrative overhead charges.

While the work of the International Elephant Foundation often occurs in distant places far from our everyday

lives, the efforts of the researchers, conservationists, educators, government officials and local people to protect elephants and habitats around the world have most definitely inspired us, and we hope they inspire you. In this newsletter we are honored to share just a few of these projects and strides being made for elephants around the world.

Your involvement with the International Elephant Foundation is important, and we applaud you for making conservation and education one of your priorities. In the coming years, you’ll see us not only accelerate and grow elephant conservation and research projects around the world, but also engage our supporters on simple, easy ways you can make a difference, and in effect, change the world.

Again, thank you for your ongoing support – you enable the International Elephant Foundation to make a world of difference!

Michael Fouraker

From the Desk of the President. . .

The International Elephant Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1998 for the purpose of contributing expertise and providing funds to support elephant conservation programs worldwide, including protection of elephants in the wild and of their habitats, scientific research, education efforts and improvement in intensively managed captive animal care facilities.

The IEF’s board of directors are highly regarded elephant experts experienced in working with African and Asian elephants and affiliated with elephant programs at a variety of organizations internationally, including non-profit and for-profit zoological institutions, circuses, universities or independent entities. Scientific advisors from the fields of medicine, research, academia and elephant management guide and support the IEF board.

Board members contribute their time and expertise, as well as funds, and receive no compensation for time spent on IEF business. Board members’ expertise, time and travel to IEF board meetings are a complete donation to IEF from them personally, their institutions or their sponsors. All financial donations to IEF, a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization, are tax deductible under U.S. law. Since its founding, almost 90 percent of funds raised by IEF have gone directly into elephant conservation efforts

For more information about the International Elephant Foundation go to www.elephantconservation.org

Michelle Kohlhagen

Initiative, dedication, energy and, of course, money are just

some factors needed to pull off an exceptional zoo event. Of course, starting with an

exceptional idea is helpful too. The Birmingham Zoo’s Chapter of AAZK had one of those ideas in 2005­­­--to host an annual “Zoo Run” at the Birmingham Zoo. We know that it’s not an original idea--other zoos have been doing runs for years. But with a Chapter membership of only 10 members, it was an ambitious idea for us. Several factors were involved when the idea arose: Birmingham has an incredibly high runner population, and along with the zoo’s new expansion plans, the elephant was designated to be the zoo’s new flagship species. So while the Zoo began its long task of designing a new elephant habitat within the zoo, the zoo’s Chapter of AAZK started laying plans to aid the wild population of elephants. Thus began the preparations for the Birmingham Zoo’s first “Zoo Run: Stampeding for Wild Elephants.”

We decided on three race choices of which runners could choose - the 10K Cheetah Challenge, the 5­­­K You-Can-Toucan, and the Kids’ Turtle Trot. All the Turtle Trot kids received cotton T-shirts with the Zoo Run logo, and the first 300 registered runners for the 5­­­K and 10K received high quality tech running shirts.

After 6 months of planning and preparing, the day of the event

finally arrived. With more than 500 registered runners, 300 addition guests, 100 volunteers, and two news crews, the races began. A local TV news broadcaster announced the beginning of the race. After the starting gun was fired for the 5K and 10K races the runners went on a journey through both public paths and service roads throughout the zoo. The lions, giraffes, bison and, of course, the elephant, were just some of the animals they encountered along the way. Some participants took their time, surveying the animals around them, and others raced the clock for a personal best time. While many of the adult runners walked to water and the highly anticipated post race party, about 100 kids prepared for a race of their own. Each child received a twisty elephant in their runner packets they proudly wore around their wrists. Several kids even had elephant ears on their heads that were cut out of paper as a homemade craft. As they each crossed the finish line, they were awarded with a gold participant’s medal. The kids’ race was definitely the highlight of the evening.

In total, the Birmingham Zoo Chapter of AAZK, with the help of many friends, raised a little over $10,000. The exciting part for the Chapter was choosing where the money would be sent. After several meetings, presentations and discussions, the money was split four ways. Some was put away for the 2007 race, some was sent to the 2006 Elephant Managers Association Conference and some to the International Elephant Foundation’s annual International Conservation and Research Symposium. The majority of the funds, over $7,5­­­00 were sent to the IEF supported project: “Developing Conservation Response Units in Sumatra.”

D o n o r S p o t l i g h t

Support of Conservation Response Units (CRU) at the Seblat ECC in Bengkulu Province

AZA Principles of Elephant Management Scholarship

Improving Livelihoods for Farmers Affected by Human Elephant Conflict (HEC)

In Memory of Bets Rasmussen

Impact of Social Status, Age, and Climate on Reproduction in African Elephants

International Elephant Foundation Conservation and Research Symposium - Endotheliotropic Elephant Herpesvirus (EEHV) Workshop Report

Elephants, Crops and People

Preliminary Report on the Radio Collaring of Three Bull Elephants in the Tarangire Ecosystem

A Rapid Assessment of Elephant Populations Coming into Conflict with Local Farmers in Gia Lai and Dak Lak Provinces, Vietnam

IEF 2007 Conservation Project Grants

International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium Update

List of IEF Donors

IEF Financial Report

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I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e . . .

The Birmingham Zoo’s First Annual

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As human activities encroach into forest areas, the likelihood of humans and elephants coming into conflict increases. In the past 15 years, Bengkulu Province has witnessed an increasing number of incidents of wildlife (elephant and tiger) – human conflict bordering the Seblat ECC conservation area. When elephants threaten lives, property and livelihoods, a response is required to ensure the safety of communities neighbouring elephant habitat. If appropriate action is not taken by the responsible authority, local people are likely to respond themselves, perhaps by killing entire herds of elephants. Capturing elephants when they come into contact with communities is not a sustainable solution to this problem.

The International Elephant Foundation’s (IEF) project to develop and support Conservation Response Units (CRU) at the Seblat Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Bengkulu Province, Sumatra, is enabling staff and trained elephants to play an active role in protecting the forests and wildlife in the vicinity of the ECC, while identifying and mitigating human-elephant conflict (HEC) and raising community support and awareness of wildlife conservation. The CRU is a first step in the development of long-term strategy to improve the health and welfare of the captive elephant population in Sumatra while establishing an in situ wild elephant conservation program which benefits the community and surrounding ecosystem.

The CRU teams are composed of captive elephants and their mahouts, and government forest rangers. Captive elephants play an important role

by providing transportation during forest monitoring patrol activities, as a tool for gaining local community interest during awareness events, and driving away crop raiding wild elephants should conflict incidents arise. Mahouts, as part of the CRU team, not only take care of the elephants but are involved in all CRU activities. Each CRU conducts patrols for seven to 10 consecutive days a month during which CRU team members record sightings or evidence of illegal activities, human-wildlife conflicts and wildlife presence.

Most of the CRU team members have little educational background, yet through a series of capacity building activities have been trained in assessing and selecting priority areas for CRU activities and field patrols, operating hand held GPS units, digital cameras, filling in standardised data-sheets for forest patrolling, and conducting HEC assessments. This empowerment has provided a sense of dignity to the mahouts, a yet unexplored potential source of human resources working for field-based conservation.

Since the establishment of a CRU unit in Seblat, the team has handled

many cases of illegal logging. Most of the cases happened in the first months of the CRU operation as the constant CRU presence in the field is effectively deterring illegal logging activity in this area. The CRU found land encroachment to be the most difficult problem with which to deal. Most of the illegal settlers came from surrounding villages to acquire more land to cultivate crops. Right after the CRU was established in Seblat, the team visited each group of illegal settlers and negotiated various alternative solutions. Most of the illegal settlers agreed to leave the area if time were given to them to harvest their remaining crops.

Wildlife poaching is usually related to the presence of illegal settlements in the area. The CRU team has demolished many snares but snares are still being found by the team which indicates that professional poachers are still active in this area. Some snares were identified as targeting tigers.

The pattern of human-elephant conflict, as expected, is intermittent. Teams respond as needed, often driving wild elephants back into the forest using the camp elephants, and recording detailed assessments of any site damage. Immediate response to human-elephant conflict incidents has become a routine CRU activity in the area. Since initiating the preliminary CRU activity in Seblat, the CRU has been successful in lowering the problm elephant capture rate to only one elephant in five years. The community is helped and the wild elephants can continue living in their habitat without capture.

Communities in critical conservation areas are exposed to elephants in a positive context when the CRU patrols pass through villages, and as they reduce human-elephant conflicts. These visits are used to reaffirm positive attitudes toward elephants and the link between elephant and habitat conservation, promoting a message of tolerance and understanding of the needs of wild elephants, as well as improving attitudes towards the intrinsic value of wildlife.

Conservation awareness programs conducted by the CRU include school visit activities, village visits, slide and film programs, games and competitions for communities living in surrounding areas. CRU project partners have developed flyers with general information about elephants,

conservation and the CRU project, as well as a similarly themed children’s activity booklet which is handed out during community awareness activities.

Since the beginning of the project, the ECC staff has done a lot of general clean-up and re-building work at the camp. There has also been a change in the management of the ECC, so there are work schedules for the entire staff and the overall moral is much better. The ECC staff had planted a supplemental elephant food plot at the camp that includes banana trees, pineapple, sugar cane and elephant grass. The camp elephants are also fed a grain mix of rice hulls and any other easily available grain, with mineral salts and palm sugar. This grain mixture is fed once a week. In November 2006, IEF sponsored the first Sumatra-wide Mahout Workshop at the Seblat ECC in Bengkulu Province. The intent of this workshop was to gather Sumatra’s mahouts from all the different Elephant Conservation Centers, elephant management units and conservation organizations to discuss the various issues in these facilities, as well as conditions and management problems faced by mahouts in their work with elephants and habitat conservation efforts.

During the first day of the Workshop, each elephant camp gave a presentation with general information such as number (age and gender) of elephants, number of staff, use of the elephants, type of camp site, etc. A veterinarian also gave a presentation about what mahouts should know about basic elephant medical care.

Support of Conservation Response Units (CRU) at the Seblat ECC in Bengkulu Province

By Deborah Olson, Heidi Riddle, and Wahdi Azmi

Mahout workshop.Mahouts with their elephants.

Mahout caring for his elephant.Practical demonstration at the mahout workshop.

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Since initiating the preliminary CRU activity

in Seblat, the CRU has been successful in lowering the elephant

capture rate to only one elephant in five years.

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The second day of the Workshop started with practical demonstrations from one of the IEF team and one of the veterinarians. The demonstration started with what a veterinarian would expect an elephant to be trained for – i.e. stand still, pick up a foot, open its mouth, allow a general overall inspection, etc. One of the Seblat ECC elephants was used to discuss methods of training and restraint and the mahouts had many questions.

The rest of the day, the mahouts discussed the future of their profession and the establishment of a group or forum to have a better means of exchanging experiences and ideas. This discussion went on very late that night and the mahouts were all actively involved. They voted to establish a Communication Forum. The official name of the forum will be the Communication Forum for Sumatra Mahouts (“Forum Komunikasi Mahout Sumatra”). They voted to have a Mahout Workshop every year and to host the next one (2007) in Aceh Province. The Forum’s vision is to achieve mahout professionalism in Sumatran elephant work and habitat conservation efforts; whereas the mission is to increase the capacity and competency of mahouts in Sumatran elephant work and habitat conservation efforts, to create an information and communication system between mahouts in Sumatra, and to increase the welfare of mahouts and

Sumatran elephants.

IEF is interested in projects at the Seblat Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Bengkulu Province that establish the Seblat ECC as a self-sustaining focal point for elephant conservation. The information generated by CRU patrol data is helping to develop a master plan to manage the conservation area, plus develop means for the ECC to become more self-sustaining. The CRU project is also a model for wildlife conservation and forest protection in Sumatra providing otherwise unemployed captive elephants and mahouts important roles in habitat protection and species preservation.

Some next steps for the ECC Seblat project:1. Developing a local community involvement project;2. Increasing wildlife studies in the ECC forest (i.e. elephant foraging ecology; movement tracking by radio-collaring a few individual elephants; camera trap identification to determine numbers of species such as tiger, tapir...);3. Expanding the scope of the CRU patrols, and4. Increasing the size of the Seblat Conservation Area.

AZA Principles of Elephant Management

ScholarshipIn an effort to promote the professional career of elephant handlers, the International Elephant Foundation (IEF) provides up to $1,5­­­00 for tuition and expenses to the annual Association of Zoo and Aquariums Principles of Elephant Management course (PEM) in Wheeling, WV. Candidates must currently handle elephants and have at least one year of experience. Each candidate must submit a resume and letters of confidence and support from both their institution’s Director/CEO/Owner and immediate supervisor, who is knowledgeable of the candidate’s handling skill and interest. Each candidate must also state in writing why he or she wishes to attend the PEM and what he or she hopes to gain by the experience. International applicants are welcome and encouraged.

I am writing to express my sincerest thanks to you for providing the 2006 scholarship to the AZA principles of elephant management school. The school was a great opportunity to share experiences among peers, solve problems and acquire new ideas. Every topic was discussed from behavior to veterinary care. I really enjoyed the open discussions and group projects that brought everyone closer together. I feel the knowledge that I gained will only contribute to my pursuit in continuing to provide excellent care to our elephants.

When I returned back home, I decided to implement what I had learned and contacted our local hospital for assistance with a portable radiograph. In April, we were able to get digital radiographs of our elephant’s feet. My latest endeavor is to start a health committee for the elephant managers association, in hopes of connecting a wealth of knowledge among all elephant caregivers.

It is an honor to be recognized for my hard work and receiving this scholarship motivates me to continue to strive for excellence. I will be forever grateful to the International Elephant Foundation for its generosity.

Sincerely, Tina DeMedeiros, CVTButtonwood Park Zoo

By Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group

Cambodia is still recovering from the disastrous genocidal regime of Khmer Rouge from 1975­­­ to 1979. Most local houses were destroyed and locals had lost all their belongings and lacked equipment, tools and capital for resettlement and reconstruction. Almost the entire infrastructure such as roads, health and education services were also destroyed. Because of this lack of infrastructure the impact of elephants on crops can be devastating to a local community. This project is focusing part of its mission on improving the livelihood of local farmers affected by human elephant conflict, in order to prevent killing of elephants and destruction of elephant habitat.

Usually elephants come to eat the rice from the middle of August until the end of April. The damage to the farmer’s crop has led, in the past, to killing elephants. This project trains the farmers in improved methods of deterring elephants and disseminating these methods to their friends and neighbours in the village. The first printed Khmer language “toolbox” of all the methods and human elephant conflict policies have been put into a book for all stakeholders especially for the farmers affected by HEC. This has helped farmers and government officers understand and apply these methods. Most farmers, including those in remote areas, have received the book.

In the Southwest and then Eastern Cambodia, chilli rope is used as an elephant deterrent. Strong chilli is ground and mixed with grease and motor oil in a can with rope for one night. The farmer then ties a rope between fence posts in the areas that elephants eat the crops. When the elephant touches the chilli rope, it causes irritation to their skin. Elephant, cow or buffalo dung mixed with oil bean and strong chilli with a little bit of water is another method of deterrent. This mixture is dried and burnt around the border of the field and the elephants will not enter the field due to the smoke. Traditional Cambodian methods used for keeping elephants from fields include noise making devices and putting scarecrows up to confuse the elephants. New strategies include creating a system for informing the farmer that an elephant is coming by using a cow bell connected to a wire and creating guarding groups. It has also been suggested the farmers’ change their crops from those that elephants like to eat to fields of alternative crops that elephants dislike such as: kinds of chilli, taro, tobacco, cashew nut, and beans. They can sell these, making a profit, to local markets and tourists in Phnom Penh for a suitable price.

Improving Livelihoods for Farmers Affected by Human Elephant Conflict (HEC)

Chilli plant in field.

A farmer drying chilli.

Farmers preparing “chilli dung.”

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Many of us sadly learned of the passing of Bets Rasmussen on Sunday September 17, 2006. The news was surprising as most of us did not know of Bets’ illness or the seriousness of the disease. Bets’ scientific contributions have been phenomenal including more than 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals with world-wide readership, spanning the disciplines of neuroscience, endocrinology, biochemistry, behavior, anatomy and chemical communications. Her work with elephants has helped to illustrate the importance of learning from elephants in our care and applying what we’ve learned to help range country conservation efforts.

To the scientific and elephant world, Bets may be known best for her 15­­­-year quest to identify the estrous pheromone in Asian elephants. Along with collaborators, she determined the compound structure to be Z-7-dodecenyl acetate. For a mammal, it was astounding that a single compound would have such profound importance to reproduction. Further, many moths use the same compound as part of their pheromone, a fascinating case of chemical convergent evolution. Along with collaborators, Bets revealed the chemical signature of “moda” (or honey) musth in young male Asian elephants. She also helped understand the chemical dynamics of another elephant pheromone convergent with an insect pheromone, namely frontalin. While she also studied numerous other species such as sharks and whales, her passion was elephants. She cared deeply about elephants and about the people who worked with and for elephants. We have lost not only a great scientist, but one of the most enthusiastic and nicest people you could ever meet. She was an inspiration to so many of us.

Due to the recent death of Dr. L. E. L. Rasmussen, Principal Investigator of the project: Development and Testing of Pheromone Enhanced Mechanical Devices for Deterring Crop Raiding Elephants, the

implementation of the project in the field in Asia has been delayed but not cancelled. Dr. Tom Goodwin, Ph.D, Professor of Chemistry at Hendrix College (AR) and a research colleague of Dr. Rasmussen is a new Co-PI. The next field-testing of the repellent project will take place in late spring 2007 in Sri Lanka. Collaborators in Sri Lanka include Jayantha Jayewardene and Charles Santiapillai. Fieldwork in 2007 will include finalizing the project site selection, starting construction on a small research facility, electrical fencing and prototype mechanical devices, and training local wildlife biology students for observations, including use of the night vision camera.

Bets Rasmussen 1939 - 2006

by Elizabeth Freeman — National Zoological Park, Conservation and Research Center

This research was focused on determining how social and environmental factors contribute to the high rate of ovarian inactivity among captive African elephants in North America. With a captive population that is not self-sustaining, it is a high priority to understand the causes of ovarian inactivity and discover treatments or management practices that could return some acyclic females to the breeding pool.

Surveying the captive population led to the discovery that age, social rank and long-term relationships among captive elephants all negatively impact ovarian cyclicity status. In most captive herds, the oldest, largest female is dominant and behaves functionally as a matriarch, similar to free-ranging African elephant family units. In the wild, families primarily consist of related individuals and are the basic unit of the larger, fission-fusion society. As a result of this fluid society, females frequently interact with individuals outside their family and thus acquire social knowledge that can be used to aid their survival.

By contrast, most captive elephants are maintained at one or a few facilities with a few unrelated individuals over their lifetime. It appears that the long-term, exclusive relationships created by these captive management practices contribute to some dominant elephants becoming acyclic. Behavioral observations confirmed that dominant females used more subtle and social interactions than overt aggression to maintain their status within the captive hierarchy. At some facilities, the energy devoted toward maintaining these social relationships, however may suppress her ovarian activity, as well as that of subordinate individuals. Yet, rather than being a captivity-related oddity, ovarian acyclicity may be an evolutionary adaptation among African elephants.

Reproductive rates decline among free-ranging elephants as they age and reach matriarchal status. Whether this decline is due to age-related reproductive senescence, results from the stress of being a

matriarch, or is an altruistic act to help ensure survival of the existing family unit remains to be determined. Future studies will investigate factors that affect reproductive rates in free-ranging elephants and will focus on designing methods to non-invasively monitor ovarian activity in the field. Natural declines in reproductive success among wild elephants suggest that it may be inevitable that dominant African elephants held in captivity will eventually cease cycling. It just may be occurring at younger ages for captive cows than those observed in the wild. Management practices perhaps could be altered to counter the likelihood that older, dominant African elephants will likely cease cycling in captivity. The elephant community has been reluctant to transfer females between facilities out of fear it would negatively impact estrous cyclicity and disrupt social bonds within captive herds. However, survey results suggest that transferring elephants between facilities and mixing up captive herds may actually be beneficial for normal estrous activity. It is possible that transferring younger acyclic elephants (whether dominant or subordinate) into a new herd setting with an older, larger matriarch could create enough of a change to stimulate normal estrous cyclicity.

Impact of Social Status, Age, and Climate on Reproduction in African elephants.

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Bets’ scientific contributions have been phenomenal including more than ��0

publications in peer-reviewed journals with world-wide readership, spanning the discipline of neuroscience, endocrinology,

biochemistry, behavior, anatomy and chemical communications.

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By Deborah Olson

The International Elephant Foundation once again united and mobilized the international EEHV research community for a workshop in October 2006 at the International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium in Denmark.

In 1995­­­, a 16-month-old female Asian elephant at Smithsonian National Zoo died suddenly after a brief illness. National Zoo pathologists Laura Richman and Richard Montali discovered the cause of death as a novel herpes virus that produces a hemorrhagic disease in elephants. This discovery of a new herpesvirus called Endotheliotropic Elephant Herpesvirus (EEHV) led to the identification of additional cases internationally. The onset of EEHV is sudden and death can occur as early as hours after the first clinical symptoms are observed (or even without clinical symptoms), or the elephant may exhibit clinical symptoms for a week prior to death. Necropsy results show that EEHV infects the microvascular endothelial cells of the heart, liver, tongue and variably other organs. Viral-induced endothelial injury leads to critical hemorrhages with death attributed to cardiac failure.

EEHV is a worldwide problem. Since identification of the disease, a substantial proportion of reproductive failures and young elephant deaths in Europe and North America have been attributed to EEHV. Elephant mortalities attributed to EEHV have also been reported to have occurred on the continent of Asia but the prevalence of this disease in the Asian captive and wild elephant population is still undetermined. However, not all Asian elephants exposed to this virus display clinical disease.

As a result of the first EEHV workshop, a study has been initiated in the United States funded by the International Elephant Foundation, Houston Zoo and the Morris Animal Foundation. Asian elephant holding facilities in North America are collecting serum and whole blood from each Asian elephant on a weekly basis for a period of two years. Samples are sent to Dr. Richman’s lab

at the Smithsonian National Zoo (which is funded by a gift from Ringling Bros.) for testing and evaluation. Results will create a comprehensive database of the serologic status of Asian elephants in North America. It is thought that a juvenile elephant naive to EEHV within a herd will, at some point, be

exposed to an elephant shedding EEHV and either seroconvert with unapparent/mild

illness or develop disseminated EEHV disease. Preliminary data suggests that at least some infected elephants will develop a high EEHV antibody titer. A base serology on each individual can potentially determine time of exposure an aid in evaluating those individuals that may seroconvert in the future. Once titer trends have been analyzed, then patterns will emerge that will aid in determining herd management

strategies.

In addition, a detailed epidemiology (study of disease origin and spread: the scientific and medical study of the causes and transmission of disease within a population) of the Asian elephant population in North America has begun with the collecting of data on both affected and unaffected elephants including housing, social structure of the herd, diet, illnesses, breeding, travel etc. This data will be compared to the EEHV serology results providing valuable information to aid in the determination of the source and means of transmission of this disease.

The 2006 EEHV Workshop continued the discussion of EEHV research activities and action plans, and resulted in nine high priority recommendations.

1) Improve post mortem diagnostics by testing all elephants that die looking for latent infections in necropsy tissues.

2) Validate the ELISA assay. This assay should be validated in 2007 through the US-based study collecting blood samples from each Asian elephant on a weekly basis.

3) Begin an epidemiological study. This study has been initiated in the United States but it is equally important that one be initiated in Europe as well.

4) Biopsy lymph nodes of all EEHV survivors and of those individuals that have high EEHV titers.

5­­­) Refine treatment protocols.

6) Develop a poster to be distributed to all elephant barns to inform keepers and other staff the importance of inspecting each elephant for oral lesions daily, starting treatment early if EEHV is suspected, training each elephant for blood sample collection, noting available laboratories for sample analysis and listing samples needed for further diagnosis and

research purposes.

7) Set up laboratories in Asia to determine the prevalence of this disease in captive and wild elephants in Asia.

8) Continue viral culture attempts by developing elephant cell culture lines and culturing infected necropsy tissues.

9) Investigate the TK gene. A TK gene is present within alpha and gammaherpesviruses, but has not been described in any of the currently sequenced beta-herpesviruses. TK gene is necessary for the anti-viral Famciclovir to be effective.

International Elephant Foundation Conservation and Research Symposium - Endotheliotropic Elephant

Herpesvirus (EEHV) Workshop Report

Asian elephant herd at the Houston Zoo.

Asian elephant “Tucker” born at Have Trunk Will Travel in �00�.

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This data will be compared to the EEHV serology

results providing valuable information to aid in the

determination of the source and means of transmission

of this disease.“ “

The onset of EEHV is sudden and death can

occur as early as hours after the first clinical

symptoms are observed (or even without clinical

symptoms).

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By Michael Keigwin – Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF)

Elephant crop raiding in Southern Queen Elizabeth National Park, Southwest Uganda is at extreme and intolerable levels - in an 18 month period 1403 crop raiding incidents had been fully documented. With community crop losses beyond tolerable levels, communities had been spearing and poisoning elephants in revenge. ECP, along with the local community and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) began hand digging a 20km, 2 by 2 metre trench as the first part of a larger strategy towards mitigating crop raiding in the region. The trench excavation is being carried out by the local villagers from the Ishasha Customs village through Bukorwe to Rushorosa. In addition to reducing the elephant crop raiding, this project will stop the communities’ illegal cattle grazing and the park’s buffalo crop raiding. It will also forge a commitment between the communities and UWA, and this will inevitably have positive effects on anti-poaching as well.

Ishasha is based in Southern Queen Elizabeth National Park (QE), South – West Uganda. This sector of QE forms the largest and most significant connection to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Parc National des Virunga. Within the Ishasha Sector there are three river systems and the elephants tend to come from the riverine forests to the community areas to crop raid. The park border runs along the Bukorwe escarpment ridge which lends itself towards a crop raiding strategy based around a trench along the crest of the ridge.

Digging of the trench is all done by hand. In order to maintain the initial commitment of the respective communities, UWA and local community leaders agreed that sections of the trench should be commenced in each of 3 parishes and mobilization of the workforces from these communities took place in January 2006. By mid-April the community workers had excavated a total distance of over 10 kilometers. An inspection and monitoring visit was made in February 2006 and in mid-April the Directors walked the length of the completed trench works and identified with the community leaders and UWA remedial works necessary and some areas of concern around maintenance, valley areas and lower lying areas. It had always been recognized that a trench would not be appropriate in valley areas or the lower lying land and with the works under way this view was reinforced. As a result the excavated trench is not yet a continuous length but is interrupted in a number of valley areas.

A further inspection visit was made in June and it was pleasing to see that outstanding works in areas of partial completion had been carried out and the communities had also commenced a program of maintenance work to ensure that completed sections were maintained at the required standard to be effective. A Steering Committee to oversee the trench works was established. The committee comprises representatives of UWA and the local communities at District Sub-County level and Parish level. The main UWA representative is the Warden in Charge of the Ishasha sector which has brought him into very close contact with the community influencers enabling any park/community friction areas to be more easily resolved. In addition he is working with the communities on complementary income generating activities so that they may benefit more from the increasing tourism in the area. Illegal cattle grazing in the park has already been reduced with the

trench cutting off access routes.

The strengthening of park and community relations is also being aided by the reduction already being seen in the instances of crop raiding and human/wildlife interaction. While no actual statistics are available at this time, at each inspection visit, the local community confirms that positive results are already being seen. It is acknowledged that in view of the broken trench line at the valley areas, problem animals are still being seen but these areas can now be guarded and monitored more effectively. There are no reported incidents of elephants having been killed by the communities in retaliation for crop raiding since the commencement of the project.

It was recognized that the valley areas funnel wildlife into the crops and were ‘hotspots’ for crop raiding and a weakness in the mitigation strategy. In order to give due regard to any environmental impact and to find both a practical and cost effective solution in the valley areas, work in the valleys has not yet commenced with the focus being maintained on the trench works. Nevertheless, solutions and ideas are currently being sought. Solutions must recognize the limitations of available materials in the locality and difficulties of transport and lack of equipment. Investigations are being made into the suitability and availability of ‘mud brick’ making equipment that has started to appear in country, recycled plastic pole fencing, in addition to more traditional barriers and fencing. Without doubt the valley and lower lying areas will be a challenge both in practical creativity and funding requirement. The erection of three watchtowers to cover two valleys is also being investigated. These will provide a bird’s eye view of elephants coming to raid crops enabling the rest of the community to be alerted and take actions to scare away the approaching animals. With the IEF funding which UCF received in 2006 and 2007 it is hoped that the trench works for the section between Ishasha

Customs and the Kihihi Road will be completed in early 2007 and the valley works later in 2007 for this important site in the biodiversity ‘hotspot’ of the Albertine Rift Valley. Lessons learnt on this stretch will then assist the completion of remaining sections in the Ishasha River area.

Elephants, Crops and People (ECP)

Crop raiding in Southern QECA, all river regions

Top: Team talk on monitoring visitBottom: Measuring newly excataved section

African elephants in the wild.

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By Charles Foley — Tarangire Elephant Project

There are currently very few data showing the movement patterns of bull elephants within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem. Their movement is thought to be extensive, with bulls potentially moving as far as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and West Kilimanjaro, and as such, their movements are likely to play an important role in maintaining gene flow between the disparate elephant populations. Currently several conservation organizations are working to protect wildlife migration routes and dispersal areas in land between Tarangire and Manyara National Parks (on Manyara Ranch), with a large part of their efforts concentrated in the area north of Tarangire. Without good information on elephant movements it is difficult to know whether the critical migration routes are being preserved by these efforts, or whether different areas need to be targeted. Putting satellite GPS radio collars on bulls will provide us with a detailed and comprehensive picture of the bull movements, which will be used to help guide and strengthen the case of the land protection efforts in the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem.

All collaring occurred on Manyara Ranch, a 40,000 acre land trust

linking Tarangire and Manyara National Parks. Manyara Ranch was selected as the collaring site because it is used by elephants from three different populations (Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Lolsimongori Mountain), and therefore maximized the chance of collaring individuals with different dispersal patterns. Our aim was to collar at least one known Tarangire bull and at least one other bull that was not known to be a Tarangire resident. We intended to collar older bulls (preferably 35 years and older), as these individuals were most likely dominant breeding bulls and therefore prone to migrate more widely to find females during the main breeding season.

All three bulls were collared on Tuesday, September 12 2006, with two animals darted in the morning and one in the afternoon. Once the elephant was sedated, the collars were fastened, and body measurements, blood and parasite samples collected. The third bull collared was a known, resident Tarangire male called ‘Plato’. He is a large, one-tusked male and one of the more dominant animals in the population and frequently seen in Tarangire Park. It was not known from which population the other two bulls came. We did not have an identification card for Elephant �, though we had seen this male in Tarangire on at least one occasion, so this bull is probably either a Tarangire male or an infrequent visitor from Lake Manyara. Elephant � had never been recorded in the park previously and we suspect that he is a Manyara National Park bull.

After the collaring, Plato moved immediately to Tarangire National Park and has remained there for the past two months. He has concentrated his movements along the Tarangire River in the northwest corner of the park, which is a traditional dry season ranging area for Tarangire elephants and a known “bull area” for the northern subpopulation. Elephant � spent most of September on Manyara

Preliminary Report on the Radio Collaring of Three Bull Elephants in the Tarangire Ecosystem

Ranch and then migrated to Tarangire, spending most of the time on the border between the Park and the Burungi Game Controlled Area hunting block. Elephant � spent the majority of the time on Manyara Ranch or on Olasiti village land; the latter is a hunting block that has recently seen increased anti-poaching patrols through a joint project between a hunting outfitter and the local community. It is interesting to note that elephants are now starting to move into this area, likely due to the increased security. Elephant � also moved some distance along the narrow land corridor adjoining Manyara Ranch and Manyara

National Park, but then returned to the Ranch, which suggests that this land strip is still being used by migrating elephants. We have now altered the collection parameters to gather data every eight hours as we are entering the main elephant breeding period when we expect most bull movement. The next six months of data collection should be particularly illuminating with regards to bull dispersal patterns. Towards the end of the wet season we will have sufficient information on bull movement patterns to begin ground transects in areas with high elephant usage to further elucidate use patterns on the ground.

By Joe Heffernan & Trinh Viet Cuong — Fauna and Flora International and Government of Vietnam

The number of wild elephants in Vietnam is now the lowest among 13 countries still having elephants in Asia. The number of wild elephants in Vietnam used to reach into the thousands, distributed throughout the whole country. In the period of 1993 – 1995, an estimated 258 - 305 elephants were distributed in 33 areas. By, 2002 there were only 11 areas with an estimated number of about 5­­­7-81 elephants. This survey was completed in Ea Sup District, Dak Lak Province, and Chu Prong District, Gia Lai Province.

Elephants had caused crop damage and property damage in both areas. The extent of damage was relatively limited, but there is potential for future damage. It appears that raids are seasonal. There are two elephant groups, traveling closely together. One seems to have a number of juveniles. Capture for domestication and destruction of suitable habitat due to population expansion appear to be the main reasons for increasing conflict, with elephants actively destroying things related to human activities in the forest. Recommendations include 1) rezoning of agricultural lands, 2) strict protection of remaining evergreen forest refuges and 3) organization of local people by state agencies to guard their crops during peak raiding seasons.

The herd appears to be growing, as a large number of young have been recorded, so this issue will require long term oversight. The survey information shows that this is not a new population, but an extended migration of elephants that were already known. So, while we can report no new herds, the groups contain a number of young, providing hopes for the long term future of this trans-boundary population. The conflict patterns in the area are becoming better understood, as well as the underlying pressure causing the increase in raids.

A Rapid Assessment of Elephant Populations Coming into Conflict with Local Farmers in Gia Lai and Dak Lak Provinces, Vietnam

Left: Suoi Noi field in Ia Pio commune — Chu Prong district, Gia Lai provinceRight: Country of Vietnam in purple.

Above: Bull � goes down during darting.Left: Collaring complete, Dr. Richard Hoare applies antidote.

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The board of the International Elephant Foundation (IEF) has selected its conservation projects for �00�.

“We have been able to increase our conservation funding support annually,” said Michael Fouraker, IEF president. “Tremendous support from throughout the elephant community is allowing us to expand our scope of elephant conservation efforts at a more rapid rate than was originally projected.”

IEF will evaluate and possibly adopt additional elephant-related conservation and research projects throughout 2007. As a non-profit organization dedicated to elephant welfare, IEF solicits donations to fund worthy conservation and research projects worldwide.

To learn more about IEF or to contribute to elephant conservation efforts, visit IEF’s website at www.elephantconservation.org. With minimal administrative costs, IEF is able to dedicate �0 percent of its budget directly toward elephant conservation programs worldwide.

Support for Community-based Conservation of Elephants in the Ndoto Ranges, Northern KenyaThis project will improve security and monitoring of elephants in the Milgis Lugga and Ndoto Mountains, Kenya.

Project to Reduce Human/Elephant Conflicts in Benoue, CameroonThis project will place radio/satellite tracking collars on two high-ranking cows from an established herd in Benoue National Park. Researchers will use the tracking data to monitor the herd’s movements and to provide an early-warning system that disperses rangers into the field to divert the herd away from crops or from human settlements.

Support to the Enforcement of Poaching Control and Bushmeat Trade in and around WAZA National Park (WNP), CameronThis project will strengthen WNP personnel’s ability to enforce wildlife protection laws, monitor and manage wildlife populations, carry out sensitization campaigns using local and national media, and gather baseline surveillance data for long-term monitoring of wildlife populations.

Elephants, Crops and People, UgandaThe Uganda Conservation Foundation, along with the local community

and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have embarked upon hand-digging a 20-kilometer, 2 by 2-meter trench as the first part of a

larger strategy towards mitigating crop raiding in the region. Work to date has already contributed to a reduction in the

incidence of crop raiding and illegal cattle grazing.

Waterways, UgandaThis project will reduce poaching capabilities (policing of the bushmeat trade, ivory trafficking and illegal fishing) in the Southern Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area, and protect wildlife and their

habitats through waterborne law enforcement along the shore line, silently and without detection.

Support for the core activities of Save The Elephants, Africa

Save The Elephants (STE) operates in every African environment. IEF’s support of core activities will allow

STE to develop, launch and manage its varied wildlife activities such as: radio tracking elephants and other endangered species, monitoring the illegal killing of elephants for ivory and programs for predators, human elephant conflict, and human education.

The Effects of Translocation on the Behavior and Habitat Use of African Elephants, AfricaThis study will provide valuable conservation and management information regarding the factors that contribute to successful translocations. By monitoring the activities of elephants post-translocation,this study will enable an evaluation of elephants’ success in a new habitat and provide important information regarding the conservation value of translocations

as a management tool for solving human-elephant conflict.

Community-based Elephant Conservation in CambodiaResults of this project will include protection of forest in targeted locations, improved crop yields, increased capacity of staff for implementing conservation activities, improved social cohesion of guarding groups of local villagers near elephant areas, and reduction in poverty while improving local attitudes toward conservation.

Sumatran elephant’s dietary ecology, movement and habitat use: Using ecological approach to save endangered Asian Elephant and their habitat in Indonesia.The specific goals of this project are to investigate elephant dietary ecology in various habitat types, determine elephant movement, home range behavior and habitat use within the area and corridor of Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP), and build a predictive model of crop raiding.

Mahouts and Their Elephants Working as Conservation Response Units (CRU) in SumatraThe CRU model utilizes once neglected captive elephants and their mahouts for direct field-based conservation interventions to support the conservation of wild elephants and their habitat, mitigate human-elephant conflict, reduce wildlife crime, and raise awareness among local people of the importance of conserving elephants and their habitat.

Conserving Asian Elephants and Human-elephant Conflict Mitigation in Kaeng Krachen National Park (KKNP), ThailandPilot surveys have determined methods for an elephant population survey, to begin human elephant conflict reduction efforts, and to work with Thai authorities to improve law enforcement in KKNP.

Saving Elephants by Helping People, Sri LankaThe project will construct a 15­­­-kilometer solar powered electric fence with local community participation, resolve human-elephant conflicts along the boundary of the Lahugala Kitulana National Park, establish a critical elephant corridor connecting the Yala National Park to the Lahugala Kitulana National Park, and provide GIS mapping of distribution and human-elephant conflict data to aid in management efforts.

Support for GAJAH the publication of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG)GAJAH is a journal dedicated to issues specific to Asian elephants including the large percentage of captive/domestic elephants in Asia and dealing with government and non-governmental organizations while providing opportunities for capacity-building.

Using Hormone Field Kits to Improve Our Understanding of Ovarian Activity in Free-Living Elephants (Loxodonta africana), United StatesUsing feces collected from captive elephants, field-friendly progestin hormone kits to easily monitor estrous cycle activity in free-ranging elephants will be developed to investigate how age, social rank and precipitation affect the estrous cycle dynamics of individually identifiable elephants in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa and on the Ndarakwai Ranch, Tanzania. Gaining knowledge about the factors that naturally control estrous cycle activity of elephants will aid elephant managers worldwide by finding ways to maximize reproduction and create self-sustaining elephant populations.

Study to reduce elephant deaths caused by Endotheliotropic Elephant Herpes Virus (EEHV), United StatesEEHV is a serious threat to all populations of Asian elephants and the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of EEHV is a high priority for the international elephant community. A complete epidemiologic picture of EEHV and the clarification of the EEHV status of individual elephants and their potential for shedding the virus will aid in the prediction of future outbreaks, identify the mode of transmission, prevent the transmission of the disease, and identify predisposing factors that make specific elephants more susceptible to the disease.

IEF 2007 Conservation Project Grants

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Abilene Zoo Keepers FundErick AraizaVanda BeaverSusan BerthelJennifer BillsGregory BishopGladys BrownRobert ChapaMarcie ChaudetAdam CheekDenise ColeJudith ColettaMichael Connolly

Harold DavidsonMichael DiazJulie Anton DunnEast Kingston Elementary SchoolBarry EgnesPatricia ErcoleJohn EricksenBeverly ErvinChris ErvinSebastian GarciaKristofer GrafSherri GreenJudith Harms

Mark HoughtonThomas HullNorma IbarraIRCFPeter JacksonJean JannopouloKerra JohnsonSarah KennedyDeborah LaBangPeter LanicciDoris LaymanStaley LesniakRick LevinMichael Lindley

Amar MahabirElyse MartinezConstance MerwinRichard Mills Jr.Yakimov MontriceDonald MorrisonNancy MulholandAaron PetersonMary Phelps-TrotterMelissa PlemonsKristen PollockAleksandrowicz PrzlmyslawChristopher Rhode

Amy RobbinsCesar RolasDoris SanzaniMark SaylorMary SchneiderMaureen Buggy TrusteeNarah ValcarcelJennifer WalkerLuke WarnerLisa WebbRobert WilsonWoodland Park ZooJeffrey Zawadski

Ann BissellCleveland Metroparks ZooJohn GoodmanKim and David HaganKarma Culture LLCJonathon Lee

Little Rock ZooLouisville Zoological GardensJohn MoaklerRio Grande AAZKZoological Society of Buffalo

AAZK - Tulsa Zoo ChapterFriends of the Lee Richardson ZooGreenville ZooHonolulu ZooJohn and Kathy Lehnhardt

The Maryland Zoo in BaltimoreLinda ReifschneiderMary RoseSan Antonio Zoological SocietyToronto Zoo AAZK Chapter

Brec’s Baton Rouge ZooCaldwell ZooCalgary Zoo, Botanical Gardens, & Prehistoric ParkCameron Park ZooCheyenne Mountain ZooCincinnati Zoo & Botanical GardenMartha Fischer

George Carden Circus InternationalJackson Zoological ParkGary LeeMemphis Zoological SocietyMiller Equipment CompanyNew Mexico Zoological SocietyNiabi ZooOmaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo

Virginia PearsonRosamond Gifford Zoo in Burnet ParkSanta Barbara Zoological GardensSedgewick County ZooToronto ZooTulsa Zoo Friends, Inc.

African Lion SafariAid to AfricaBirmingham Zoo AAZK ChapterBusch Gardens Tampa BayColumbus Zoo and AquariumHave Trunk Will Travel

North Carolina Zoological SocietyOregon ZooPoint Defiance Zoo & AquariumSix Flags Marine WorldVienna Zoo (Tiergarten Schoenbrunn)

Denver Zoological Gardens

Fort Worth Zoo

Houston Zoo, Inc.

The Philadelphia Zoo

Zoological Society of San Diego

Supporters

Benefactors

GuardiansMatriarchsTuskers

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Feld Entertainment Inc./Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc.

Saint Louis Zoo

$1 to $99

$100 to $499$500 to $999

$5,000 to $9,999

$1,000 to $4,999

$10,000 to $24,999$25,000 and aboveThe 2006 International Elephant Foundation’s International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium hosted by the Copenhagen Zoo was held in Denmark, Europe. The event attracted international experts in elephant research and in ex situ and in situ elephant management to the beautiful vacation resort town of Gilleleje. The two-day symposium held October 21-22 focused on the research and conservation of African and Asian elephants. Delegates had an opportunity to present their latest information to a large international audience representing 19 countries and four continents. The Vienna Zoo provided support in the organization of the meeting and paper sessions.

Typically the Conservation and Research Symposium is located in a hotel close to the center of a large city. This time however the meeting took place on the Danish north coast of the Baltic Sea in Gilleleje. The participants were accommodated in small vacation cottages with a view of the beach and pounding surf. Despite the business like atmosphere of the meeting, it was hard to suppress a certain vacation feeling.

Forty-one papers were presented and sessions included Veterinary Medicine, Reproduction, Behavior, In situ Conservation and Management, and General Research Topics. The veterinary session yielded new information on the topic of tuberculosis in elephants, foot issues, and veterinary care of elephants in range countries. The reproduction session topics ranged from semen quality to embryonic development to reproductive success in the free-ranging elephants of Kruger National Park in South Africa. Some topics discussed during the behavior session included elephant gaits, vocal ontogeny and thermoregulation.

The majority of the symposium centered on the conservation and management of elephants in Asia and Africa. Conference participants were informed about poaching

controls, human-elephant conflict mitigation, habitat use, and social organization of elephant herds. The papers at this year’s symposium were of superior quality and each delegate left the meeting with new information to use in their own elephant conservation and research efforts.

The symposium closed with a tour of the Zoological Garden of Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Zoo Director, Lars Lunding Andersen introduced the plans of their impressive new elephant facility. Camilla Norgaard led the tour through the elephant facility and presented the zoo’s elephant management program. Afterwards some participants found time for a short sightseeing tour of the city.

This years IEF meeting was picture perfect. The symposium was informative, interesting and varied. The atmosphere was cozy and the international participation high. Our thanks and sincere appreciation to the staff of the Copenhagen zoo whose efforts were crucial in enabling the meeting to take place and ensuring a smooth program. IEF would like to especially thank

Anne Huniche of the Copenhagen Zoo who managed all the arrangements and registrations! And Sabine Fruehwirth and Dr. Harald Schwammer

of the Vienna Zoo who produced the symposium proceedings now available on CD.

International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium Update

By Dr. Harald Schwammer

2006 IEF Donors

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Your donation can help make a world of differenceThe International Elephant Foundation* is dedicated to conserving African and Asian elephants by providing funds and scientific expertise to support elephant research and conservation programs worldwide. Almost 90 percent of

funds raised go directly to elephant programs.

Your donation is tax deductible in accordance with U.S. laws and will help fund conservation efforts such as habitat protection, education programs and research.

I/We would like to help the IEF by donating:

$25­­­

$5­­­00

$5­­­0

$1,000

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other $_________________

$25­­­0Join us in the fight to save the elephant!

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Please make checks payable to The International Elephant Foundation. Mail your donation and completed form to:

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Thank you for your support!www.elephantconservation.org

* 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, CFC #11020. Ask if your employer participates in employee matching contribution programs.

Cash contributions — ��%In Kind goods and services — ��%Investments — �%

Programs — ��%Administration — �%

Fund Raising — �%

2006 IEF Financial SummaryRevenue Expenses