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An elephant park in Bali starved more than ten elephants to death. When COVID-19 spread around the world and borders were closed, ticket sales dropped sharply, and the staff were forced to close.
Bali Elephant Camp (BEC) is a safari-style park located a half-hour drive north of Ubud, the cultural capital of the Indonesian island. It offers a series of nature-based activities such as cycling through rice fields and white water rafting.
In 2005, BEC joined the Wildlife Conservation Program administered by the Ministry of Forestry, which entrusted private zoos and wildlife parks in Indonesia to care for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant.
After the coronavirus pandemic forced the park to close, BEC’s elephants were found to be “skin and bones” [Supplied]A 2007 study by the World Wildlife Fund found that there were only 2,400 Sumatran elephants left in the wild. It is now believed that due to ivory poaching, human-elephant conflict, and deforestation, the number has been reduced by half. Between 1980 and 2005-equivalent to only one and a half generations of elephants-67% of the potential habitat of Sumatran elephants was lost. In the wild, this animal was listed as “critically endangered” in 2012.
The elephants in the parks and zoos come from a breeding center established in Sumatra 30 years ago. The plan is to help stabilize the population. In exchange for giving the animals a home, certified businesses are allowed to sell elephant tourism services that were lucrative before the pandemic. BEC rides an elephant for half an hour for two people and costs $230.
The birth of three baby elephants in the past 15 years shows that BEC not only meets but exceeds its animal welfare requirements.
“Our conservation friends say that we have some of the healthiest and happiest elephants they have ever seen!” The company’s website boasted.
But in May, a photo taken by a wildlife veterinarian in the park and shared exclusively with Al Jazeera showed that several elephants were severely malnourished.
Femke Den Haas, a veterinarian from the Netherlands, has been committed to protecting Indonesia’s wildlife for 20 years.
“They are large animals, and you shouldn’t see their bones. But that is what they are-just skin and bones.”
governmental support
Haas visited the camp as a partner of Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam Bali (BKSDA), which is responsible for overseeing the safari park and zoo where Sumatran elephants are adopted.
BKSDA Director Agus Budi Santosa said: “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many industries in Bali have collapsed.” “But the impact on small companies like Bali Elephant Camp is particularly severe. [When tourism stopped] They can no longer pay for operating costs, especially the cost of feeding elephants. The government had to help them by paying for food and electricity. “
An elephant of BEC [Suoplied]In July, the company told the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) that it was doing its best to care for the elephants, but it was unable to meet the monthly operating cost of US$1,400, and neither the forestry department nor BKSDA provided any financial support.
BEC representatives were unable to answer Al Jazeera’s questions about elephants, and their phone numbers were disconnected.
“As a company, you can’t say that there are no more tourists, so I don’t take care of elephants anymore,” Haas said.
“This is what happened. It’s really disgusting because these elephants have provided them with profits for 15 years. So when they say they don’t have money, I don’t believe it. Anyway, caring for elephants is not expensive. It costs $200 a month to raise one.”
Haas said that BEC also leaves employees unpaid.
“They are not only irresponsible to the animals, but also to the employees who are committed to their work. When I first arrived there, some of the staff had already left and others were still there, working for free, trying to take care of the elephants, “she says.
Santosa said that BEC has two months to find new investors and reorganize its business. During this period, the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, a non-governmental organization of Haas, fed the elephants and paid the keepers’ salaries.
When BEC failed to come up with a solution, the government confiscated the elephant.
“We must solve the problem quickly, because if we delay, it may cause the death of elephants,” Santosa said.
Haas added: “They don’t want them to take the elephants. They want them to return to work after the pandemic.”
A new home
Three of BEC’s 14 elephants were adopted by an unidentified zoo on the neighboring island of Java.
The remaining 11 animals were relocated to Tasta Safari Park, a new modern zoo that opened in June in the Tabanan Regency, a lush mountainous area in south-central Bali. When Al Jazeera visited Tasta Wildlife Park in September, all 11 animals had successfully recovered and regained their weight.
The chief elephant handler, Ketut, is a former BEC employee who has worked for the company for 13 years-almost no salary in the past 12 months.
He has no malice towards the former employer, but is grateful to the new employer. He knows the name and age of each elephant in the herd, and likes to share his knowledge with tourists, even though they are still rare now.
“Elephants rarely digest the food they eat. So they are always eating,” he said. “They can eat up to 10% of their body weight a day.”
The elephants were captured and transferred to a new zoo in Bali, where they regained their weight and health [Supplied]Ticket prices are between US$2 and US$4, and there are only a few tourists a day. Tasta Wildlife Park is at a loss, but it continues to ensure that all animals are fed.
According to BAWA, the other three elephant parks in Bali-Mason, Bali Zoo, and Bali Safari Park and Marine Park-are also in financial trouble but have to feed their elephants.
But they worry about the welfare of the seven elephants in Bakas, a safari park in eastern Bali. The entrance fee is US$25 and the cost of washing elephants in the swimming pool is US$85.
For a long time, Bakas has been troubled by allegations of insufficient feeding from tourists on TripAdvisor, which can be traced back ten years.
“Don’t go to Bakas Elephant Park. In 2011, a tourist wrote on the website that the main purpose of this park is to extract as much money as possible from tourists, with little regard for animal welfare. Stop and eat. Something, the goalkeeper’s stick banged on the head.”
Haas said that the owner of Bakas was also very poor and asked for government assistance: “It is easy to say that we have no money to feed their elephants, so hello the government, come and take care of it. But the owner is responsible.”
Al Jazeera visited Bakas a few days after reopening after being closed for three months during the partial blockade, and there were no tourists at all.
The staff said they were still feeding the elephants, but did not know whether the food was paid for or donated by the owner. In the parking lot, they offered a chargeable “selfie” of the elephant, but refused to show the area where the elephant is. The owner of the camp did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for a response to the allegations.
In the discussion of more sustainable tourism in Bali after the pandemic, the elephant’s plight has rekindled the call to rethink elephant tourism on the island.
“There is no known moral sanctuary in Bali,” wrote the Bali Elephant Paradise Hell, an advocacy organization created by tourists who did not like elephant camps on the island before the pandemic, on its website before the pandemic.
“Elephants are often chained for a long time when they are not performing ugly performances or riding, living in fear of being stabbed by a bull hook and denying what is natural and important to them.”
A breeder leads his elephant.The Sumatran elephant was listed as a critically endangered species in 2012 [Supplied]BAWA expressed similar views. The organization asked Al Jazeera to refer to the comments it made even before the pandemic.
“Tourist elephants are often overworked and forced to work on a hot day with insufficient food, water or rest. They may not show obvious signs of distress, and may stagger obediently, but continue to be forced to approach humans And not choosing to retreat is extremely stressful for the elephants,” said BAWA. “They are deprived of the opportunity to perform natural behaviors because they are either restricted, chained or hooked. This can cause anxiety and frustration.”
Haas said that all these problems are caused by tourists’ need to ride elephants: “One ride, one selfie, for these animals means life imprisonment, now Covid has attacked it, and the situation is even worse, because Without more money coming in, some elephants are starving.”
“I’m not saying that these businesses should be closed,” the veterinarian said. “But I hope that after the epidemic, tourists will have a wake-up call to stop riding elephants or playing in the swimming pool.
“It’s 2021. We should have ethical tourism. People who visit Bali during the holiday should say, yes, we want to see elephants, but in a protected area, they can eat grass instead of being chained and waiting. People ride elephants. You don’t have to be close to wild animals, you don’t need to touch them or take selfies, just admire them from a distance.”
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