Save Indonesian Endangered Species
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Elephant Food Farm

A grass roots project with multiple positive outcomes
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The magnificent and critically endangered Sumatran elephant has lost 70% of its natural habitat in the past 25 years. As a result, the population of this species is numbered at less than 1,000 and there are only two stable populations left in the wild. Protection and ongoing management of the remaining population is a complex and multi-layered issue.

Although the Indonesian Government has established a network of national park areas, groups of wild elephants still raid village farms bordering onto national parks, creating local conflict.

Village farmers, most of whom can hardly sustain themselves and their families, are understandably resentful. Wild elephants tempted out of the forest by the scent of crops near to harvesting time are still maimed or fatally injured. Poachers from local villages and further afield still burn vast areas of pristine rainforest, seek to steal elephant ivory, and kill other endangered species for food.


​Elephant Conservation Centre

At the Way Kambas National Park young elephants injured or orphaned in these conflict areas are taken to the Elephant Conservation Centre (ECC) where the government employs a carer or ‘mahout’ to look after each elephant for the duration of its life.
Once rescued and in human care, these elephants can no longer be successfully released back into the wild. They become accustomed to human contact and bonded to their mahouts.
The Indonesian Government recognises the tourism potential of an ECC where elephants and humans interact, and has undertaken to fund their care ongoing. This can only be successful if elephant health issues are addressed sustainably and urgently. The budget for this is tight, and there are real shortfalls in the provision of elephant health management. 

Working together towards solutions

Fortunately at Way Kambas there is a strong consortium of local groups who see the value of elephant conservation, and the potential of the ECC. Some small groups (6-8) ECC elephants have been trained to help local villagers drive wild elephants back into the national park. Called ‘ERU’, short for Elephant Response Units, these elephants and their mahouts return to bases on the edge of the park in the forest, and are ready to assist nearly village farmers. 
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The presence of working ERU groups actively reduces elephant conflict and promotes the elephants to villagers as a solution, not simply pests and a threat to their family survival. In addition, returning these elephants to the edge of the forest improves their health dramatically as they enjoy the full forest diversity in their diets and range more widely to seek it.


Survival depends on Health Management

This still leaves the majority of the elephants at the ECC without adequate health management. The park’s management has come up with a plan which can sustainably improve the quantity and diversity of the ECC elephants’ diet. They have costed out establishing an elephant food farm which would be run by local villagers, providing them with additional income. Most villagers live on the breadline, only just able to support themselves and their families.
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More than just an Elephant Food Farm

Your support will help:
1) Sustainable health management for up to 70 working Sumatran elephants
2) Additional income for local villagers currently affected by elephant incursions
3) Additional support for the elephant response unit elephants
4) Assistance in the survival of rescued orphaned or injured baby elephants
5) Contributions to the survival of the Sumatran elephant species on a range of levels
6) Contribution to the viability of the ECC as a growing tourist attraction, promoting awareness of Sumatran elephant conservation and elephant health management

You can help

Please make a donation to the farm either through this website (click here to DONATE) If you work for a company which can provide assistance, please contact Claire Oelrichs directly at [email protected]

We would love your support. 


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  • HOME
  • About
  • Donate
  • Adoptions
    • Adopt Baby Elena
    • Adopt Baby Erin
    • Adopt Toni
    • Adopt Josh
    • Adopt Kartijah
  • Current Projects
    • Saving Javan and Sumatran Rhinoceros
    • Elephant Food Farm
    • Better lives for Elephants
    • Reforestation
    • White Winged Duck
    • Fire Patrols
  • Past Projects
    • Abandoned Wells
    • Wild orangutan population research
  • Contact