[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1135-E1137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REGARDING THE ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM SAXTON

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 1997

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I introduced the Asian Elephant 
Conservation Act which would set up a special elephant fund for the 
Interior Department to administer and would authorize $5 million 
annually over the next 5 fiscal years to be spent on Asian elephant 
conservation.
  At an educational event held yesterday on the Capitol Grounds, I was 
able to share with other Members all the majesty and wonder of the 
Asian elephant. It was evident that these creatures are formidable, and 
one would think they are invincible. Sadly they are not. Indeed, the 
Asian elephant is in grave danger of extinction. And that is why the 
United States, as a world leader in conservation, must step forward and 
assist in Asian elephant conservation.
  Unlike the African elephant whose recent decline has been caused by 
the dramatic large-scale poaching for ivory, the Asian elephant is 
faced with more diffuse threats. The increasing pressures of human 
population growth, along with the necessary changes in land use, has 
caused habitat destruction that now has elephants and people in direct 
competition for resources.
  Because of incremental habitat loss and degradation, Asian elephant 
populations are highly fragmented. Drastic fragmentation has increased 
chances of extinction to each fragmented population. Our hope is that 
this bill will reverse this trend.
  For the record, I am including statements on the Asian elephant by 
Dr. Raman Sukumar, chairman of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist 
Group; Mr. Douglas H. Chadwick, a wildlife biologist, and author of 
``The Fate of the Elephant``; Ms. Ginette Hemley, director of 
international wildlife policy for the World Wildlife Fund; Dr. Mary 
Pearl, executive director of the Wildlife Preservation Trust 
International, Inc.; Dr. Chris Wemmer, associate director for 
conservation and research at the Smithsonian Institution; and Ms. 
Shanthini Dawson, wildlife

[[Page E1136]]

ecologist and steering committee member on the IUCN Species Survival 
Commission.

      The Asian Elephant--An Appeal To Save a Flagship in Distress

  (By Dr. Raman Sukumar--Chairman, IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist 
         Group, and Author of ``Elephant Days & Nights,'' 1994)

       The Asian elephant has enjoyed an intimate relationship 
     with people for over 4000 years. It has carried our heaviest 
     burdens, and transported us across the widest rivers and over 
     the steepest mountains. Kings have used the elephant as a 
     machine of war and an ambassador of peace. It has been 
     worshipped by Hindus in the form of Ganesha, the elephant-
     headed god, while the Buddha himself is considered to be the 
     reincarnation of a sacred white elephant. No other 
     relationship between man and beast equals the splendor of the 
     elephant-human relationship.
       More important, the elephant is a keystone species across 
     the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia, arguably 
     one of the biologically most diverse regions in the world. 
     The elephant is thus the ultimate flagship for conserving the 
     biodiversity of the Asian region.
       Yet, ironically the Asian elephant faces a crisis that is 
     largely hidden from the international community. Its 
     population in the wild is under 50,000 individuals, perhaps 
     as few as 35,000, a level which is less than 10% of that of 
     its more publicized African cousin. Its range once stretched 
     widely from the Tigris-Euphrates basin in West Asia through 
     the Indian sub-continent eastward up to the Yangtze River and 
     beyond in China. Today, it has been wiped out entirely from 
     West Asia and has virtually disappeared from China. In 13 
     Asian countries the elephant is found, with few exceptions, 
     as a series of small populations, isolated from each other 
     through habitat fragmentation or even low density.
       Fewer than 10 populations, 6 of them of India, have over 
     1000 elephants. The rest have much fewer numbers, often less 
     than 100 or 50 individuals each.
       The reasons for the decline of this Asian giant are many. 
     Historically, the elephant has been captured in large numbers 
     for taming and use by man. During the past century alone up 
     to 100,000 elephants have been captured in Asia. Most 
     countries have stopped capturing elephants now, but some 
     illegal capturing still continues in Southeast Asia. The most 
     serious threat faced by the elephant is the loss of habitat 
     through clearing of tropical forest for traditional and 
     commercial agriculture, and developmental projects. Whether 
     it be rubber and oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, 
     tea and coffee plantations in India, sugar cane in Sri Lanka 
     or shifting agriculture in Indo-China, the result is 
     practically the same--a loss of space for elephants. Added to 
     this developmental projects--roads, railway lines, dams, 
     mines, and industries--burgeoning across Asia threaten to 
     further fragment the elephants' habitat. Elephant-human 
     conflict is increasing in many regions. Crops are trampled 
     and eaten by elephants, and several hundred people killed 
     each year. The traditional tolerance of farmers towards the 
     elephant is disappearing in a world undergoing a rapid socio-
     economic transformation.
       Equally alarming today is the wave of ivory poaching 
     sweeping across Asia, to feed the demand from the rich East 
     Asian countries. India has been hit hard by the lust for 
     white gold, and so have many other countries. As the number 
     of male elephants with tusks declines, the sex ratios become 
     more unequal, genetic variation is lost, and the health of 
     populations threatened.
       Seventeen years ago, I began my tryst with this magnificent 
     animal, a symbol of what my country stands for and has to 
     offer to the world. During this short time I have witnessed 
     the elephant decline rapidly in Thailand and Indo-China, lose 
     its traditional migratory routes in India, and killed for its 
     ivory. I have also been privileged to watch the elephant lead 
     its natural life, courting, giving birth, feeding, playing, 
     bathing and enjoying life in general. This tryst with the 
     elephant is a passion and an addiction, which one does not 
     have to apologize for. Just as we cannot imagine an India 
     without the Himalaya, the Ganges or the Taj Mahal, I cannot 
     imagine an India without the elephant. I am sure that many 
     from my neighboring Asian countries would feel the same about 
     the elephant.
       I make this appeal to friends of the elephant in the United 
     States to join hands with us to save one of the most 
     magnificent of our fellow creatures on earth. Surely, the 
     trumpet of the elephant should continue to echo through the 
     hills and forests of Asia in the decades and centuries to 
     come.


     
                                  ____
  Statement of Douglas H. Chadwick, Wildlife Biologist and Author of 
  ``The Fate of the Elephant,'' Supporting the Asian Conservation Act

       Elephants are one of those animals by which we define the 
     grandeur of creation. No larger life forms walk our earth, 
     and precious few are more intelligent--or more emotional. 
     Elephants live 60 to 70 years, learning and storing knowledge 
     the entire time. They maintain close, complex bonds with 
     other family members throughout that human-length span. They 
     are also intimately tied to the cultures of many nations. And 
     now they are in danger of disappearing. The question is 
     whether or not there is still room for giants among us. On my 
     own behalf, and for the sake of people everywhere, including 
     generations yet to come, I urge you to answer Yes by making 
     the Elephant Conservation act part of the species's life 
     support system.
       The American public and Congress have worked hard to 
     reverse the decline of African elephants, Loxodonta africana. 
     And the effort has succeeded in many respects, helping boost 
     the population to more than half a million. In the meantime, 
     however, Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, have declined to 
     one-tenth that number. Where they once inhabited a range that 
     swept from southern China to the Middle East, they find 
     themselves confined to fragments of countryside too small and 
     scattered to guarantee survival. I have seen three-legged 
     elephants whose last homeland was laced with explosive mines, 
     elephants whose trunk had been claimed by snares, and 
     elephants patterned by bullet scars and acid hurled at them 
     by angry farmers.
       Others have probably pointed out to you the value of Asian 
     elephants as an umbrella species. That is, by safeguarding 
     forest tracts large enough to sustain these giants, we ensure 
     sufficient habitat for countless smaller fauna from tigers 
     and sloth bears to peacocks and emerald doves. But elephants 
     are more than just part of the extraordinary variety of 
     plants and animals found in Asia's tropical forests. 
     Elephants are one of the main reasons that genetic bounty is 
     there in the first place with the potential to provide 
     humanity with new sources of food, fiber, and pharmaceutical 
     products.
       You see, elephants distribute the seeds of perhaps one-
     third of all tropical trees. In some cases, elephants are the 
     only known agents of dispersal. Plants germinate in elephant 
     dung at twice the rate found in ordinary forest soil. Through 
     their grazing and trampling, elephants create openings 
     dominated by monocots--grasses and certain starchy herbs--
     throughout dense woodlands. Those patches in turn host a 
     special array of animals from insects to Asian rhinos. Used 
     wisely, the same forests essential to elephant survival 
     already provide a perpetual source of raw materials, food, 
     and traditional medicines for local people. Those woodlands 
     also absorb and slowly release a reliable supply of good 
     water. Deforested, the landscape offers rapid runoff followed 
     by drought and withered crops instead.
       To save Asian elephants is to save one of the principal 
     shapers of biological diversity. To maintain Asian elephant 
     habitat is to maintain the resources that enrich human 
     communities over the long run. To pass an Asian Elephant 
     Conservation Act would be one the most foresighted and yet 
     practical, cost-effective things we could do for the benefit 
     of Americans, people throughout Asia, and the world we all 
     share. Thank you for taking the time to listen.


     
                                  ____
                                          World Wildlife Fund,

                                     Washington, DC, May 23, 1997.
       On behalf of World Wildlife Fund and its 1.2 million 
     members in the United States, I am writing to enlist your 
     support for one of the world's most endangered large 
     mammals--the Asian elephant.
       Few species capture the public's imagination as do 
     elephants. And few species are as intimately tied to the 
     cultures of so many nations. Yet the Asian elephant faces 
     extinction in the wild today. The combined impact of habitat 
     loss, poaching for ivory, meat, and hides, and increasing 
     conflicts with people threaten the species' survival in the 
     next century. With a total wild population of 35,000 to 
     50,000, the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) numbers less 
     than one-tenth of its African counterpart. Although the Asian 
     elephant did not suffer the ravages of excess poaching that 
     reduced African elephant numbers by half in the 1980s, the 
     erosion of its habitat over the past century has fragmented 
     populations to the point that fewer than ten populations 
     comprising more than 1,000 individuals are left throughout 
     the species' range, greatly diminishing long-term viability.
       The Asian elephant urgently needs your help. Securing its 
     survival requires stronger protection measures for remaining 
     herds in the 13 countries where the species lives, 
     establishing corridors and linkages between existing forest 
     reserves to allow for natural migration, stopping illegal 
     killing for ivory, and integrating protection measures with 
     the development needs of local people. Addressing these broad 
     needs requires financial and technical assistance from the 
     international conservation community.
       Congress has shown important global leadership in 
     protecting endangered species such as the African elephant, 
     rhinos, and tigers, through landmark legislation that has 
     provided modest yet critically-needed financial support for 
     conservation projects. We now call on Congress to extend that 
     leadership to the Asian elephant by enacting the Asian 
     Elephant Conservation Act. Representatives Jim Saxton and 
     Neil Abercrombie plan to introduce this legislation on June 
     4. We ask you to consider cosponsoring this important 
     legislation as an emergency response to helping one of the 
     world's most endangered species.
       Living in the world's most densely populated region 
     presents daunting challenges for the Asian elephant. But 
     because elephant herds range over such large areas, 
     protection is more difficult than for tigers and other 
     imperiled species. At the same time, protection measures for 
     the Asian elephant provide

[[Page E1137]]

     broad benefits for countless other species that share its 
     habitat. The Asian elephant is not only ecologically 
     significant as a keystone species in Asia's tropical forests, 
     it is truly a flagship for conservation of the region's 
     tremendous biological diversity.
       As the world's largest wildlife conservation organization, 
     WWF is committed to helping save the Asian elephant through 
     projects in Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, Sri Lanka, 
     Indonesia, Bhutan, Nepal, and Malaysia. We look forward to 
     working with Congress and the U.S. government to further 
     these conservation activities. Passage of the Asian Elephant 
     Conservation Act is one important and practical step toward 
     securing the future of this magnificent species for 
     generations to come.
           Sincerely,

                                               Ginette Hemley,

                                                         Director,
                                    International Wildlife Policy.


     
                                  ____
            Wildlife Preservation Trust International, Inc.


 WILDLIFE PRESERVATION TRUST INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTS THE ASIAN ELEPHANT 
                        CONSERVATION ACT OF 1997

       The worldwide population of Asian elephants is down to 
     around 50,000 animals, isolated in small pockets in India, 
     Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, 
     Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The Chinese population is 
     dying out. Up to one-third of remaining elephants live in 
     captivity.
       The endangered status of Asian elephants is poignant, 
     because for thousands of years, they have lived in close 
     association with humans, as an integral part of religions and 
     cultures. In the United States, working and zoo Asian 
     elephants have inspired awe, respect, and affection for 
     generations.
       WPTI, in cooperation with the India-based Asian Elephant 
     Conservation Centre and the Asian Elephant Specialist Group 
     of the World Conservation Union, has adopted a program to 
     ensure the survival of this species. We have begun surveys in 
     habitat nations, preparations of national plans for elephant 
     conservation in each country, work towards resolution of 
     human-elephant conflicts in agricultural areas, and 
     management strategies for the captive population of elephants 
     for the species' conservation. We are training veterinarians, 
     elephant care givers, and wildlife officials in wild elephant 
     health care.
       We have the professionals in place and ready to work, but 
     financial resources to accomplish the important task of 
     rescuing elephants are stretched very thin. The John D. and 
     Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has sponsored surveys, and 
     the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation has underwritten 
     the costs of finding some solutions to elephant-human 
     conflicts over agricultural lands. Our many members from all 
     over the United States have pitched in with their 
     contributions. But the small amount from private sources 
     cannot address the overwhelming and urgent need. The Asian 
     Elephant Conservation Act will provide the additional 
     assistance that those of us working to save the elephant need 
     to ensure their survival.--Mary C. Pearl, Ph.D., Executive 
     Director, May 1997.


     
                                  ____
                             Conservation and Research Center,

                                     Front Royal, VA, May 9, 1997.
     Hon. Jim Saxton,
     Chairman, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, 
         U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Saxton: We understand that you are 
     preparing legislation designed to ensure the conservation of 
     the Asian Elephant.
       Beginning in the late 1960's the National Zoo undertook 
     several field studies in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) which 
     resulted in the first ecological information of its kind. 
     Since the early 1980s, the National Zoo's Conservation & 
     Research Center has pursued several collaborative Initiatives 
     on Asian Elephants with the assistance of the USAID's Program 
     in Science and Technology Cooperation. Some of these projects 
     have aimed at getting a better understanding of the man-
     domestic elephant relationship, while others attempt to find 
     solutions to the human-elephant conflict. We have trained 
     local wildlife officers how to survey elephant populations, 
     and have examined the population genetics throughout the 
     geographic range. We are currently using satellite telemetry 
     to evaluate the success of trans-locating crop-raiding 
     elephants to protected areas in Malaysia. In India's southern 
     state of Kerala, we just initiated a study to examine the 
     economics of rural elephants. We have also been seeking funds 
     to complete a study of stress levels in work elephants. In 
     all of these projects we have worked closely with government 
     agencies and non-governmental organizations in different 
     elephant range countries.
       No matter where one travels in wild Asia, the tenuous 
     situation of wild elephants is apparent to the critical 
     observer. Relentless human population growth and timber 
     exploitation have fragmented and degraded most forested 
     areas. Ironically, the loss of these vast green spaces will 
     ultimately have dire consequences for people too. The 
     immediate result is competition with people for the same 
     forest and agricultural resources. The reverence with which 
     rural people held elephants in the past to suffice to 
     overcome these conflicts. Human life and livelihood are in 
     danger, and elephant populations are in retreat. Many 
     populations are simply doomed, but large areas can be 
     conserved for the benefit of elephants, wildlife, and people 
     who rely upon ecosystem services such as watersheds, and 
     forest products, etc.
       The legislation you are sponsoring is likely to generate 
     public awareness and much needed funds which could be used to 
     solve the recurrent management problems in the conflict 
     areas. Great strides could be made towards the conservation 
     of this magnificent animal on the Asian continent.
       We very much hope you are successful in pursuing this 
     legislation and encourage you in your efforts. Please feel 
     free to contact us at any time for any information you may 
     need in putting the bill together.
           Respectfully,

                                          Chris Wemmer, Ph.D.,

                              Associate Director for Conservation.


     
                                  ____
                                               Hanoi, Vietnam,

                                                      May 3, 1997.
     Hon. Don Young,
     Chairman, Resources Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Sir: I am writing to you in my capacity as a member of 
     the Steering Committee of IUCN's Species Survival Commission 
     (SSC). The SSC is one of six volunteer Commissions with 
     IUCN--The World Conservation Union. The SSC's mission is ``to 
     conserve biological diversity by developing and executing 
     programs to study, save, restore and manage wisely species 
     and their habitats''. The SSC is made up of over 100 
     Specialist Groups comprising more than 7,000 scientists, 
     field researchers, natural resources managers, government 
     officials and conservation leaders from almost every country 
     in the world. This global network represents the single 
     greatest source of scientific knowledge about species 
     conservation in existence. At a regional and national level, 
     the SSC provides advice to governments and NGOs about species 
     conservation needs and helps in identifying priorities.
       My own area of specialisation, deep concern and commitment 
     is the conservation of the Asian elephant and its habitat. 
     Over the last 10 years my work in south and south-east Asia 
     has led me to see first hand the enormous problems being 
     faced by this magnificent animal. The species is on the brink 
     of extinction in a vast proportion of its range. This is 
     primarily due to the increasing loss of tropical forests and 
     competition for the remaining resources between growing human 
     populations and elephants. This competition invariably leads 
     to destruction of crops, homes and human lives by elephants 
     wandering out of their limited forest homes, and enraged 
     people retaliating by killing elephants.
       We have heard and seen the dramatic decline in numbers of 
     the African elephant in recent years. It is now on the road 
     to recovery due to the tremendous international support given 
     to its plight and the numerous conservation initiatives. The 
     US Government through an Act of Congress has been very much a 
     part of this support mechanism, which is highly commendable. 
     I would urge that a similar initiative on behalf of the Asian 
     elephant be considered by yourself and your eminent 
     colleagues at the Resources Committee. The challenges ahead 
     for us in the field are overwhelming. In spite of the almost 
     intractable problems, many national and international 
     agencies have taken up the challenge and developed strategies 
     to protect this mighty species and its habitat. The support 
     and commitment of your committee to these and other 
     initiatives would be invaluable to the conservation of the 
     Asian elephant.
           Yours faithfully,
                                                 Shanthini Dawson.
                                               Wildlife Ecologist.

     

                          ____________________