Flying Squad

There’s a herd of tame elephants in Indonesia called the Flying Squad that is used to patrol the 200,000 acre park-like jungle Guardian Angels to stop intruding pachyderms. The herd is the “brain child” of the World Wildlife Fund who came up with the plan to stop wild elephants from killing humans after they looked at similar schemes being used in India. Often aggressive male elephants intrude on the park looking for a mate – so the Flying Squad’s managers simply dispatch a female to mate with the aggressor and then see him off. “The forests that once covered Sumatra’s Riau province — home to the largest elephant population in Indonesia — are disappearing. In the last 20 years alone, the paper and palm oil industries have cut down 60% of the pachyderm habitat. Now just 10% of the remaining forest is suitable for elephants. Since 1985, the province’s elephant population has plummeted to 350 from 1,600. About 80 elephants live within Tesso Nilo National Park. At least once a month, wild herds from the park attack one of the nearby settlements, activists say. Since 2007, 13 elephants and several residents have been killed in Riau province alone.”